The Return Of Gandalf
Filed under: Anglophilia > Film Flickers
Sir Ian McKellen has confirmed that he will be portraying Gandfalf in the new feature film adaptations of JRR Tolkein's The Hobbit.
There are two movies being planned.
The first will be released in 2010 and then the next in 2011.
The movies will be prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
McKellen stated, "Yes, it's true. It's not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf."
He adds, "As to how it's going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo [the director] has not got down to working out the major details yet - I can tell you it's going to be amazing though."
The first movie is set to be the adaptation of The Hobbit. The second will be an original story which will focus on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of Lord of the Rings trilogy.
A new story?????
What do the diehard Tolkien fans think about THAT?????
[Image via WENN.]
crazy am i first… i love when people do that, why do i care?
AMAZING!!!!!
I hope the new movie will be the story of the Children of Huron.
What a killer book, even if it was adapted by Christopher Tolkien!
first
yess
yay
Ive never been into all that sci-fi stuff…
but he is a good actor so it shud be good!!!
FIRST YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
I couldn't sit through the first 20 hours of this movie!!!
I thought that was the crazy austrian dude lol
#1
Fabulous! Tolkien always wanted the story of middle-earth to expand. I think he would be delighted, and the choice of Director is superb.
first ;D
who are the children of Huron?
first@! suck it
I love it =) as long as its not tacky … hola perezito i lov ju!
fuck a new story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thats some straight up bullshit
first!!
yayy!!
FIRST!
Both films will most likely suck.
fuck a new story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!how lame
EXCELLENT!!!
a new story? who wrote it? what's it about? I hope it's work done by Tolkien's son or a really great story that stays true to the rest of Middle Earth or else these film makers are about to KILL the series!
TWO….1-2.
movie…S
PEREZ IS DUMB.
hmm…a new one? not so much…
Who is he!!!??
omg!!! so excited for these, i was however bummed when i found out last year that peter jackson would not be directing due to finanical issues, i.e he didn't get paid right from LOTR. i love love love Ian as gandalf. i just hope the "new" story isn't crap, or yeah we'll be pissed!
its not a new story……it's the book…….who doesn't know that…?
hmmmmmmmmmmm…
happy about one…
we'll see about the other!
"Ive never been into all that sci-fi stuff…
but he is a good actor so it shud be good!!!"
um…it's fantasy sweetie. And it's not a new story perez. It's just using stuff that JRRT wrote. He has essay upon essay upon essay of background information on all the characters thats what the "new" story will come from…
i'm kind of scared about the second movie, but i'm excited ian is back as Gandalf!
i wish that peter was still directing it though…
Children of Huron is the book Christopher Tolkien published that condensed his father's Unfinished Tales.
It takes place about 3000 years before the Lord of the Rings stories
He has just GOT to play the Austrian weirdo who kept his daughter locked up for 20 years and had 4 kids with her!
OMG I cannot wait for these movies to come out! Finally, a movie worth looking forward to. LOTR was the best trilogy EVER! I love Ian. He's awesome. No one could have played Gandalf better than him. I'm so excited!
J.R.R. Tolkien created a whole world around Lord OF the Rings. A world explained from day one to the very last day. To put it in perspective, the LOTR trilogy is only about 100 pages of this book. So yeah there is actually a written account of that happened between The Hobbit and LOTR. Writers for the movie just have to translate it to screen.
NO NO NO! There is no story written between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I can't imagine what kind of horrible story they will write to try and pander to modern movie-going tastes… the hobbits have a love triangle where Bilbo is in love with a fast girl while the nice girl is in love with him?? The dwarves start an utopian society with free love and polygamy, and then get busted by the Lake-town FBI?? The elves of Mirkwood go on a slashing spree and mutilate all the people in Lake-town and one of the dwarves realizes that he is "the One" named in a prophesy who will save them all??? Oh, GODS no!
the "new story" it is based on the manuscripts JRR Tolkien had when he passed that his son put together and published. so it should stay true to what Tolkien had in mind.
good director. and hopefully some more beautiful men in Hobbit. I agree, as much as I am worried about how the 'original' will turn out, I think to perpetuate and keep the idea of Middle Earth alive would be approved by Tolkien. Long live the imagination and books being read!! Reading is the key folks. Less TV- more books.
Die hard fan right here! And the answer is pissed. Tolkien spent a lifetime creating so many fascets of this world. It is wonderful as is.
hey perez
what do you think of miley cyrus drinking red bull pics?
going down to lindsay's path?
pd. i think that guillermo would be an excelent director, but it kind of crazy trying to invent a movie
will it be just for the money?
luv you perez=*
don't like. there should be no new story
they better make it good, im sure they will…i wasnt a big fan of that extra movie though.
but yay normal gandalf!
