One of the first candidates for Bilbo Baggins in the unmade movie version of The Hobbit recently expressed his thoughts on the idea of him playing the character. Years before The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson returned to direct the three-part prequel series, there was a plan for Guilermo del Toro to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic piece of literature to the big screen.

Prior to this idea being scrapped in the late 2000s, del Toro was casting actors for a two-part movie interpretation of The Hobbit. Early in the process, one of the actors looked at for the role of Bilbo Baggins was Matthew Goode, a British actor now known for his role in fantasy TV series A Discovery of Witches and The Good Wife.

Matthew Goode auditioned for the role and may have been a serious candidate to serve as the star of The Hobbit movies. It didn’t work out, though, as del Toro’s version never saw the light of day. That doesn’t seem to disappoint Goode, however, as he’s now expressed surprise that he was even considered in the first place.

Matthew Goode Was Surprised To Be A Candidate For Bilbo Baggins

Matthew Goode Believed He Was Too Tall For Bilbo Baggins, But Would’ve Played Him Anyway

When asked in a recent video interview if it was true that he once thought of as the “perfect” Bilbo Baggins, Goode pushed back slightly on that notion, but acknowledged discussions of the actor taking on the part in del Toro’s movie. Due to nostalgia over audio recordings of The Hobbit he had listened to in his youth, as well his love for The Lord of the Rings in general, Goode said he would have been thrilled to play the character.

That said, Goode was skeptical that he’d actually be offered the role. Seemingly bewildered by the interest in him, Goode pointed out that he was 6’2″, which was extremely tall for an actor expected to portray a member of the diminutive Hobbit race. But his agent had ᴀssured him, “They like your face for him.” But as Goode recalled, it ultimately didn’t matter, as “they got their man” in Martin Freeman.

I said, “Simon, I’m 6’2”, love. What are we talking about here? I can’t play Bilbo. And he’s like, “Camera trickery, darling. Camera trickery. It’s all going to be fine. It’ll be absolutely fine. They like your face for him.”

Our Take On Matthew Goode As Bilbo Baggins

Martin Freeman Turned Out To Be The Perfect Bilbo Baggins

The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit movies successfully utilized various camera tricks and other techniques to make the actors playing the Hobbits look smaller than they actually are. But it’s important to note that 6’2″, he’d be several inches taller than nearly all Hobbits, so there’s a point where making him believable as a Hobbit might have been challenging.

There’s a good chance that Matthew Goode would have fit nicely into Tolkien’s Middle-earth world, it’s probably for the best that this scenario never played out – after all, Peter Jackson’s return led to a great trilogy of movies based on The Hobbit. As for Bilbo Baggins, the role wound up in capable hands, with Martin Freeman emerging as a great choice for the live-action take on the book’s protagonist.