I always knew Ian McKellen was the coolest actor in the world and this just proves it. From TheOneRing.net

He’s been seen in Shakespeare, The Simpsons and the Shire – but now Sir Ian McKellen is branching out into garage music. The venerable actor recorded a Shakespearean sonnet onto a beat created by members of the Limehouse Youth Club. He was invited to the Limehouse Causeway club to launch an open art competition in association with the Narrow Street Fete. He said: “What they did there was great. Shakespeare is all based on beat, rhythm and rhyme, and all those things that rappers deal with.”

Maybe Guillermo del Toro could add a scene to The Hobbit where Gandalf goes off with the Elves to do some freestyling. Well maybe not in the film, but how about the DVD?

X-Men Origins: Magneto first got the green light last April and at one point was scheduled to begin filming in January, however the writers strike got in the way and there haven’t been any developments this year at all…that we know of anyway.

IGN caught up with The Dark Knight writer David Goyer at Comic-Con, who wrote the screenplay and has been attached to direct Magneto for a while.

“Magneto seems to be a movie that Fox still wants to make. They called me about it a couple of weeks ago, and I’m still working on Unborn through November, and so we said, when I finish Unborn, we’ll talk, and maybe we’ll get that going next year.”

Fox may be aiming to get Magneto out in 2010, as X-Men Origins: Wolverine will be out next May. Ian McKellen recently said he would be interested in returning for ‘topping and tailing the story’ as the script requires a younger Magneto who is coming to grips with his metal manipulating powers as he and his parents try to survive in Auschwitz. He then meets Professor Xavier and starts hunting down and killing Nazi war criminals.

Sounds good to me.

Ian McKellen was a special guest at an all-night screening of the X-Men trilogy at London’s BFI Imax cinema this weekend and spoke to the BBC about the trilogy and the Magneto spin-off.

On the X-trilogy

“I think it’s a very good series,” he told the BBC News website, “Marvel told me that this is their favourite because it has a social purpose and the strongest demographic are young blacks, Jews and gays who respond to the idea that society does treat some adults as mutants and that was what initially appealed to me about the story.”

On Magneto

“There is a script knocking around for a spin-off, but it will be a younger Magneto, so if I were involved it would just be topping and tailing the story.”

I think having Ian McKellen narrate or appear in ‘flash forwards’ would be the best option. It would keep the continuity and having Ian McKellen in any film isn’t exactly a bad thing.

We haven’t had an update on the spin-off in a while. It is assumed David Goyer is still on-board to direct and they may be seeing how Wolverine goes before it gets the greenlight.

In other Magneto news, a new script has found its way online and you can read a review of it here.

So Sir Ian McKellen will be putting on the robe yet again in The Hobbit. However, it has been more than 5 years since he last played the wizard. Will be be able to get back into the ‘Gandalf zone’?

Luckily, Ian McKellen gave some vital information on TV about how to prepare for the role. All he has to do is watch this back and he is sorted!

Great news for Lord of The Rings fans! Although it was assumed Ian McKellen would be picking up his staff once again for The Hobbit, it has now been confirmed by the good man himself. The same mouth that bellowed the words ‘You shall not pass!’, spoke to Empire at the Speed Racer premiere in London. (Imagine that, Gandalf watching Speed Racer)

“Yes, it’s true,” he said. “I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it’s not a part that you turn down, I loved playing Gandalf.”

So he’s happy to be back in the robes again?

“We talk occasionally and he’s looking forward to coming out of retirement, yes,” he said. “Guillermo will be getting around to starting the script in about six weeks when he’s finished filming Hellboy 2.”

The major question on everybody’s lips is what are they going to do with the second film, which takes place directly after The Hobbit and before Fellowship of the Ring?

“Well I’ve read The Hobbit so I’ve got a good idea of what the story would be,” said McKellen. “But as to how it’s going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yet – I can tell you it’s going to be amazing though.”

McKellen also spoke about the Magneto movie which may be on the cards.

“They are making a Magneto spin-off but I don’t think it will involve me because it’s about the younger Magneto, it’s a back-story.”

But surely with the anti-aging special effects employed in the third X-Men film he could well reprise the role, at least for a cameo?

“Would I be willing to return to play a young Magneto? A cameo in my own movie? I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t think I could get away with playing a 19-year-old.”

…if him and Peter Jackson have anything to do with it anyway. Ian McKellen often answers questions sent in by fans on his website, and today was the day a new batch was presented. You can check them all out by clicking here. They are all Lord of the Rings related and you can find out about some cool things that happened on set and some extra Rings knowledge. A couple of people asked McKellen about The Hobbit, and whether he would be returning.

Will you again be our Gandalf in “The Hobbit” now that the deal is settled?

A: Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor.

Q: Have you been approached yet by Peter Jackson or anyone else about reprising your wonderful role as Gandalf for the two upcoming “Hobbit” movies. I read that principal photography begins in 2009, and I can’t imagine those movies without you!

A: Encouragingly, Peter and Fran Walsh have told me they couldn’t imagine The Hobbit without their original Gandalf. Their confidence hasn’t yet been confirmed by the director Guillermo del Toro but I am keeping my diary free for 2009!

This is great news. Gandalf is probably my favourite character in the Lord of the Rings and Ian McKellen was a big reason for that. It’s also interesting to point out that Mckellen has been kept up to date with the project and is referring to Guillermo del Toro as the director, even though del Toro is still saying nothing has been signed yet.

McKellen also talked about New Line, as they were known for being a bit shifty when it came to paying people.

Bob Shaye (Co-Chairman) and Michael Lynne (COO), formerly at New Line, have always been friendly and supportive to me in person, though I did feel the need to tweak the latter’s nose once, when he seemed to be trying to diddle the cast of LOTR out of their well-earned share of the profits. It was at a party in Berlin after the opening of The Return of the King. I said “That’s for all the trouble you’ve been causing!” I don’t know who was more surprised: Michael, that I had taken his nose in my finger and thumb and twisted it gently, or me for having dared do it! At least one of us enjoyed it.