A casting director was fired from the production of Peter Jackson's upcoming Hobbit films after limiting the search for female hobbit extras to those with "light skin tones" and telling an actress that she was "too dark" for a role in the films, Agence France-Presse reports.

Naz Humphreys, a British woman who has Pakistani heritage, attended a casting call in New Zealand last week for The Hobbit. She waited in line for three hours hoping to be a hobbit, only to be told she had the wrong skin tone.

The casting director, who was hired as an independent contractor, reportedly told auditioners at the casting call, "We are looking for light-skinned people... It's just the brief. You've got to look like a hobbit." The CD had also placed a classified ad in local newspaper the Bay of Plenty Times, listing the requirements for potential hobbits as follows: ages 16-80, with height below 170 cm (5'7") for men and 158cm (5'2") for women. Nothing out of the ordinary so far -- until the ad also specified that females "should have light skin tones."

"No such instructions were given, the crew member in question took it upon themselves to do that and it's not something we instructed or condoned," said a spokesman for Jackson's Wingnut Films. "The crew member in question has been dismissed from the show. It's something we take very seriously."