SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) – British actor Ian McKellen was Wednesday honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain. The 70-year-old “Lord of the Rings” star received the festival’s Donostia Award, which goes to “a great film personality in recognition for their work and career.” “I’m very gratified for this Donostia Prize because it’s not just for a character, but for a career,” he told a news conference. More..
Category: Ian McKellen
Cerce7 sends this in via: The Shakespeare Theatre website in Washington, D.C.: The Shakespeare Theatre Company invites you to join us for the Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala, Sunday, October 25, 2009. The 2009 Gala will feature performances in a myriad of artistic disciplines based on A Midsummer Nights Dream. The Gala will also feature the presentation of the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre to Sir Ian McKellen and the Sidney Harman Award for Philanthropy in the Arts followed by dinner and dancing. Continue reading “Sir Ian to Recieve Award in Washington, D.C.”
Ringer Karl Falconer, who attended the BFI IMAX LOTR All-night screening managed to snag the following video of Sir Ian McKellen at last night’s event. The video is on Karl’s Facebook page, so I’ll need to login to see it – but its worth it! First off, Sir Ian revels he will be in New Zealand in March to begin filming for approximately a year, with the first of two films being released Christmas 2011. (as expected, but great to hear from Ian!) As our earlier reports have revealed, Sir Ian also states he ‘pretty well knows’ who will play “Frodo” (maybe a small slip up, and he meant Bilbo) and that we will be happy with the casting (2:22 mark of video). A huge thanks to Karl for sending us the link to his video. [Ian McKellen Video] And while you are on facebook, don’t forget to become a fan of TheOneRing.net! [TORn on Facebook]
We heard some rumors this week, that remain unverified, that the script for “The Hobbit,” has been delivered to the studio. The rumors indicate that the first draft that Peter Jackson talked about at Comic-Con is in the process of having a budget built from it. Is this true? Can you bank on it? We don’t know for sure, but we have a hunch this is the case.
Then we received the following e-mail tonight from Ringer spy Olli from an all-night LOTR screening which seems to confirm everything we have been hearing and he was definitely not the source of our earlier rumors. He says, “Currently at the all night screening at the bfi IMAX, London of lotr. Ian McKellan dropped by earlier and revealed he is currently re-Reading the hobbit and is expecting to be back in NZ in march. App(arently) he also knows who they’re getting to play Bilbo & that he should be seeing the script within the next week. Well it’s 3:30am – TTT is about to begin so bye!” Big thanks to Olli and our other unrevealed whisperers.
Again, we cannot confirm this but we believe Sir Ian. We think the script is finished, the studio likes it (more or less), Bilbo has been chosen. “The Hobbit,” may have a green light, there may be may be a Bilbo who has agreed in principal (or more officially perhaps) and pre-production might have started or be about to begin! (We think it may have started.) If anybody knows more or know differently, send us word immediately! Continue reading “McKellen says Bilbo is cast; ‘Hobbit’ script likely finished”
The plan was to be impartial and emotionless in the printed word and provide interested parties (hopefully you dear reader) all the facts and information from Peter Jackson’s un-press conference in San Diego as possible.
After all, he had 40 or so of us delighted to be trapped in a room with him in a small but luxurious hotel a few hundred meters from the convention center where the world’s biggest celebration of popular culture was taking place. It was the end of the first day of the four-day event and Jackson had swooped into town, showed off his first ever public screening of “District 9,” and then convened Geek Court. Continue reading “Peter Jackson speaks”
From his extensive Shakespearean roots to his knockout X-Men and Lord of the Rings roles as Magneto and Gandalf, Sir Ian McKellen boasts a prowess so refined that he’s now playing a role, The Prisoner’s power-hungry villain Number Two, previously inhabited by not one actor but 17. Yet McKellen insists this isn’t your grandmother’s Number Two. “There’s no point in wondering how am I going to measure up to the other Number Twos, because it’s just a different script altogether,” the soft-spoken knight explained to Wired.com after addressing an auditorium of TV reporters at Hollywood’s Universal Hilton earlier this year. “My man is called Number Two, because the character was originally called Number Two. But he is Number One.” More..