The Hobbit has been a cursed project so far and looks like its spate of bad luck is yet to run out. Only a few weeks into filming, Rob Kazinsky who was to play one of the dwarves has backed out of the project.

Rob was to portray the character of Fili the dwarf, but due to personal reasons had to pull out. Now, Peter Jackson is left with the task of recasting the role in time for the scheduled shoots.

Though saddened by his departure, Jackson does not anticipate any significant delays in the filming, as he announced on his Facebook page.

"Rob has been terrific to work with and his enthusiasm and infectious sense of humour will be missed by all of us.

I should say that Rob's departure will not affect the on-going filming of The Hobbit, nor will it impact work done to date, as we had yet to film much of Fili's storyline. At the moment we are shooting scenes featuring Bilbo without the Dwarves, which will give us time to find a new Fili," said Jackson.

Rob will definitely be missing out on a probably the biggest opportunity in his career, but as he cited on Twitter, he couldn’t help it due to a "health issue".

The first instalment of the film is set for release in late 2012 and will be followed by part two in late 2013.