Last year Ian McKellen said that he expected to be heading to New Zealand to start filming The Hobbit in March, however since then auditions have been taking place and Peter Jackson said in December that the aim now is to start filming in June. McKellen, who will once again be playing Gandalf the Grey, updated his website recently confirming the June start.

THE HOBBIT’s, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in June. Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started. The script too proceeds. The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth.

The director Guillermo del Toro is now living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons’ and the studio in Miramar.

I guess this means we will finally be getting some casting news over the upcoming months, with the actor chosen to play Bilbo Baggins being the most important. Along with McKellen Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving may be returning to play Galadriel and Elrond, and there will also be a number of Dwarves that need to be cast.

In other Hobbit news TheOneRing.net posted a story saying “an industry insider was adamant The Hobbit would be filmed in 3D and Weta Digital – which won an Oscar for its work on Avatar – would be working on the project.” We’ve had 3D talk regarding The Hobbit for a while, and director Guillermo del Toro recently mentioned that he and the studio were having discussions about it.

Would you want to see a three dimensional Middle Earth? Or would you prefer it to be in 2D like The Lord of the Rings trilogy?

The casting of Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier for X-Men over a decade ago was probably the best casting in a superhero movie there has been, and will ever be. Ever. So the thought of another actors cheeks warming up that wheelchair isn’t something I’ve wanted to think about, until now. Last month Bryan Singer announced his return to the franchise and said that X-Men: First Class would revolve around “the formation of the X-Men, how they began, and the relationship between a young Xavier and a young Magneto”.

This won’t be the first time we’ve seen a young Xavier and Magneto. We saw Stewart and Ian McKellen all youthful during the opening scenes of X-Men: The Last Stand, and last year producer Lauren Shulder Donner said that “you can’t do X-Men: First Class without Patrick [Stewart]“, so one assumed they would be going for the de-aging technique again. However since Donner made that statement the original script by Gossip Girl writer Josh Schwartz has been pushed to the side, and Singer is worked on a brand new script which, from what we have heard, focuses more on Xavier and Magneto than the previous treatment. This means de-aging two 70+ year old actors for a two hour movie might not be viable. Unfortunately.

Patrick Stewart recently spoke to TrekMovie about First Class, and said:

…working on X-Men with Sir Ian McKellen was “one of the best and most fun experiences” he has ever had, and that it was “the best job in the world” because every day he got to go to makeup and say good morning and give a kiss on the cheek to Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Famke Janssen and Anna Paquin (and even Hugh Jackman). As for the future of X-Men, Stewart talked about the upcoming young Magneto & Xavier film (joking they were going to hire 8-year olds), but he doesn’t expect to be involved. However, Stewart did note that “working with Ian again would be wonderful.”

Singer is expected to make Jack the Giant Killer before heading back to the X-Universe, so they might not have got round to rounding up the cast yet. Although it is looking likely that we will be seeing new actors playing Xavier and Magneto. I saw Ralph Fiennes’ name suggested somewhere, and I think he’d be a good Xavier if they will be needing actors in their 40’s. Do you have any suggestions?

Last month X-Men producer Lauren Shulder Donner pretty much confirmed that X-Men Origins: Magneto, which had been in development limbo for 2 years, was dead. I can understand why, I mean out of all the planned X-Men movies Magneto would probably perform worst at the box office, unless they could somehow get Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt involved.

The script revolved around a young Magneto getting revenge on Nazi’s and befriending a young Charles Xavier. It’s not really blockbuster material, however I would love to see a Magneto movie at some point in the future. The character may not be as commercial as Wolverine but he is far more interesting. 20th Century Fox just need to find a director who could make a dark, gritty and badass movie.

In the meantime (which could be a few years) here’s a cool X-Men Origins: Magneto fan made trailer you can be watching. It uses footage from all three movies, so (if you can) just imagine everyone looking younger. It also doubles up as a tribute to the character Ian McKellen brought to life so magnificently.

Over the past few months we’ve been following the progress of The Hobbit script rather intensely. We got updates from Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro during the writing process, then Ian McKellen said he would receive his copy of the first draft in September, and now two months on McKellen has read the script.

Sci-Fi Wire caught up with him recently and he shared his thoughts:

“As Peter has said, they loved writing Gandalf [for The Hobbit] because they knew who they were writing him for,” McKellen told us exclusively in an interview last week while promoting AMC’s The Prisoner. “There are a lot of characters in The Hobbit, including, crucially, Bilbo, and they don’t know who’s going to play Bilbo. So it’s extremely attractive that this part has been written for me. The other Gandalf was written for, well, just as Gandalf. There’s lots for me to enjoy, in all sorts of ways. And I couldn’t be happier. But I’m sworn to secrecy. I’m not to say anything at all about the script.”

As for del Toro’s input into the new script, McKellen said that he and Jackson speak the same language. “They are the same person,” he said. “They were separated at birth. They’re twins. They have the same attitude. Neither likes working in Hollywood. They’re both fascinated by fantasy and violence on the screen, and gore, and things that frighten you. They like going into the psyche. They’re both brilliant storytellers in very much the same way. And I think the script, because I have read it, plays very much to Guillermo’s strengths, as I’ve seen them. I have seen his other movies, and people act very well in them. So I think it’s all fine. And Peter will always be there.”

