Ian McKellen Gives Updates on 'The Hobbit' & 'Magneto'

Among the many X-Men projects waiting for the green light at 20th Century Fox is a prequel filling in the backstory of the archvillain Magneto.

But Ian McKellen, who played the magnetically-powered baddie in the previous "X-Men" movies, admits he hasn't been sent the script yet.

As it's a prequel about the character's younger years, he would more than likely have only a voiceover role and perhaps 'book-end' the story with cameo appearances.

Speaking to Empire at the San Sebastian Film Festival, Sir Ian said: "There's meant to be a Magneto script floating around, but I've not read it, so I suspect it wouldn't involve me - I think it would be about the younger Magneto, and the most I could hope for would be to top and tail that."

He added: "They can't have someone whose face is as lined as mine any longer!"

He believes they won't be able to digitally de-age him as they did with Patrick Stewart's cameo as a younger version of Xavier in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

Ian laughed: "Ooh, he was very pleased with himself that he was going in to be in Wolverine - it was only an hour's work. We were working on Waiting For Godot at the time"
He also talked about his return as Gandalf in "The Hobbit" two-part film project to be directed by Guillermo del Toro and produced by Peter Jackson.

"The scripts for the two films will be delivered very soon," he revealed. "Then they'll be budgeted, and then they'll be cast. And they'll be going when they've always said they would be, which is next spring - March or April.

"Guillermo even told me at one point, 'We're going to film for 383 days.' He's got that artistic autism! Jackson's the same; they're very, very, very alike. They also very different, but they've so much in common. They both can't stand Hollywood and have wonderful imaginations, and they're both obsessed with gore and fantasy. Both of them laugh a great deal. Guillermo's one of the most brilliant men I've ever met. His English vocabulary is way superior to mine!"

There's been speculation about the possible return of other "Lord of the Rings" cast members, including Legolas and Aragorn, but Sir Ian isn't convinced: "Unforunately, there won't be many of the actors going back unless they're going to put masks on and be disguised as dwarves! Andy Serkis is, at the moment, I think, the only other actor who's doing this film."
As much as I like McKellen as Magneto - and am looking forward to a standalone film involving the character (there’s some real potential there) - I have to admit I’m much more looking forward to him returning as Gandalf in "The Hobbit." Maybe it’s because his role is guaranteed to be huge, as opposed to (at most) a cameo in a solo Magneto flick… not unless they use CGI to make him look REALLY young.

Should McKellen be involved in "X-Men Origins: Magneto" in some capacity, or would you rather see the movie feature a different actor as the Master of Magnetism? Are you disappointed that we apparently won’t be seeing many of the "LOTR" actors make appearances in "The Hobbit"?

Part 1 of "The Hobbit" is set to hit theaters in December, 2011, with Part 2 following a year later in December, 2012.

"X-Men Origins: Magneto" has a tentative release date of 2011, but nothing official has been confirmed yet.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Screen Rant, MTV News, The Geek Files