X-Men: Days of Future Past Star McAvoy Wants to Play Gandalf

James McAvoy, who played a younger version of Sir Patrick Stewart's Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class, wants to follow up that rather daunting act by playing a younger version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Gandalf, most notably portrayed on film by Stewart's X-Men co-star Sir Ian McKellen. McAvoy, who will return to Marvel's Merry Mutants in X-Men: Days of Future Past and star alongside Stewart and McKellen, told Total Film that he'd be keen to play Gandalf in a film adaptation of The Silmarillion. "I'd like to play Gandalf," McAvoy told Total Film. "It's called The Silmarillion! 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!" Of course, it's hard to imagine what circumstances might allow for a Silmarillion adaptation as long as Christopher Tolkien remains involved in the process. "They eviscerated [The Lord of the Rings] by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25," the Tolkien heir told Le Monde. "And it seems that The Hobbit will be the same kind of film." He added, "Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time," Christopher Tolkien observes sadly. "The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away." Christopher Tolkien's opinion on the film adaptations remains important in this case because while J.R.R. Tolkien sold the rights to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings during his lifetime, The Silmarillion was published posthumously and so the ball would be in the court of the Tolkien Estate to negotiate any deal for the work.