Sir Ian McKellen will be playing Gandalf the Grey in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming adventure epic "The Hobbit," and the actor recently gave the folks at Empire a quick update about the big upcoming project.

“The scripts for the two films will be delivered very soon,” he said. “Then they'll be budgeted, and then they'll be cast. And they'll be going when they've always said they would be, which is next spring – March or April.

"Guillermo even told me at one point, 'We're going to film for 383 days.' He's got that artistic autism! Jackson's the same; they're very, very, very alike. They also very different, but they've so much in common," he said.

McKellen also told Empire that Jackson and del Toro are obsessed with gore and fantasy. Oh, and they hate Hollywood. Who doesn't?

McKellen also briefly talked about "Magneto," but he said he hasn't seen a script yet, which means he doesn't expect to be part of that film. At least not at this stage.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more about "The Hobbit" soon; especially when the casting process really kicks off.