Sir Ian McKellen is supporting the Hobbit pub in its legal battle with a big Hollywood producer

**CelticViking** · 03-15-2012, 07:56 PM

Actor Sir Ian McKellen is supporting the Hobbit pub in its legal battle with a big Hollywood producer who is demanding it removes all references to the JRR Tolkien classic.

The actor, 72, who plays Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings films, said the move by California-based movie producer the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) to force the pub in Southampton to change its name and decor as "unnecessary pettiness".

He has been joined by fellow British actor Stephen Fry, who has also thrown his support behind a 40,000-strong internet campaign to save the pub's name.

Landlady Stella Roberts, 41, has claimed lawyers have written saying she has until the end of May to change the pub's theme or face legal action for copyright infringement.

SZC owns the worldwide film, stage and merchandising rights to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit and has not commented on the row.

Writing on his website, McKellen said: "Gandalf's portrait hangs outside The Hobbit pub in Portswood, Southampton UK and has done for the last 20 years and more.

"I haven't been there, but it's clearly not a place to ill-treat hobbits, elves, dwarves and wizards, in any way. So what's the problem?

"I am a part-landlord of a pub called The Grapes. So far no vintners' group has objected. That would be silly, of course. As is this unnecessary pettiness. More Alice's Wonderland than Tolkien's Middle-earth. Harrumph.

"I haven't yet talked to Stephen Fry about his disapproval of this Hollywood bullying, but I'm with him all the way. All the way to The Hobbit pub once filming is over in July."

The pub faces having to axe its Lord Of The Rings-themed cocktails, interior artwork and even the pub sign.

The movies, starring Elijah Wood as the hobbit Frodo and directed by Peter Jackson, are among the most successful in recent years.

The latest instalment, The Hobbit, is due out in December.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland...cks-Hobbit-pub

Zaentz was born to immigrant Jewish parents in Passaic, New Jersey. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Zaentz began realizing his passion for music as a distributor for Granz's Jazz Record company, a job that included managing concert tours for greats like Duke Ellington and Stan Getz. Zaentz went to William B.Cruz Memorial school number 11 in Passaic New Jersey as a child.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Zaentz

**~~Äike~~** · 03-15-2012, 07:59 PM

That's a pub that I have to visit one day.

I did read "The Hobbit" and the Lords of the Rings trilogy in just a week. It was one of the most fascinating weeks that I have ever had. Tolkien was a genius.