Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the forthcoming The Lovely Bones, claims he once saw a ghost.

“I woke up one morning and there was a figure in the room, she was very scary, she had a screaming face, very accusatory, she was a lady about 50 years old,” Jackson said.

“It was terrifying actually, a very scary image and she was at the end of the bed and she glided across the room and disappeared into the wall.

“I sat in bed and thought, have I really seen that?” said Jackson.

“Then Fran came in. I told her about it and the first thing she said was: ‘was it the woman with the screaming face?”‘ he said.

“Fran had seen the same woman in the same room about two years before.”

Jackson said that when the St James Theatre was being restored a few years ago, people talked about the legend of the woman who committed suicide after being booed off the stage after a bad show in vaudeville days.

“They say she manifests herself in the theatre with a screaming face. Sometimes she’s seen – the same ghost. She needs to learn to smile a little.”

Source: Stuff NZ

Now that The Hobbit movie has resolved some issues and is moving forward, one burning questions remains: will Ian McKellen reprise his role as Gandalf?
No official word has come down from the puppet-masters, but if Ian has his way, then the answer is yes, which is excellent news. Ian was asked by a fan of the trilogy if he would return and Ian responded with:

Encouragingly, Peter and Fran Walsh have told me they couldn’t imagine The Hobbit without their original Gandalf.  Their confidence hasn’t yet been confirmed by the director Guillermo del Toro but I am keeping my diary free for 2009!

So the ball is in Guillermo’s court. If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll bring Ian back. If not, then we’ll need a second option. How about Will Ferrell? -ducks-