Sir Ian McKellen confirmed he would reprise his role as wizard Gandalf in the film remake of JRR Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” BBC News reports. “Yes, it's true,” the actor told Empire magazine. “It's not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf,” he added.

It appears that two “Hobbit” movies are due to be released in 2010 and 2011. The films will be prequels to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson. Guillermo del Toro was named the director of the movies.

“I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role,” Sir Ian McKellen said. He also mentioned del Toro would be starting the script in about six weeks after he has finished filming his current project, “Hellboy 2.”

The studio New Line said the first movie will be an adaptation of “The Hobbit” and the second one will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the “Rings” trilogy. “As to how it's going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yet - I can tell you it's going to be amazing though,” Sir Ian McKellen concluded.

Fantastical characters, vampires, giant insects, ghosts, dominate Guillermo del Toro’s movies because, as he said in an interview, he has “a sort of a fetish for insects, clockwork, monsters, dark places, and unborn things.”