Ian McKellen is the Gandalf. I don't think I'm going out too far on a limb saying that. He nails the performance in the Lord of the Rings films, and was one of the bright points in the Hobbit films when all other lights had gone out (see what I did there?). Both the Middle-earth & J.R.R. Tolkien Blog and The Wrap are reporting that last Saturday, Ian Mckellen appeared on the BBC Radio 2 Graham Norton show and confirmed that he would be open to playing the Gray Wizard in the new Amazon LOTR film series: “But are you suggesting that someone else is going to play it? Gandalf is over 7000 years old, so I’m not too old.”
I think that Amazon would be crazy to pass up having Ian McKellen reprising his role as Gandalf. His performance is absolutely iconic, and I can't imagine anyone else stepping into those particular shoes. However, hiring A-list actors definitely comes with a cost and while Amazon is reportedly giving this new TV series a record breaking budget, they may have to make some hard decisions about where they allocate their resources (actors, special effects, writers, etc.).
We'll keep you posted as more Gandalf-related news becomes available.
Later.
Update: Entertainment Weekly and Gizmodo are running this news as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment