Hobbit actor to play Kirk Douglas

Dean O'Gorman is to portray Kirk Douglas on the big screen

Hobbit actor Dean O'Gorman is to portray Kirk Douglas in the Dalton Trumbo biopic.

The New Zealand actor, who plays dwarf Fili in Peter Jackson's Hobbit films, has joined Bryan Cranston in Jay Roach's indie film, said the Hollywood Reporter.

Bryan is already on board to play the screenwriter, who was blacklisted in the 1940s, Hollywood's golden age, for his ties to the Communist party.

Dame Helen Mirren has been cast as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, with Diane Lane as Trumbo's wife Cleo and Elle Fanning as his daughter Nikola. David James Elliot will play Western star John Wayne and Michael Stuhlbarg will be actor Edward G Robinson, with supporting roles for John Goodman, Peter Mackenzie and Roger Bart.

Kirk was one of the executive producers of historical drama Spartacus in 1960, which he also starred in, and had a say in hiring Trumbo to write the screenplay.

Filming for Trumbo is taking place in New Orleans.

Dean, 37, will reprise his role as Fili in the third and final Hobbit instalment, The Battle Of Five Armies, to be released in December.