ian mckellan Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In case you missed it, there was an online chat earlier today where Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro fielded an assortment of questions regarding the two upcoming Middle Earth-based films (The Hobbit and follow-up) from fans. Here are a few main highlights:

• Both films (The Hobbit and its Untitled Follow-Up) will be shot back-to-back in 2010, with the first arriving December, 2011 and the second in December, 2012. As far as rating goes, they're shooting for "an intense PG-13."
  
• They will not begin casting until the scripts are written, but said Ian McKellan will "absolutely" return as Gandalf and Ron Perlman will return; most likely not as the voice of Smog.
• Howard Shore will return to score the films.
• On what exactly the second film will be about, del Toro said: "The idea is to find a compelling way to join THE HOBBIT and FELLOWSHIP and enhance the 5 films both visually an in their Cosmology. There's omissions and material enough in the available, licensed material to attempt this. The agreement is, however, that the second film must be relevant and emotionally strong enough to be brought to life but that we must try and contain the HOBBIT in a single film."
  
• They're currently working on a Blu-ray version of all three Lord of the Rings films, but it won't be out this year.
• No plans are being made to shoot the two films in 3D ... yet.

Head over to the Weta website for an entire transcript.

Now that The Hobbit looks like it will actually happen, it's time to once again talk about the film's casting. And it appears Sir Ian McKellan will most definitely return as Gandalf. He is quoted in The Guardian as saying that he would be "very pleased" to return to the iconic role, which he played in the three Lord of the Rings movies. He also stated that he will do it regardless of whether or not Peter Jackson is brought back to direct the "prequel". In fact, McKellan claims he has received Jackson's blessing to do the film without him. And so the actor said that if he's physically capable of playing the character, he will certainly do so. Of course, he hasn't officially been asked to return, let alone cast, in The Hobbit. But surely he will be offered the part, right?

Obviously, he must be cast. Aside from the fact that he's iconically associated with the character, McKellan was even recognized with an Oscar nomination for playing Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring. But the main reason for McKellan to return -- and I'm sure he recognizes this, as does Jackson -- is for the fans. Some fans will be extremely disappointed if Jackson doesn't direct The Hobbit, but nearly all of the fans should boycott the film if the production goes with a new cast. It will be hard enough accepting someone other than Ian Holm playing Bilbo Baggins, which could very well happen since Baggins is much younger in the earlier story of The Hobbit than in the LOTR trilogy. But if Jackson didn't come back to direct, the film could end up in the hands of Sam Raimi, who we can assume would do the project justice by casting McKellan. Yet despite the new healthiness of The Hobbit, we still can't be sure it will happen very soon. So, if for some terrible reason McKellan isn't "functioning," as he says, who could possibly be considered to replace him? Michael Gambon, perhaps?

After X-Men: The Last Stand, Marvel spokesman Avi Arad had put the brakes on any plans for an X-Men 4 -- much to the relief to anyone who was worried that Brett Ratner was going to return for another film. Instead, fan focus has been directed towards the Wolverine and Magneto solo films. MTV Movie Blog sat down with Arad to talk about the upcoming Magneto prequel recently, and Arad seems enthusiastic about what writer/director David Goyer (Batman Begins) has shown him so far, saying that the script will finally give Magneto,"the origin story he so richly deserves."

There is no word yet on who will play the young Magneto, but last year we had received confirmation from X-Men's F/X supervisor John Bruno that Ian McKellen would be in the film in some capactiy -- but despite talk of "de-aging" McKellen for the film, there is no way around hiring a much younger actor. Some sites are already reporting that Justin Chatwin, the star of Goyer's recent film The Invisible, is in talks, but that's all rumor. So far, details are still sketchy on plot detail, and whether 'The Brotherhood', or any other X-Men will be making an appearance in the film. Arad did give some hints of what to expect, saying‚ "Think of meeting him in [the first ‚ X-Men movie] as a young boy in a concentration camp. What happens to his life after the war? If [his powers are] real or not and the whole journey of [his] survival as a young man." Magneto is set for release in 2008, so stay tuned for updates as they come our way.

The venerable Anne Thompson at The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting piece up on the backstory around Bryan Singer's decision to bail on the third X-Men flick and head to Warner to make Superman Returns. Thompson speculates that, although Fox may have won the battle of the box office returns between X-Men 3 and Superman, Warner may yet win the war, having craftily swiped proven tentpoler Singer away from the competition.

X-Men, Thompson says, is pretty much over and done with, although there may yet be Wolverine and Magneto spin-offs (which, she notes, X-Men 3 director Brett Ratner will likely not be involved with), whereas Warner is just getting started with reviving the Superman franchise especially with a storyline involving the son of Superman and Lois Lane -- a potential for a superhero who's less of a goody-two-shoes than his father.

What do you think, comic-movie fans? Did Warners get the better deal here? Is X-Men as a franchise history at this point? And do you care about seeing a Superman sequel?

[ via Hollywood Elsewhere ]

While Ron Howard and Tom Hanks defended their film The Da Vinci Code from all those mean, grumpy critics at Cannes and people protesting the film's existence and banning it, Ian McKellan, who plays Leigh Teabing in the film, had his own take. The openly gay actor, who has been outspoken on Hollywood's treatment of homosexuality and homosexual actors, said of the Catholic Church, which has protested the storyline of the film (which has Jesus married and having kids with Mary Magdalene), "I'm very happy to believe that Jesus was married. I know the Catholic Church has problems with gay people and I thought this would be proof that Jesus was not gay."

I'm not sure the Catholic Church will see it quite that, but sure, I can see his point. I was raised Catholic (though I haven't been one for a very long time) and have an uncle who's a retired priest, and I didn't find the storyline offensive; on the contrary, I thought it was interesting to speculate on. I mean, it's a story, folks. A fictional tale with some intriguing "what if" ideas. I really don't see what all the fuss is about. At any rate, McKellan's take was more colorful than Howard's, which was "My advice is ... to not go and see the movie if you think you're going to be upset." Good advice, Opie. Thanks.

It'll just be a deleted scene or outtake, but this little clip sounds like a fantastic DVD extra. The rumor comes from none other than John Bruno, visual effects supervisor for X-Men: The Last Stand who recently sat down for an interview with Total Film. After sharing his thoughts about working with embattled director Brett Ratner (he was nervous at first, but found him fun to work with), Bruno shared a great story from on-set during filming. Bruno told TF about an evening of filming on the Alcatraz set which started with the basic director's read through of instructions (you know, the "this person stands here, this person walks in from this side," etc.). After Ratner got a few lines into his directions, which he had written out on two pages of paper, actor Ian McKellen interrupted him and requested permission to take over. Bruno's description of the event is as  follows: "So he took the script and read two pages of description. It was like he was standing there reading Shakespeare, it was fantastic. Here we all were, three in the morning, frozen solid and everybody was just mesmerized by Ian reading this description! It was so good, we had him do it again just for laughs." Now if that doesn't sound like something you want to see on an X-Men DVD, I don't know what would.

Like Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Flushed Away is a Dreamworks-Aardman Animations collaboration. The difference, however, is that the latter is a CG-based film - no Wallace, no Gromit, and no endless fiddling with clay in this one. And, with the vocal talents of folks such as Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Jean Reno (as Le Frog) and Ian McKellen, the cast is as prestigious as the studios involved. The movie tells the story of a posh rat (I know - rats can be posh? Just go with it.) who finds himself flushed down a toilet into the mean streets of London's sewers. Hilarity, love, and danger ensue.

Though Flushed Away doesn't come out until November, an early look at the animation and characters is now available at the official website, and it's pretty promising. The film's look is obviously very different from what we've come to expect from Aardman, but the same humor is there, as are the broad accents and class consciousness that set their work apart from most other animation. Go take a look - it's sort of cool to see the unfinished footage, and to get a sense of how the movie's coming together.

[via Twitch]