Ian McKellen chats with TODAY’s Matt Lauer about reprising his role as Gandalf the Wizard in the new film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and working with the special effects required to create Middle Earth. He says in it “he has five more weeks (of shooting) to do next year” and that working on the green screen can be “a bit unnerving”. Continue reading “Ian McKellen interviewed on MSNBC”

Sir Ian McKellen, whose aeonian wizard, Gandalf, in the Tolkien movies has made him globally famous—The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released this month—met me for lunch at Lucques, the award-winning restaurant in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.

It so happens that his contemporary Sir Michael Gambon (the only other actor in theater who can stand with McKellen on equal terms with Sir Laurence Olivier) also plays a famous wizard, in Harry Potter. “I often get mistaken for Dumbledore,” McKellen mentioned amusingly. “One wizard is very much like another.” Continue reading “Out to lunch with Sir Ian McKellen”

IMAX theaters around the USA will be giving out limited edition hand-drawn prints at the 12:01 showings while supplies last. The four gorgeous monochrome prints, reminiscent of the beautiful Alan Lee sketches that graced the credits of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” depict Gandalf, Bilbo, Thorin and Gollum. You can find a list of theaters participating in the giveaway here. To find a midnight showing Line Party where you can watch the movie with fellow fans, check out TheOneRing’s Line Party site here (also accessible in the drop down “Community” link on the Home Page). Also, check out the other three prints after the break. Line up early, line up often!

Continue reading “IMAX to give away exclusive Hobbit prints at midnight showings”

Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report will present four nights of Hobbit-themed programming (Dec. 3 to Dec. 6), pegged to the Dec. 14 release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, EW has learned. Guests will include stars Ian McKellan (Dec. 3), Martin Freeman (Dec. 4) and Andy Serkis (Dec. 6), along with director Peter Jackson (Dec. 5). Said Colbert in a statement: “Elen sila lumennomentielvo*… I mean that sincerely.” For those of you who aren’t quite fluent in Elvish, that means, “a star shines on the hour of our meeting.” Read more…

A sneak preview from The Hobbit that aired on the SyFy channel during the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. is now available online. The 41 second clip shows a nice interchange between Gandalf and Bilbo as they explore the treasures found in the cave of the three trolls and Bilbo gets a very nice and valuable gift indeed!