From www.mirror.co.uk (who tend to exaggerate every fact): Lord of the Rings star Sir Ian McKellen was upset on live TV after he was confused with another movie wizard. The actor – who played Gandalf in the hit films – was on US TV’s The View when host Whoopi Goldberg asked: “Are you coming back in Harry Potter.” Sir Ian, 70, looked clearly annoyed as he closed his eyes and paused. He said: “I don’t play Dumbledore – I play Lord of the Rings.” Embarrassed Whoopi apologised before Sir Ian assured her it was a common mistake.

bilboWhat exactly is going on with the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit? The world seems to be holding its breath in anticipation, including us, but as the calendar turned to November, we turned to a trusted rock-solid inside source and found a dragon’s treasure of updates. Continue reading “Exclusive Hobbit update: Casting, monsters, costumes!”

Ian McKellen As GandalfThanks to message board member Theodred for alerting us to this story from scifiwire.com: Ian McKellen, whom we expect will put on Gandalf’s gray robes in director Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Hobbit movies, tells us he’s finally read the script for the films. And, no, he won’t tell us much about it, except that producer Peter Jackson (who co-wrote the script with longtime Lord of the Rings collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, as well as del Toro) wrote it specifically for him.

“As Peter has said, they loved writing Gandalf [for The Hobbit] because they knew who they were writing him for,” McKellen told us exclusively in an interview last week while promoting AMC’s The Prisoner. “There are a lot of characters in The Hobbit, including, crucially, Bilbo, and they don’t know who’s going to play Bilbo. So it’s extremely attractive that this part has been written for me. The other Gandalf was written for, well, just as Gandalf. There’s lots for me to enjoy, in all sorts of ways. And I couldn’t be happier. But I’m sworn to secrecy. I’m not to say anything at all about the script.” More..

Shannon writes: Thanks to your reporting I found out about Sir Ian attending the Shakespeare Gala in DC. It was several days after my twenty-first birthday, so I approached my parents asking them if we could make the trek there from New York as my present, and much to my surprise, they agreed. They are well aware of my goal to meet the entire Fellowship and have helped me meet five so far, so it seemed like a great idea to them to help me meet such an awesome number six for my birthday. Continue reading “Sir Ian McKellen Shakespeare Gala Report”

mckellen_pengilley_104842astormcrow20 sends us word that Sir Ian McKellen is set to appear on both The View and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, November 5, 2009.

Ian McKellenTaylor writes: The November issue of DETAILS hits stands this week, and we Legendary British actor Ian McKellen. McKellen opens up to DETAILS about coming out, getting ink and making the bible gay-friendly, one copy at a time. More..