Ananova:

J.R.R. Tolkien's great-grandson has backed Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson to make a film version of The Hobbit.

Jackson has already said he'd be interested if a deal on the film rights can be agreed.

Royd Tolkien, 34, said: "I would love to see Peter Jackson make a film of The Hobbit. That would be the perfect ending."

New Line Cinema, the company that made the Lord Of The Rings trilogy with Jackson at the helm, owns the movie rights to The Hobbit.

But the distribution rights governing the release of the film belong to United Artists, although New Line has first refusal on producing the movie.

Sir Ian McKellen says he'd be up for playing Gandalf again, once the rights issues are cleared up.

He told Channel 4: "There is currently a situation where two companies own the rights, but when that's sorted out Peter (Jackson) and I will sit and talk it over. We've mentioned it recently and Peter is looking forward to getting it into production."

McKellen also said that he was looking forward to playing Gandalf the Grey again as he saw Gandalf the White as a "stick in the mud".

The Hobbit is set before the Lord of the Rings trilogy and tells the story of how Bilbo Baggins came by the ring.