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Ian McKellen vividly desribes Bilbo Baggin in 3D

By Anthony Pearson Mar 9, 2011, 9:45 GMT

Sir Ian McKellen plays Gandalf the Grey in "The Hobbit" Part I and II.

In Sir Ian McKellen's latest blog, the actor who plays Gandalf the Grey in Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" movies describes the first time he saw Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins in 3D. It is always a pleasure to read Ian McKellen's poetically vivid descriptions of such events.

Speaking from his official site he wrote;

I've seen Bilbo — in three dimensions.

I was visiting old friends in the Stone Street offices and heard Martin Freeman was just round the corner by the permanent greenscreen, done up as Bilbo, testing his costume in front of the 3D cameras. Indeed, there he was in the open air, mostly oblivious to the camera, though turning this way and that as required. Martin improvised a hobbity gait, padding back and forth, testing his big hairy Hobbit feet, pointy ears and little tum.

Beneath the shade of a tent, in a sun hat, Andrew Lesnie was remotely controlling the two lenses within the mighty camera which digitally records in 3D. His screen showed the familiar 2D image but next to it, above the director's chair, was a large colour screen in full magical three dimensions, much as it will appear in the cinema — courtesy of the spy-glasses that transform the blurred outlines onscreen to the high definition exactitude of the 3D effect.

Three Bilbos simultaneously, two performances on screen and the actor beyond: which was the real one? Martin Freeman was transmuting into a character whose reality will soon be as authentic as his own.

"The Hobbit" begins shooting in 12 days time (March 21st) and the first of the two films is expected for a December 2012 release.

The films are an adaptation of the 1937 published J. R. R. Tolkien' fantasy classic "The Hobbit."

Confirmed cast for movies so far include Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Saoirse Ronan, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Rob Kazinsky, Aidan Turner, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Mikael Persbrant, Sylvester McCoy and Elijah Wood.

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