From Joe Utichi at rottentomatoes.com: Sir Ian McKellen is spending the week at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, where he was last night presented with a special Donostia Award in recognition of his career as an actor. RT was in town to catch the presentation, and earlier in the day we sat down with McKellen to discuss the award and his work. Of course, as Guillermo del Toro readies to direct The Hobbit, which will see McKellen pull on the cloak and hat of Gandalf the wizard for the first time in seven years, we couldn’t help but look to the future and find out how things were going with the project. In fact it was McKellen who raised the wizard’s name before we asked, rather controversially declaring to RT, “I don’t want to play Gandalf again.” But before a million Rings fans cry out in terror at the thought of another thesp stepping into the role, McKellen was actually discussing the risk of typecasting the wake of a big success. “If you play a part that gets an awful lot of attention,” he explained, “forever after you’re being asked by directors to play the same part in their movie. But I played the best wizard, and I’m happy to revisit him, which I shall do in The Hobbit with Guillermo del Toro.” More..
Category: Hobbit Cast News
Cynthia sends this in: Film.com has posted the next stage in their “The Best Male Performance of the 00’s” poll: The Final Four. Elijah Wood’s Frodo is pitted against Heath Ledger’s Joker. Voting ends Wednesday, September 30. Go here to vote, and vote often!
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..
Jan alerted us to an ongoing poll at film.com: The Best Male Performance of the ’00s. It’s down to the ‘Elite 8,’ two of whom are non other than Elijah Wood, for his role as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings vs. Johnny Depp, for his role as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Follow the link, and scroll down to vote! film.com poll
Elijah Wood first broke into movies at the age of 7 as “Video Game Boy” in 1989’s ‘Back to the Future: Part II’ and quickly shot to stardom with leading roles in ‘Paradise,’ ‘Forever Young’ (with Mel Gibson) and ‘The Good Son’ (opposite fellow child star Macaulay Culkin).
But while the careers of so many young actors — including a certain ‘Son’ co-star — peter out as they hit that rocky patch known as puberty, Wood’s began to thrive. He bolstered his indie cred with Ang Lee’s ‘The Ice Storm,’ headlined one of the most successful franchises in movie history with his turn as Frodo Baggins in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and voiced the lead penguin in $197 mil-grossing 2006 animated flick ‘Happy Feet.’ More..
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.”