Ian McKellen To Reprise Role As Wizard Gandalf In New Hobbit Films
A BBC news article states, British actor Sir Ian McKellen has agreed to take on the role of the inimitable and indomitable wizard “Gandalf” from the Tolkien Trilogies in a prequel film version of the series: The Hobbit.
McKellen gave a superior performance in the three films in the series, Lord Of The Rings, The Twin Towers and Return of the King. With a cast full of stars ranging from Viggo Mortenson, Liv Tyler, John Rhys-Davies to Orlando Bloom, McKellen emerged as the consistent star of the three films portraying a benevolent, noble but ultimately tempted, powerful wizard whose heroics propelled the story to other-worldly heights. Quite simply, no other actor could have played this role. From the BBC article:
“Yes, it’s true,” he told Empire magazine. “It’s not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf.”
Two Hobbit films are planned for release in 2010 and 2011. They will be prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson.
Guillermo del Toro has been named as the director of the movies, to be made back-to-back in New Zealand.
“I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role,” Sir Ian said.
He also said del Toro would be starting the script in about six weeks after he has finished filming current project, Hellboy 2.
According to studio New Line, the first film will be an adaptation of The Hobbit and the second will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the Rings trilogy.
“As to how it’s going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yet - I can tell you it’s going to be amazing though,” Sir Ian said.
Guillermo del Toro is an interesting pick to replace Peter Jackson as director. Peter Jackson successfully made the transition from print to film almost flawlessly, hopefully del Toro will bring some magic from his time directing Blade II and Hellboy to the Hobbit features. The Blade trilogies were great, but I will keep my fingers crossed just in case.
Pink Stripe WordPress Theme Designed by Joni Mueller &