Smaug the dragon takes centre stage at Hobbit launch

  • 11 years ago
The combination of a giant dragon in Berlin's Sony Center - mixed with a few elves and dwarves and with a Hollywood hunk thrown in proved too much for some people at the European premiere of the second Hobbit movie 'The Desolation of Smaug'.

The movie picks up where 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' left off. The first installment wasn't as well received by critics as the Lord of the Rings movies, which may explain why director Peter Jackson has deviated from J.R.R. Tolkein's original novel by including a group of elves into the mix.

Martin Freeman is back as Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit on a quest to recover lost treasure.

SOUNDBITE Actor Martin Freeman (English), saying:

"My job is just to do the work and then hope people like it which is always my job, you know. But the expectations and the pressure is more Peter's gig and not mine."

Organisers not only ensured that Smaug the dragon came to the premiere but also most of the predominantly male cast. The

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