YES I CANNOT WAIT. I wonder who's gonna play Thranduil? I wonder if they're taking the part between the Hobbit and LotR from some of the brief but thorough parts of the Silmarillion.
Chris Tolkien might not be happy about the "original" story…
"sir ian, sir ian, sir ian, sir ian, 'Action', 'WIZARRRD, YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!', CUT, sir ian, sir ian, sir ian…"
Re: lola –
Straight up dumbass. It's not sci-fi, lmao.
It's not Sci-Fi! It's Fantasy! Can't remember reading about a spaceship in the Rings…
P.S. It's Gaydalf btw
sir ian rox my sox!!!!!
HEEEEELLLLLLL YEEEEESSSSS!
Gandalf rules!
the new director will work together with peter, fran and philippa. almost all of the producers and behind-the-curtain-people will be on board. im so excited =). the family is back again!
Re: yoyoma –
LOL I'd forgotten about that! That was AWESOME!!
I really hope they stay true to the book.
Find me on http://starvsstar.com/gossipandgames/timekillers.php
What is Perez talking about, "a new story"? The Hobbit is far from a new story. He really is off his game today. Any Tolkien fan knows that The Hobbit is part of the Middle Earth stories; ie. it's the adventures of Bilbo Baggins before the trilogy.
Besides, anything is better than that crap The Hobbit, the animated version, way back when.
YES.
There's plenty of Tolkien material to construct a "new" story. As a diehard Tolkien fan, I'm definitely ok with this. And I absolutely adore Sir Ian. He's an amazing actor and the only one who can play Gandalf. If you love him as much as I do, check out Gods and Monsters and his version of Richard III. Awesome!
Fantastic!!!!
I am so fucking excited….I can't wait.
i'm a big tolkien fan and i'm excited to see what the original story will be…. but i have the feeling a lot of fans are totally gonna freak out. but yay gandalf!
As a tolkienite, I have to say I would be thrilled to see a new story. Children of Huron would be nice, but I think they're planning a whole new story. That's okay too.
nooooooooooo
guillermo del toro and ian mckellan are awesome
BUT you can't just go around making up things that tolkien didn't write!!
today is a sad sad day
It's the Children of Hurin, by the way, not the Children of Huron. Huron is one of the Great Lakes in the U.S.
And the story for the second movie won't be "original." The appendices to the LotR books detail what happened in the 60 years between the finding of the Ring and the War of the Ring. It'll just be a matter of picking one or two things and going with them, or trying to condense it all into one movie. Good luck there.
As a die-hard Tolkien fan, well… I'm wary of this second movie. Tolkien's works are all wonderful, but I'm worried that this is just an attempt to exploit the LotR and Hobbit hype and make more money, not be true to what Tolkien wrote.
Tolkien lives on ! I think it's great that they're making "The Hobbit" into a movie. It's a good story… but it can't compare to the "Lord of the Rings" book…which is like.. my favorite book.. ever… duh.
Who's playing Bilbo Baggins ?
i have a copy of "Children of Hurin"… but i never got around to finishing it.
I'm a huge fan of The original Tolkien .
Practically you got everything written in unfinished tales, appendicies of other books and all so YES they have the material for another story after the hobbit which IS ORIGINAL TOLKIEN MATERIAL! YEEEYYYYY!!!!!!
LOVE IT!!!!! Now if only Peter Jackson were directing….
Its not a new story Tokien has a wealth of material not published and it is known what he wrote to happen inbetween the two books. Research Perez Jeez.
Actually, It's 'The Children of Hurin', not "Huron". That's a rather large lake in north america.
And, to be precise, there is a wealth of material about the events that took place between The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. It's called 'The Tale of Years' and is actually just a list of events matched with dates. Arwen and Aragorn's first and second meetings in Rivendell and Lothlorien, respectively. (I wonder if Cate Blanchett will reprise her role as Galadriel, who is actually Arwen's grandmother…)
Aragorn and Gandalf meeting and becoming friends. Aragorn and Gandalf tracking Gollum all the way to the borders of Mordor.
Aragorn serving Theoden's father (the king of Rohan) while going by the alias "Thorongil". He didn't want to reveal his true identity at that point in time because he knew that Sauron would seek him out.
There's a lot more. But I can't think of it at the moment, and I have a sleeping kitty in my lap and don't feel like getting my copy of LotR out and looking through the Tale of Years.
