Hanks, Halle, Portman In for Tykwer's 'Cloud Atlas'

I'm a huge fan of Run Lola Run, the breakthrough film for director Tom Tykwer. He's been hit-and-miss since, but always aiming very, very high, even when the films don't work as well.

Perfume probably wasn't ideally suited for a cinematic treatment, since it's about the sense of smell. And it bombed in the US (not worldwide, however, where it made 98% of its money). The International was a lot more mainstream. And it didn't do that well, either. But the guy can absolutely direct. Now The Playlist says Tykwer has recruited Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, James McAvoy, Ian McKellen, and Natalie Portman for Cloud Atlas, an adaptaion of David Mitchell's novel from 2004. You would hope that it has to be good to attract that cast (everyone's attached except McKellen at this point), and that's what the evidence shows. It's a multiple award-winning book and it caught the attention of the Wachowskis, who bought the rights last year.

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Ian McKellen: "My Time Is Running Out" for 'Hobbit'

More nonsense from The Hobbit. It's already taken so long to get the film going that director Guillermo del Toro has backed out. It looks for all the world that Peter Jackson is just an official announcement away from being the only director of record for Middle Earth, and maybe that's fitting.

But now the double production may lose another of its key figures. Gandalf - and the film's biggest cheerleader - Sir Ian McKellen says he may not be able to fit the movie into his schedule, so protracted are the delays. That, of course, would be a huge shot to the already damaged project. Sir Ian told New Zealand's Good Morning (by way of Bleeding Cool), "Well I’m not under contract and my time is running out and I’m enjoying working in the theatre and frankly, I would like to race after doing Waiting For Godot, get on with doing another play but we’ll have to see," he said. "I don’t give the producers the impression that I’m sitting waiting."

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Ian McKellen Tweets 'Hobbit' Casting, Filming Updates

Sir Ian McKellen, who has been a constant source of "information" about The Hobbit is at it again. I don't really blame McKellen for talking about the project, and it's clearly not his fault that all these delays have happened, but he just hasn't hit it out of the park yet.

The latest comes from Twitter, earlier today. "Hobbit sets are ready, script ready and movie is casting this month. Fans are not to worry," notes McKellen, following up the thought almost immediately with "The films will get made. I suspect we'll start shooting at end of this year." I'll let you decide whether or not you want to believe those statements, although the part about shooting by the end of the year seems on target with everything else we've heard. The big question remains about who will direct the films (a two-parter shot the same way The Lord of the Rings was), and the answer is Peter Jackson. It's not official, but when you look at how much time was committed by Guillermo del Toro to a project that never completely got off the ground, Jackson can't just hire somebody and look over his or her shoulder for 18 months while the new director gets up to speed.

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Ian McKellen Now Unsure of When 'The Hobbit' Starts

Here's more Ian McKellen-talks-The Hobbit news. As you're probably aware, all news about the puzzlingly troubled production starts with McKellen first and then gets filtered by Peter Jackson, who usually says he doesn't know where such information comes from. It's all quite amusing.

Months ago, Sir Ian said the production would begin in April, but it's May. Then he said June. That's not happening, either. And we now know the first movie will arrive in IMAX in December 2012 (likely digital 3-D, too, but there's no official word yet), so where does that leave McKellen's assured comments of a while ago? Intact, but pushed back, according to What's Playing (via Latino Review).

“That should have started in April but they didn’t contact me about a contract until a few weeks ago and we’re in negotiation” before saying that: “I shall see (director) Guillermo del Toro and (executive producer) Peter Jackson when I’m in New Zealand after we’ve been to Australia and well find out more then.”

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Ian McKellen: 'The Hobbit' Shoots This Summer

He's been unreliable about a few things before, but he's still Ian McKellen, so we'll tell you all about it and you can believe it or discard it. McKellen says The Hobbit will still shoot this year in spite of all the problems it's been having taking shape.

The new schedule, according to Gandalf, is for the production to begin in June. "Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started," McKellen writes. "The script too proceeds. The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth." Adds Sir Ian, "The director Guillermo del Toro is now living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons’ and the studio in Miramar."

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