Ian McKellen has revealed that he became so frustrated filming green screen scenes for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that he burst into tears on set.

Contact Music reports that the actor, who played the wizard Gandalf in all three of Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy and has reprised the role for The Hobbit, said he found it so difficult to shoot scenes on his own that he threw a tantrum on set.

“In order to shoot the dwarves and a large Gandalf, we couldn’t be in the same set,” he said. “All I had for company was 13 photographs of the dwarves on top of stands with little lights – whoever’s talking flashes up. Pretending you’re with 13 other people when you’re on your own, it stretches your technical ability to the absolute limits.”


He added:

And I cried, actually. I cried. Then I said out loud, ‘This is not why I became an actor.’ Unfortunately the microphone was on and the whole studio heard.’

The promotional campaign for the trilogy is now picking up speed as the first film approaches. An Unexpected Journey gets its worldwide premiere in New Zealand on November 28 before opening in UK cinemas on December 14. You can watch the trailer by clicking at the bottom of the page.

Jackson’s second Hobbit film, The Desolation Of Smaug, will follow in December 2013, before the trilogy concludes with There And Back Again in July 2014. Alongside McKellen, the films star Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and boast an ensemble cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Bret McKenzie and Orlando Bloom.