McKellen will be heading to New Zealand in March and will be there throughout 2010. He also knows who will be playing Bilbo Baggins, however he can’t reveal who, although he’s sure that the fans will be “very, very pleased”.

Sir Ian McKellen has reached that stage in his career where he is presented with awards for his acting work over the many years he’s been in the business, and McKellen recently travelled to Spain for the San Sebastian Film Festival to collect such an award. While there Rotten Tomatoes got the chance to interview him and The Hobbit was obviously a key talking point.

…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.”

“Grey Gandalf is my favourite,” he told us. “Peter Jackson’s too, we always preferred Gandalf the Grey. Peter liked him because he got down and dirty. He slept in the hedgerows; he was closer to the earth and not quite so spiritual. He’s also funnier — he’s got more variety to him. We thought there was more scope in that Gandalf.”

My favourite was Gandalf the White, probably because he was the one who we saw onscreen the most and he kicked Orc ass, however we only saw Gandalf the Grey during the first half of Fellowship of the Ring so it’ll be cool to see more of Gandalf pre-you shall not pass!

The Hobbit will begin filming next year, and Ian McKellen is expected to wield his staff again after 9 years when he travels to New Zealand in March.

According to /Film Ian McKellen recently attended an all-night showing of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and gave the crowd an update on The Hobbit.

Ian McKellen was present in person to intro the screenings, and while he only spoke for a very short time, he managed to get the crowd into something of a frenzy. Not only did he confirm that he’ll be coming back as Gandalf, and is expecting to start work on set in March of next year, he also dropped a bit of a casting bombshell. According to McKellen, the starring role of Bilbo Baggins has been successfully cast already. Not only that, but he knows who has the role and he’s sure that the fans will be very, very pleased. McKellen also revealed that he is expecting his own personal copy of “the script” within the next fortnight.

Last month Peter Jackson said that they won’t be revealing who’ll be playing Bilbo Beggins “for a little while” as they were still finishing the script. If what Ian McKellen says is correct they must have finished the first draft of the script and are getting the casting under way. Hopefully they’ll start letting us know who they’ve chosen soon!

Guillermo del Toro said last week that he would be revealing casting details for The Hobbit in a few weeks time, namely who will be playing Bilbo Baggins. However, today del Toro appeared on a radio show in the UK and gave a little more information about The Hobbit. He confirmed that Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis would be back, but we’ve known and assumed that for a while, however he also revealed that Hugo Weaving will be back as Elrond. It looks like the old gang will be getting back together!

From the BBC’s Simon Mayo show (via /Film):

Mayo then asked if Andy Serkis is back, which prompted Guillermo to confirm a nice little trio of casting locks:

“Yes [and] Ian McKellen is back, [and] Hugo Weaving in the roles they originated in the trilogy.”

Guillermo del Toro also spoke about Smaug and explained that only now, after eight months of design work have they “cracked the basic engineering.” He suspects that they will need another six or seven months of application there before Smaug is ready for his close up.

Hopefully we will learn who’ll be playing Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming weeks as Guillermo promised, and possibly more casting news over the coming months. December 2011 seems so far away!

Ian McKellen has revealed to Showbiz Spy that in the event of a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine being green light he would be willing to grab his helmet and reprise his role as Magneto.

Ian says, “I’m here and ready and waiting.

“If the Wolverine movie does well they’ll probably make another one and I’d love to do battle with Hugh again.”

Personally I wouldn’t be too interested in seeing Magneto in a Wolverine movie. I’d much rather see that Magneto movie Fox have been sat on for years.

In other Magneto/X-Men Origins: Wolverine news (possible spoilers) someone brought to my attention a scene that the crew may be filming in Vancouver. Additional filming is currently taking place and apparently one scene towards the end of the film involves a badly beaten Sabretooth being picked up by two familiar faces. One is already mentioned in this post and the other is rather blue and naked. Apparently it will involve body doubles because McKellen and Rebecca Romijn are busy (McKellen is on stage and Romijn has just had twins). X-Men Origins: Wolverine takes place around 15 years before X-Men so they may be adding that scene to link the movies, as Sabretooh appears in the Brotherhood alongside Magneto and Mystique in X-Men.

Of course it could be bull, however the person who informed me has been right in the past about a few things regarding filming, so take it as you will.

X-Men Origins: Magneto is slowly taking steps to getting made. The film has had David Goyer attached to direct since April 2007, and now it finally has a synopsis! Progress!

From trade magazine Production Weekly:

“The original X-Men film began with a prologue that showed the character as a child being led to a concentration camp by Nazis and that is the period in which the Magneto film will take place. This setup will allow a future villain to at least flirt with the designation of protagonist since the character will be seen almost exclusively in his formative years.”

“The storyline will heavily involve Professor X, the wheelchair-using X-Men leader. That character was a soldier in the allied force that liberated the concentration camps. The professor meets Magneto after the war and while they bond over the realisation that they are alike in their special powers, their differences soon turn them into enemies.”

Ian Mckellen is attached to the film but will most likely serve as narrator or in flash forward sequences. From the synopsis it seems that Patrick Stewart may also be required, however as the film is set in the past Fox will probably decide to hire younger actors instead of doing the de-ageing effects seen in X-Men 3.

X-Men Origins: Magneto will begin filming whenever David Goyer finds the time and the script is complete.

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?