The movie production Ian McKellen found “miserable”
There aren’t many people who hold The Hobbit in the same level of esteem as The Lord of the Rings, and in the case of Ian McKellen, that extended to the cast members who appeared in both trilogies.
For his return to Middle-Earth, it never felt as though Peter Jackson’s heart was in it to anywhere near the extent it was the first time around, which may have been down to the fact he was never planning to direct until the movies were deep into pre-production.
Serving as screenwriter and producer, Guillermo del Toro was supposed to direct a two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s story under Jackson’s stewardship, but he dropped out due to the repeated delays to the start of production. Realistically, Jackson was the only candidate qualified to step in at short notice, making him the obvious choice to pick up the reins.
It wasn’t until 16 months after cameras started rolling that The Hobbit was even confirmed to be expanded from two films into three, and the end result left a lot to be desired. Despite visual effects technology having advanced leaps and bounds in the decade since The Lord of the Rings, the CGI in the prequel trilogy is a noticeable step down from its predecessor.
Not only that, but the increase in greenscreen drastically affected McKellen, who had become accustomed to being on practical sets first time around, while his interactions with the hobbits were filmed using either body doubles or forced perspective so that he had scene partners to work with.
“I was miserable”, he admitted to Time Out, “I was miserable. It may be my impression but I don’t remember a greenscreen on The Lord of the Rings. If Gandalf was on top of a mountain, I’d be there on the mountain”. Things got so bad that when the actor was seated alone in a set surrounded by nothing but fabric, he broke down in tears.
As he told Contact Music, “In order to shoot the dwarves and a large Gandalf, we couldn’t be in the same set. All I had for company was 13 photographs of the dwarves on top of stands with little lights, whoever’s talking flashes up”. As well as the way it “stretches your technical ability to the absolute limits”, McKellen cried at the circumstances he found himself under, lamenting “this was not why I became an actor”.
Jackson confirmed McKellen’s hardships on the DVD commentary of the opening chapter An Unexpected Journey, revealing how “we felt sorry for him being dumped in greenscreen land”. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about it with filming underway, but the returning Gandalf didn’t let it diminish his performance. The Hobbit may have left him frustrated to the point of tears, but he still gave it his all.
