Tag: ian_mckellen
James McAvoy not to be in “The Hobbit”
Scottish actor James McAvoy has denied rumors that he will play Bilbo Baggins in the movie adaptation of JRR Tolkien‘s “The Hobbit“.Speaking at a press conference for new film Wanted, he said:
“It’s not true. It’s all internet rumouring and nothing else I’m afraid. Sorry.”
Guillermo del Toro was confirmed in April as director of “The Hobbit” and a second film, which takes place in the 60 years between “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings“.
Peter Jackson, who directed the hugely successful Rings trilogy, will be the executive producer of the two films. Sir Ian Holm played Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings.
Ian McKellen Talks Hobbits
Sir Ian McKellen remarked to the media last year that he would happily do a series of Lord of the Rings prequels provided that Peter Jackson returned to helm them. With Jackson now back as executive producer, McKellan has announced on his official website his intentions about returning as the wizard Gandalf, and had the following to say:
Q: So has it come to pass, good Sir McKellen? Shall the dreaming masses with their musty books and their blackened pipes at long last hear those immortal words issue from under that famous nose? “Yes, yes, my dear sir-and I know your name, Mr. Bilbo Baggins. And you do know my name, though you don’t remember that I belong to it. I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me! To think I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took’s son, as if I was selling buttons at the door!” Looking about, I find I share the same hopes as millions of others, so I ask, a single query in a chorus… Will you again be our Gandalf in “The Hobbit” now that the deal is settled?
McKellen: Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor. I’ve just read your quote out loud – fabulous speech.
