Serkis McKellen On Board For Hobbit April 29, 2008 Tinker Bell must team up with a rival fairy to keep their existence a secret from humans. With Guillermo del Toro now officially confirmed as directing ‘The Hobbit’ focus has shifted to who else will be involved with the long-awaited prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. According to del Toro himself, two of the stars of Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning series will reprise their roles for his films. In an interview, del Toro said that “in the last few weeks I’ve been chatting with a ton of people via email, phone, and in person from the previous films. People like Andy Serkis, Sir Ian McKellen, Howard Shore, John Howe, Gino Acevedo, Richard Taylor next week I’m meeting Alan Lee. I’m doing this to ensure that whatever we do we keep continuity with the other films.” He added, “I had the most charming meeting with Sir Ian, and all bureaucracy pending, he’s on board, as is Andy Serkis. We will continue giving you progress reports as they occur. It is our intention that we will not lose any of the key elements. EXTRAs: Del Toro’s favorite movie monsters are Frankenstein’s Monster and the Creature of the Black Lagoon.