Sir Ian McKellen has been telling the folk over at Rotton Tomatoes why he prefers Gandalf The Grey over the more spiritual Gandalf The white.
“Grey Gandalf is my favourite, 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.”
Sir Ian is in Spain for the San Sebastian Film Festival where he picked up a special Donostia award recognising his achievements in acting.
He started the interview by discussing his worries about typecasting but quickly put to bed any worries about whether he may be having second thoughts.
“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.”
“He appeals to really young people. Gandalf has 8 and 9 year old fans who’ve seen his films a great deal more than I have. Their faces when they meet the actor who plays Gandalf are wonderful to behold, so that’s been special.”
Source: Rotton Tomatoes
Gandalf – Who was he?
As well as Gandalf The grey and later ‘The White,’ Gandalf was also known as The Grey Wanderer, The Grey Pilgrim, Stormcrow, Greyhame and several other aliases.
He was one of the 5 Maiar (a lower angel) who first appeared in Middle Earth about 1000 years into the Third Age. The other 4 were Saruman, Radagast, Pallando and Alatar.
They came to Middle Earth in the form of old men and the color refers to their rank with white being the highest.
Gandalf took to wandering and was the only one to show an interest in Hobbits.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Nicely done – Love the full list of istari in there!
– Jack M.
i love gandalf! im sooooo excited for the hobbit movie!!
What’s wrong with spiritual?
I used to think Gandalf the Grey was better, but now that I think about it, Gandalf was still the same in attitude. He didn’t become any less funny or serious in the books, but in the movies for some reason they decided to draw the line between one old man and another.
The article says “He was one of the 5 Maiar (a lower angel) who first appeared in Middle Earth about 1000 years into the Third Age. The other 4 were Saruman, Radagast, Pallando and Alatar.”
I’m just wondering where the names Pallando and Alatar were sourced from? I’ve read the LotR & appendices, The Silmarillion, The Hobbit.. and a few of the H.o.M.E books, and never found the names of the two blue wizards, mentioned in the article as Alatar and Pallando. In fact, I think I recall mention in some book that their names have been forgotten or something.. can anyone briefly clarify this for me?
The blue wizards are referred to as Alatar and Pallando in unfinished tales in the chapter on the Istari. Alatar could translate from Quenya as ‘after-comer’ referring to the fact that he was the second of the Istari to be chosen (they were both chosen by the Vala Orome).
Also in ‘The Peoples Of Middle Earth’ they are given two alternate Quenya names Morinehtar and Rómestámo meaning Darkness-slayer and East-helper.
Hope this helps.
There is definitely some mystery surrounding Pallando and Alatar, the Blue Wizards. They can be found in Unfinished Tales. What we can derive from Tolkien, is that they traveled as emissaries to the far east and south, but what kind of success they had in altering or changing Middle-Earth in any way, we do not know except for the reference that they could of been founders of secret cults and “magic” traditions.
i cant wait for the the movie to come out. i think that peter jackson really brings it to life
Ahh.. thanks roan and greymantle for the info
will del toro ruin this ? should just be jackson
he is already messing with the design of the creatures etc–think he gona kiddie-fy it like lucas did with second trilogy of wars
I’m really hoping to see Radaghast in the movie. As it is said he was part of the white council and if Jackson is smart he will include the goings on of Gandalf and the white council in the hobbit movie as it was where Gandalf went when he left Thorin and company in the Mirkwood.
I hope Del Toro doesn’t stuff this up and use scenes that best fit a video game or use characters that are designed to sell McDonalds toys and what have you. Just stick to the damn book for a change, it will make for a cracking movie/movies. Please Del Toro, don’t mess with it for the sake of little kids, it is a masterpiece that can’t be re-done anytime soon if you ruin it.
Just want to point out for the sake of accuracy that there were a great many Maiar, perhaps originally hundreds, to come to the physical world at its creation. Gandalf was one of the five Istari, wise maiar given a special role, and other famous Maiar include the Balrogs and Sauron himself.
yeah just stick to the book, ok if you want more action into a a part ok, buth dont change the story like in two towers by adding elves to the battle of helmsdeep. Lord of the rings is one of the best books of the last cenury so the storry should be good engouh.
