Ian McKellen is giving Lord of the Rings fans a unique look behind the scenes from the making of the original films. On his website, he is uploading his journal entries from the day he was cast as Gandolf through the premieres of each film in the trilogy, as noted by Entertainment Weekly.
"20 years ago, I arrived [in] New Zealand to begin filming 'The Lord of the Rings,'" McKellen tweeted. "I joined the cast on January 10, 2000. During that time, I kept a journal, which today would be called a blog Perhaps you'll enjoy reading about those heady times."
The first entry is dated August 14, 1999. The initial entries are organized into "The Grey Book" for Gandalf the Grey and later into "The White Book" for Gandalf the White.
“While filming The Lord of the Rings, I began recording my impressions in The Grey Book — named for Gandalf the Grey, the wizard who leads the Fellowship of The Ring in its fight against Sauron, the Lord of the Rings,” McKellen explains. “This was one of the earliest blogs, launched before the term came into widespread use. Originally posted like a blog, with the newest entries at top, in 2010 the entries on this page were rearranged into chronological order from 20 August 1999 to 14 December 2001. After 2001, I began an additional volume of entries called The White Book.”
Check out the full catalog of entries on McKellen's site here.