Sir Ian McKellen says it was an easy decision to reprise his role as Gandalf in The Hobbit movies because he did not want another actor to play the wizard.
Sir Ian played Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s three Lord Of The Rings films and was the only star to receive an Oscar nomination.
Now he will return to Middle-earth in Jackson’s eagerly awaited trilogy, based on J R R Tolkien’s earlier novel. Like The Lord of The Rings it was shot in New Zealand.
In an interview with Empire magazine, Sir Ian, 73, said: “The negatives were: I’ve done that part and do I want to be away from home for a long time over the next two or three years?
“The positives were: I don’t want anyone else to play Gandalf, I enjoy going to New Zealand and I have fun working on these films. So it wasn’t a difficult decision to make. It was just that you never knew when you were going to make it.”
The Hobbit is being made into three parts by Jackson, with the first, An Unexpected Journey, due for its UK release in December.
Sir Ian added: “I had hoped that in this movie we might see Gandalf a little bit off-duty. You never see him washing, do you? No one seems to wash in Middle-earth.
“And I rather like the idea of seeing Gandalf waking up under a hedge, where he’s spent the night, and taking the straw out of his hair. Maybe stripping off and we discover he’s tattooed from his neck downwards. Then him having a long pee against a big tree.”
Describing working with Jackson, the actor said: “The relationship we have is often making each other laugh. He’s always had time to just have a joke. Our regular joke is I’ll step on set and say, ‘Has John Hurt arrived yet to play Gandalf, Peter? No? Oh well … I’d better do it myself.’”
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The Hobbit stars Martin Freeman as a young Bilbo Baggins, while Benedict Cumberbatch voices the dragon Smaug. Other actors reprising their roles from the Lord of the Rings films include Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom.