It's safe to say it ISN'T the Children of Húrin…
-1.) The Children of Hurin takes place thousands of years before The Lord of The Rings, let alone The Hobbit. (The Hobbit & The Lord of The Rings take place in the Third Age, where as The Children of Húrin takes place in the Elder Days, or the First Age)
-2.) There are probably essays in the possession of his son, Christopher, that could give a small storyline for the second, bridging film.
-3.) In the Lord of The Rings Appendices, there is a timeline of the events from Bilbo finding the Ring and to where the Unexpected Party (the party scene in Hobbiton), ranging from births and even the whereabouts of Gollum/Smeagol.
-4.) I have a feeling if they DID create a new, random story… the Tolkien diehards, like myself, would be pretty damned bitter.
:)
Oh, and The Children of Hurin is NOT a condensed version of Unfinished Tales. Rather, it's an expansion of a story that originally appeared in The Silmarillion: 'Of Turin Turambar'. Later, that same story was expanded into 'Of the Children of Hurin' in Unfinished Tales and is has now been expanded YET AGAIN by Christopher Tolkien and published as a stand-alone story called 'Narn i Chin Hurin' while translates to 'The Children of Hurin'.
Not a new story, just a different story than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Hobbit was the first of the Tolkein stories.
I'd love to see the first movie, but who cares about a new one?
i'm both happy and pissed. happy the movies are being made, pissed i have to wait so long to see them. i'd bet money they'll be as good as the trilogy though, so it will be worth the wait! i hope all the originals are back as needed, substitutes will not do!
No way…an original story will bomb. I can't wait for the Hobbit but still. No new one.
A new story? Oh shiiiit. We'll have to see how that turns out…
Where the fuck is PETER JACKSON?!?
OMG! This obsessive Tolkien fan just started screeching and flailing around. I LOVE IAN MCKELLEN!!! He is definitely my all time favorite actor.
oh please no orginal story… just break the hobbit in 2… but NO ORIGINAL STORY! wtf is it going to be about?! Frodo's advertures in the Shire?!
"Portraying Gandalf" haha 'extras' rules!
spelled gandalf wrongly
hell no! dont make up new story
THE FUCK? That part about original storyline between "Hobbit" and "Rings" had better be confused misinformation. I will be PISSED.
The "infill" or "original story" is probably a "film expresisve" of the time between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings written in The Silmarillion which expanses the entire story…but not so detailed as the books that most people know.
Del Torro WILL ruin this film!
Mark my words, fags!
hey courtney, you're clearly a moron.
i'm betting it's not an original story, there is a lot more tolkien stuff that people are not familiar with.
and courtney, you are a fucking idiot…in case you missed it the first time. tolkien was a genius. try reading a book sometime shithead.
Re: Courtney – hey courtney, you're clearly a moron.
i'm betting it's not an original story, there is a lot more tolkien stuff that people are not familiar with.
and courtney, you are a fucking idiot…in case you missed it the first time. tolkien was a genius. try reading a book sometime shithead.
HOLLYWOOD! YOU SUCK! PLEASE DON'T TRY TO ADD TO A LITERARY MASTERPIECE JUST SO YOU CAN MAKE SOME EXTRA MONEY!!
…and I liked Guillermo del Toro…
Is it just me, or does he look a little bit like an older version of tom hanks in this picture!?
they are making new stories?
tolkien fans are gonna blow their shit!
90th!!! I really hopes he lives long enough to complete both films…LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!
I bet the new story not written by J.R.R. will not be as good. BTW #6 Lola, um…get it straight. It is not sci-fi, it's fantasy with a good scholarly amount of history and linguistics added in.
The second movie is probably going to suck ass.
A new story?! WTF? Doesn't Hollywood KNOW already to not mess up a good thing by just making crap up?? LotR was the only real trilogy to stay true to the books. No wonder Peter Jackson isn't directing it, he'd never pull this shit.
why aren't they doing the silmarillion and why is this guillermo guy doing it?!
WTF? Does that mean that Peter Jackson will NOT be involved in the prequels? Without Jackson, they've got nothing- the man is a genius and Guillermo would not be able to capture the stories in the way Jackson did- it will be a VERY poor imitation.
me and ian don't speak anymore, lol. nah he was rude to me and my friends when we saw him in a pub in stratford-upon-avon (thats in england, where old bill shakespeare was born)
another queer
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nah, don't worry. must be some adapted tale from the silmarillion.
happy happy joy joy
That's disgusting!!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW