Possibly influenced by the recent discovery of real-life Hobbits, Peter Jackson has revealed some details of his upcomingHobbit movie, including the return of Ian McKellen as Gandalf; I think McKellen was quite good in that role in the Lord of the Rings movies. Perhaps there will be a part for co-conspirator Randy Barnett, who has previous experience appearing in sci fi/fantasy roles.
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Anderson says:
God knows how he’ll screw this one up. Maybe Gandalf defeats Smaug in an acrobatic wizard duel.
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December 9, 2009, 9:48 pmChris Newman says:
So, Galadriel appears in The Hobbit, but Gollum doesn’t? Uh...okay.
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December 9, 2009, 10:03 pmIlya Somin says:
So, Galadriel appears in The Hobbit, but Gollum doesn’t?
I’m sure Gollum will appear. But in the LOTR movies Gollum was “played” by a CGI program, so there is no actor to bring back.
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December 9, 2009, 10:15 pmOff Kilter says:
It’s been a few years since I’ve seen him, but I’m pretty sure Randy is too tall to play a hobbit... :-)
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December 9, 2009, 10:15 pmLaura(southernxyl) says:
Who’s going to play Bilbo, then, if not Ian Holm?
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December 9, 2009, 10:21 pmIlya Somin says:
It’s been a few years since I’ve seen him, but I’m pretty sure Randy is too tall to play a hobbit... :-).
There is only one significant Hobbit character in The Hobbit (Bilbo), so Randy probably won’t get a Hobbit role anyway — unless Jackson was really impressed with Randy’s work in Inalienable, which of course wouldn’t surprise Randy’s many fans among VC readers. However, he could perhaps play one of the elves or one of the men of Dale. Also, CGI was used to conceal the true heights of the actors who played hobbits and dwarves in the LOTR movies (none of whom is a dwarf in real life), and I bet the same thing will be done with the 13 dwarf roles in the Hobbit films.
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December 9, 2009, 10:50 pmyankee says:
This isn’t quite accurate. Gollum was voiced by Andy Serkis and the digital Gollum’s movements were based on motion capture of Serkis’s movements. If they replace Serkis with another actor, the new Gollum will be different.
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December 9, 2009, 10:56 pmpeh says:
John Rhys-Davies is 6’1″; Ian McKellen is 5’11″. I don’t think height is an issue.
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December 9, 2009, 11:07 pmll says:
Galadriel in the Hobbit. I suppose it makes more sense than:
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December 9, 2009, 11:07 pmIlya Somin says:
Galadriel in the Hobbit.
Galadriel may be intended to appear in the second movie in the Hobbit series, which, according to rumor, will cover the period between the Hobbit and the events of LOTR.
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December 9, 2009, 11:11 pmApperception says:
Folks, the White Council meets during the events of the book. Galadriel is perfectly plausible.
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December 9, 2009, 11:24 pmChris Newman says:
Here’s a much more informative interview with Del Toro, who is directing the Hobbit. They’re going to split it into two films and spend some time showing what Gandalf is up to during his absences from the book, hence Galadriel. I guess this means we’re going to get to see them drive the Necromancer (aka Sauron) out of Mirkwood, which should be cool. I hope Jackson’s statement in the other interview was an oversight and they are going to have Serkis do Gollum again. I can’t see why they wouldn’t.
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December 10, 2009, 12:16 amCornellian says:
McKellen’s performance as Gandalf is quite possibly exceeded by McKellen playing himself describing his playing of Gandalf in an episode of Extras. It’s probably on YouTube. Be warned, McKellen’s absolutely deadpan description (“I preTEND to be a wizard”) is so hysterically funny you should not be drinking anything while watching it.
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December 10, 2009, 12:25 amOperationCounterstrike says:
I must strongly disagree about Ian McKellen. He’s one of my favorite actors but he’s way too, well, FEMININE for Gandalf. He should have played Saruman, he’d be just right for that, he’s always best as those kind of shifty characters, Richard III, the Nazi fugitive in APT PUPIL, now Number Two in “The Prisoner”. Gandalf should be the opposite: an heroic bass-baritone like Wotan (with whom he shares many characteristics), the same voice-range of Sean Connery (who would not have worked either, too hokey).
So whom would I cast as Gandalf? Hmmmmm. Can we ressurrect Alec Guinness? Paul Schofield?
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December 10, 2009, 2:26 amjosh bornstein says:
Link to Sir Ian’s performance in ‘Extras’ As funny as advertised.
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December 10, 2009, 3:02 amThe Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Peter Jackson Reveals Some … | Hobbit Movie News - Tolkien Lord of the Rings says:
[...] Ilya Somin Share and [...]
Anderson says:
I must strongly disagree about Ian McKellen. He’s one of my favorite actors but he’s way too, well, FEMININE for Gandalf.
Niiiiiiiice.
And I doubt the “real” Gandalf would have taken “feminine” as a criticism.
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December 10, 2009, 7:41 amJesse G. says:
I have never been a huge Hobbit fan even though Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite series of all time. I would much rather someone step up to the plate and try to make one or more movies out of a portion of the Silmarillion.
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December 10, 2009, 7:57 amLaura(southernxyl) says:
But Bilbo and the hobbit children felt comfortable with him.
Gandalf is two people at once: the fierce warrior-wizard who defeated the balrog, and the friendly old man with the funny hat. I think McKellan did a fine job.
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December 10, 2009, 8:22 amKenvee says:
Christopher Lee was a lifelong LOTR fan (and actually knew Tolkien personally). He auditioned for the role of Gandalf, which he had apparently dreamed of playing for years. Poor guy is typecast as the villain, though, and ended up with Saruman instead. I would’ve loved to see his Gandalf!
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December 10, 2009, 10:25 amPhilistine says:
For me, the quintessential Gandalf (at least vocally) is John Huston, from the Hobbit animated movie of the ‘70s.
Gotta love the songs from that, too.
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December 10, 2009, 10:28 amThales says:
I enjoy the South Park partial parody of the animated Hobbit, including songs, in the episode Lemmiwinks. I believe it was #2 on the countdown of the most offensive South Park episodes.
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December 10, 2009, 11:37 amAndrew J. Lazarus says:
That should be is. And he would have made a great Gandalf.
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December 10, 2009, 12:29 pmBill Woods says:
InAlienable is being released (by Netflix) next month.
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December 10, 2009, 6:09 pmCareless says:
You think that Tolkien, who wrote male upon male upon male hero, would have found a “feminine” Gandalf to make sense? Aside from a woman stabbing an injured and helpless demigod in the face, what heroic acts do women perform in his writing?
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December 12, 2009, 12:15 amLaura(southernxyl) says:
Are you talking about Eowyn here?
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December 12, 2009, 9:55 am