After all the boycotting and burning regarding The Hobbit, the Prime Minister of New Zealand has offered to intervene in the dispute between Peter Jackson and an actor’s union before he ups sticks and ships the whole production off to deepest, darkest Eastern Europe.

The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has been jetting round the world to meet with potential cast members of The Hobbit.

Whew. This is one prequel that’s getting some serious weight behind it. Last month we reported that X-Men: First Class would be directed and written by the Kick-Ass team Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, and today it’s been confirmed that Brit star James McAvoy has climed on-board as the young Chales Xavier (originally played by Patrick Stewart).

So whilst rehearsing for his production of Waiting For Godot in Melbourne, Sir Ian Mckellen nipped outside for some air, sat down and was mistaken for a homeless man by a passerby. That’s the acting power of Sir Ian for you; even when he’s not acting, he literally is

Sir Ian, how could you bamboozle us so? Last week we reported that filming of The Hobbit would finally be getting underway around July, based on a confident assertion by the wizard with the mostest. It seems that Gandalf’s powers are waning however, as today it’s been reported that filming won’t be starting until the end of the year. And possibly not even then. Sigh.

It looks like Patrick Stewart is hanging up his metal brain-hat, and wheeling that chair into pastures new. He has stated that he will not be reprising his role as Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, after a good run of three pretty mutant-tastic films (four if you count his cameo in Wolverine).

Planned Hobbit films get year-long delay. Planned for a December 2011 release, Variety hinted that Guillermo del Toro’s highly-anticipated adaptation won’t been seen until the “fourth quarter 2012”. As well as delays in writing the second film’s script, MGM’s upcoming sale has also thrown a spanner into the works.

You may have picked up on a recent bit of harrumphing from certain quarters concerning Guilliermo del Toro’s Hobbit film: namely, production has been delayed, it hasn’t been formally greenlit by any studio yet, ergo we’re never going to see it and the world will surely be engulfed by a cleansing fire should a hairy-footed teaser trailer ever make it to Youtube.