Sir Ian McKellen has updated his blog with a new entry titled “Soldiering On” and, among other things, talks about his role as Gandalf the Grey in The Hobbit.
The relevant excerpt follows:
In The Hobbit, Gandalf is part old duffer but more he’s a soldier. Peter Jackson, who likes to see the old guys fighting it out, reminded me the other day that Gandalf is a commander, a general.
Having slain the Great Goblin I was being a bit too indulgent with the dwarves who meanwhile had mislaid Bilbo in the goblin tunnels. I’ve played enough soldiers to see that PJ was right and in the next take I was very stern.
The image on the right comes courtesy of McKellen’s blog post.
Sir Ian McKellen initially said no to Gandalf and only scored the pivotal Lord of the Rings role thanks to a chance meeting in a restaurant. While it’s almost inconceivable to imagine wizened wizard Gandalf being played by anyone else, McKellen says shooting for The Fellowship of the Ring – the first film in Peter Jackson’s blockbuster trilogy – clashed with another role he’d signed up for in 2000.
The frank admission comes in a new Lord of the Rings 10-year anniversary special in the December edition of Empire magazine, in which McKellen admits Gandalf was “the role of a lifetime” – but he initially turned down Jackson’s offer. More..
I’ll be kicking off a new, temporary, regular column that I’m calling An Unexpected Journey because that’s exactly what it is.
A little over a month ago an email arrived asking of my interest in embedding myself on the set of The Hobbit for the entirety of their location shoot, spending over 2 months in New Zealand rolled in with the crew and writing up their adventures, hassles, triumphs and tribulations as they traveled all over the country shooting bits and pieces from the upcoming two-parter (sic) prequel to Lord of the Rings.“
There were all manner of animals on the set ranging from goats to roosters, pigs, oxen, horses and all of them had handlers there to make sure they were fed, watered and safely munching on the lush green grass of Matamata. They would quickly duck out of frame whenever shots would go up.
If you’ve watched the appendices on the Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings films you should recognize Kiran [Shah]’s name. He’s a much loved character around the set. He’s an actor, stunt man and scale double. On Rings he doubled Elijah Wood. [In The Hobbit, Shah will be Martin Freeman’s double.]
[Kiran] Shah will also be a Goblin in the film.
So what do you all think? Share your thoughts and speculations on our message boards.
Moahunter, our New Zealand message board member, has informed us that Sylvester McCoy was interviewed on TVNZ this morning and, among other things, was asked about his role as Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit.
Concerning his schedule, McCoy states he was down in Wellington, New Zealand earlier this year for about 8 weeks, shooting in the studio, and now he’s back there again for a couple of weeks for location shooting. In addition, he’ll be returning again in February 2012 for a couple of days.
The man couldn’t say much about his role though (apparently he’s been programmed by Weta to gag himself the moment his mouth utters the word “Hobbit”), though he could reveal that the main character he’s interacting with is Ian McKellen’s Gandalf the Grey.
This week on Hobbit in 5 – Evangeline Lilly opens up about playing Tauriel, Sir Ian McKellen is now a pub owner, Peter Jackson gives an interview to the NZ Prime Minister, a very talented group creates a massive LEGO LOTR recreation and new pics of the dwarves are released!
Andrew writes: According to this article (posted on September 29th), Ian McKellen is back in New Zealand, and will have another break in December.
“Sir Ian, who has now returned to New Zealand to continue filming both parts of The Hobbit, said: “I have got a break at Christmas and I wasn’t going to come home but I think I will now I have the pub. I really enjoy just sitting here in the evening. In New Zealand I will be based in Wellington but we are on location up and down the country shooting both films at the same time.”
Sir Ian McKellen has updated his blog with a new entry titled “Soldiering On” and, among other things, talks about his role as Gandalf the Grey in The Hobbit.
Sir Ian McKellen initially said no to Gandalf and only scored the pivotal Lord of the Rings role thanks to a chance meeting in a restaurant. While it’s almost inconceivable to imagine wizened wizard Gandalf being played by anyone else, McKellen says shooting for The Fellowship of the Ring – the first film in Peter Jackson’s blockbuster trilogy – clashed with another role he’d signed up for in 2000.
