Ian McKellan
Ian McKellan has heaped praise on Benedict Cumberbatch for his performance in The Hobbit.
Cumberbatch is set to take on the role of Smaug in the second film The Desolation of Smaug - a role that required huge amounts of motion capture work.
And while McKellan admits that he has not seen the finished version of Smaug yet he says that Cumberbatch's screen test was 'very impressive'.
Speaking to Metro McKellan said: "Doing motion capture for a part such as that is tricky. I mean, how do you play a dragon?
"Then again, before Lord of the Rings people were saying, 'How on Earth do you play a Gollum?'
"None of us have seen the finished Smaug yet, but I saw Benedict Cumberbatch's screen test and it was very impressive."
We saw McKellan return to the role of Gandalf at the end of last year when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hit the big screen - a movie that took over $1 billion at the global box office.
And we will be seeing the actor return to another role as he is set to play Mangeto once again in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is released 13th December.
Tagged in The Hobbit Sir Ian McKellen Benedict Cumberbatch