'Hobbit' flicks to start filming in July

McKellen played the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's blockbuster big-screen adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy of novels. McKellen is to reprise his role of Gandalf in the "Hobbit" films, which are set in the same world as the "Lord of the Rings" movies, but at an earlier point in time.

"Filming will take over a year," McKellen said on the Web site about the "Hobbit" flicks. "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."

Jackson is to write and produce the films.

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