Ian McKellen Sworn To Secrecy On ‘The Hobbit’ Script - The Spoilsport

Just a few weeks ago Ian McKellen spoke a little about the upcoming movie version of The Hobbit. At that moment he said he was expecting the scripts for the two films to be delivered very soon. He’s now got them, read them, and is ready to comment on them. Except he can’t.

He recently told Sci-Fi Wire about his pleasure at having the part of Gandalf written especially for him in The Hobbit. Which wasn’t the case with the Lord Of The Rings movies. Unfortunately, it seems Bilbo still hasn’t been cast and McKellen cannot reveal any actual details about the scripts.

He said:

“As Peter [Jackson] has said, they loved writing Gandalf [for ‘The Hobbit’] because they knew who they were writing for. 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.”

The great big spoilsport. McKellen also gives a little of his opinion on Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, the directors bringing the Tolkien classic to the big screen. he said:

“They are the same person. 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.”

Even those little tidbits of information are enough to intrigue me and want the first of The Hobbit movies to appear sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, the start of shooting is still a while away and it’s then going to take over a year to film anyway. So there’s a little while to wait yet.