James McAvoy Wants To Play Young Gandalf

James McAvoy has confessed that he wants to play Gandalf if a prequel to The Hobbitgets made in future.

The X Men: First Class star told Total Film that he reckons he's the ideal candidate to fill Sir Ian McKellen's shoes - if a movie of the wizard's early years ever gets made.

The first instalment of Peter Jackson's latest Middle Earth trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is still riding high in the box office charts - but McAvoy staked his claim for a role in a possible future adaptation of JRR Tolkein's The Silmarillion.

He explained: "It's a collection of poems and songs that chart the ancient history of Middle Earth. My true geek is coming to the fore, but they're really, really beautiful stories.

"In part of that is the genesis of Gandalf, or Mithrandir, or Stormcrow, or any of his many, many names. Anyway, maybe that's the one!"

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