Hi marijn, about the elves in the battle of helms deep, jakson had to bring them in because he wanted to make it more holywood also he made Legolas’s wish come true, in the book he said that he wished he had a hundred mirkwood archers so Jakson made his wish come true, also the elves where part in many battles in the book where Lorien got attached 3 times and mirkwood got atacked from Dol Guldur… So Jakson didn’t had enough space and time to show them in a separate story so he had to bundlle them together, hope this helps
@BEREN, Jackson did not “have” to add elves, especially since, as you point out, they were busy fighting their own battles. TLotR is _not_ about Elves, it is about the coming of the Dominion of Men, and showing elves at Helm’s Deep runs counter to this theme.
About “Kiddyfying” the story. Erm, you have read the Hobbit lately haven’t you? It IS kiddyfied! It is a children’s story and is written as such. A very good children’s story that appeals to adults and children alike, but a children’s story none the less. Tolkien evolved his writing style as he went and in Lord of the Rings (and the Silmarilion and Unfinished Tales that he himself never finished/published) his style becomes very very different, but in the Hobbit and even in the first chapter or two of LOTR, the narrative is very much in the style of a fairy tale or children’s bedtime story.
So if they DO kiddyfy it… as much as I would NOT want that to happen… it WOULD be appropriate.
And yes, they are looking at changing things. Things like changing the hyena Wargs from the movies that weren’t the Wargs from the books at all, back to the wolf like creatures they should have been in the first place. How can that be a bad thing? If that is typical of the “changes” we can expect I say bring it on!
@Ceylerion,
>>Tolkien evolved his writing style as he went and in Lord of the Rings (and the Silmarilion…
FYI, Tolkien wrote a lot of The Silmarillion _before_ The Hobbit. TH was a departure from his normal style.
>>If that is typical of the “changes” we can expect I say bring it on!
While I agree about the wargs, I can see why there is cause for concern about changes. The filmmakers’ desire to integrate TH with TLotR (see the “Del Toro wants five part Middle-earth movie” post on this blog) and to expand the story to include events other than the Quest are such reasons.
Ah, I think here we are verging into the tricky area of the purists and what does and does not belong. Personally I would welcome such expansions. The Hobbit after all can be perceived as a kind of introduction to LOTR (they are very clearly linked after all) and there are many events that are influential to the War of the Ring that occur around or just after the Hobbit.
But if you wish the Hobbit story to stand alone as a single story without context to the world around it or without mentioning the events transpiring at the same time… (such as Sauron being banished from Dol Guldur) if to you these aren’t relevant to The Hobbit story then, yes I can see why those that think that way would have a problem.
@Ceylerion, This seems to be almost exactly the same as your post in the Galadriel and Elrond comments section, so I’d just as soon keep the discussion there (or in the forums, if you join; I have the same username there).
I am aware that the content of the Silmarillion and the volumes of back scrappy draft backstory came first – but I am also aware that such content was being repeatedly re-worked and rewritten, with several versions existing, none of it ever “finished” or published by Tolkien himself.
The first work published was the Hobbit and that appeared to be the style he had chosen to go with (since that is what he actually sent to printers). Even LOTR starts off in the same style but changes as it progresses, reverting back to something more akin to his natural “draft” style of writing.
Make of that as you will. But there is no denying Tolkien made a conscious effort to have the Hobbit in a certain style – akin to a children’s fairytale.
It appears as if he started out intending the same for LOTR, but then changed his mind “in project,” and for what ever reason, never went back to change the style of the start to match the style of the rest of the book.
I think we’re on the same page about Tolkien’s writing style.
hobbit: i just cant wait. hope it comes in 3d in all over cinemas. just let me know when the trailer is up
I had the same impression of Tolkien intending the Hobbit as a children tale that could be read by adults and LOTR as an epic intended for adults and teenagers. I, myself have taken up Christopher Lee’s yearly tradition of reading through the LOTR. I’m on my fourth trip through this year. I thought it was fitting to go to Mordor after the winter solstice has passed.
I, myself, look forward to a slightly different visual style from Del Toro. I think this is possible while maintaining some continuity with LOTR because the adventure takes part in a different part of the world and many of the characters will not have been seen.
From what I read in the Silmarillion the Istari came during the beginning of the third age i dont remember them being one of the maiar but it might be different in the unfinnished tales I have not read those yet if anyone could clarify that would be helpful