James McAvoy will almost certainly play Bilbo Baggins in the forthcoming prequel to Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit.
The Atonement actor leads a list to take the coveted role, played by Sir Ian Holm in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, according to the Daily Express.
A source is quoted as saying: "A number of names have privately been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black, but James is the one the film's bosses really want.
"They're expected to have talks with him soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future."
It would seem that the Last King Of Scotland actor was the name that came to the filmmakers in a manner almost as fantastical as the J.R.R. Tolkien story. The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro said in the new issue of Empire that he and producer Peter Jackson were: "down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice, completely magically, we all said the same name."