Director Peter Jackson is set to begin filming The Hobbit later this month after months and months of pre-production.  Ian McKellen stopped by the production offices during final preparations, which basically amount to 3D test footage of star Martin Freeman in costume as Bilbo.  But McKellen's prose livens the story.  A taste:

"I was visiting old friends in the Stone Street offices and heard Martin Freeman was just round the corner by the permanent greenscreen, done up as Bilbo, testing his costume in front of the 3D cameras.  Indeed, there he was in the open air, mostly oblivious to the camera, though turning this way and that as required."

Read the full missive after the jump.

The Hobbit also features Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Sylvester McCoy, Saoirse Ronan, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage, and William Kircher.  The Hobbit: Part 1 is scheduled for release in December 2012; Part 2 follows in December 2013.  Click here for all our Hobbit coverage.

From McKellen's official site:

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Image via Warner Bros.

I've seen Bilbo — in three dimensions.

I was visiting old friends in the Stone Street offices and heard Martin Freeman was just round the corner by the permanent greenscreen, done up as Bilbo, testing his costume in front of the 3D cameras.  Indeed, there he was in the open air, mostly oblivious to the camera, though turning this way and that as required.  Martin improvised a hobbity gait, padding back and forth, testing his big hairy Hobbit feet, pointy ears and little tum.

Beneath the shade of a tent, in a sun hat, Andrew Lesnie was remotely controlling the two lenses within the mighty camera which digitally records in 3D.  His screen showed the familiar 2D image but next to it, above the director's chair, was a large colour screen in full magical three dimensions, much as it will appear in the cinema — courtesy of the spy-glasses that transform the blurred outlines onscreen to the high definition exactitude of the 3D effect.

Three Bilbos simultaneously, two performances on screen and the actor beyond: which was the real one?  Martin Freeman was transmuting into a character whose reality will soon be as authentic as his own.

— Ian McKellen, Wellington, March 2011