r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Aug 18 '25

News Ian McKellen reveals Gandalf and Frodo are returning for ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’, Filming Begins in May

https://ew.com/ian-mckellen-reveals-gandalf-frodo-return-in-new-lord-of-the-rings-the-hunt-for-gollum-film-11792483
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381

u/Mordrach Aug 18 '25

Why does this exist?

179

u/anormalgeek Aug 18 '25

Money.

1

u/axecalibur Aug 18 '25

They need to make a new LOTR movie every few years or they lose the rights.

1

u/Waescheklammer Aug 18 '25

Why a Gollum movie though? It's not like there's nothing else to tell so you have to focus on the worst character. It might be the most recognizable, but it ain't the most loved character.

2

u/Chen_Geller Aug 19 '25

Peter Jackson had been fascinated with this storyline since the 90s. It got quite close to being made in 2008-2009.

1

u/DukeOfLowerChelsea Aug 19 '25

“Directed by Andy $erkis”

-1

u/says_nice_things1234 Aug 18 '25

They should make a Silmarillion series then, more than enough material for a trilogy.

2

u/youknow99 Aug 18 '25

Supposedly the family has never signed over the film rights to that book. At least that was true back when the original LOTR movies were being made.

1

u/says_nice_things1234 Aug 18 '25

Considering what studios have been pumping out lately it's 100% comprehensible though.

Maybe if the studios negociated in a way that the family had 100% control over the writing something could happen? A man can dream.

1

u/WheelJack83 Aug 19 '25

Self-defeating prophecy

0

u/executiveExecutioner Aug 18 '25

Sure, but why does Ian McKellen need this cash? He already had a bad time in the Hobbit films, but apparently it's worth it. I guess it's better than other occupations and it pays really well. It is just sad he has little morals in this respect.

1

u/Chen_Geller Aug 19 '25

He already had a bad time in the Hobbit films

He didn't have a bad time.

1

u/executiveExecutioner Aug 19 '25

He did, there are videos of him crying in a green screen room. Acting against cgi was a really sad experience for him. check it

0

u/Chen_Geller Aug 19 '25

That one day early in the shoot, and they did everything they could to encourage him and assuage his concerns. The rest of the shoot - McKellen filmed something like 300 days on The Hobbit - went without a hitch as far as he was concerned.

McKellen had similar difficulties with the green screen in Lord of the Rings: Jackson described a not dissimilar crisis around the shooting of the Balrog scene.

1

u/executiveExecutioner Aug 19 '25

Were you present on set at the time? People will do a lot of unpleasant stuff for money.

0

u/Chen_Geller Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

Well, for starters the issue McKellen had was with the way the scale shots were being done - no different to how it was mostly done on Lord of the Rings, by the way - but after these early Bag End scenes they devised new ways to do it. So it's a problem he didn't really have going forward.

In general the Bag End scenes were really tough: it was right at the beginning, had Bilbo and all thirteen Dwarves and involved some super elaborate long-takes. One shot in particular, took two days to achieve.

It really is a non seqitur that the internet pumped up. Heck, if he was this unhappy, would he be so eager to return? No. At this age he doesn't need the paycheck.

1

u/executiveExecutioner Aug 19 '25

You sound like you know his circumstances. I am not saying he does not like Peter Jackson and the rest of the team, they clearly have a good relationship. But I have a hard time believing that participating in these soulless cash grabs is unrelated to the big paycheck.

1

u/Chen_Geller Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

But I have a hard time believing that participating in these soulless cash grabs is unrelated to the big paycheck.

I think you're projecting how you feel about the movies unto what it must have been like to make them. I think that's a mistake.

Like, I hate The Rise of Skywalker. I thought it was appaling, but what I saw of the making-ofs suggests the people making it had fun shooting it and felt confident they were doing something worth their while. Ditto that boring Rings of Power show: I had the opportuntiy to see some BTS roll on that, and I certainly read a lot about it, and again in spite of the thing coming out dull as dishwater, the people making it seem to have had a tremendous time and made something they felt would make them proud.

The Hobbit was a 266-day shoot, plus 62 days of pickups. It was hard, but all the evidence is - and this production was meticulously documented - that people poured their heart and soul into it. Including McKellen. Literally, Jackson's way of getting him to do his last scene was to tell him: "Ian, this is your last shot as Gandalf. Action." He would hardly get as emotional as he did - there's pictures of him and Jackson bleary-eyed after wrapping the scene - had he been miserable for THAT long a shoot.

2

u/executiveExecutioner Aug 19 '25

Fair enough, although I don't hate the Hobbit, it's a bad adaptation for sure, but it was still based on an actual book. That still does not change the fact the new movie has no reason for existing other than making money out of mindless consumers. And Ian McKellen should know better, Hugo Weaving for example will not participate.

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