'The Hobbit' update: Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis get back in character

All the pieces are falling into place and things are really getting underway on Peter Jackson's upcoming "Lord of the Rings" prequel, "The Hobbit."

Andy Serkis will once again don motion-capture gear and crawl, slither and jump around as the tragic character Gollum. The One Ring has some on-set photos.

Likewise, Sir Ian McKellen seems to be downright giddy about piling on his old wizard robes and sitting in a makeup chair for hours in order to be transformed into the mighty, magical Gandalf.

"It’s like old times," McKellen wrote on his blog. "Gandy’s clothes are hanging round my trailer and in steps Emma Harre, who dressed me last time, valiant, sporting, reliable and ready to put up once more with my early morning grumps and end-of-day sloth. We giggle as we remember the tricks of the layered costume, the hidden belts and braces. It’s all new, and looking it, and will till broken down. But it fits, even the new hat."

"The false nose too looked not quite as we’d remembered," he continued. "That’s because it wasn’t. I had requested a smaller nose than last time. The WETA sculptors were making new noses anyway, silicone replacing the old sticky gelatine which tended to slide around if the wizard sneezed or shouted."

"I stride over to the Studio smiling," McKellen recalled. "Nothing is unexpected. But next the 3D camera will eye-up the make-up, the costume and, I suppose, the actor."

Serkis and McKellen, of course, played their respective roles in the three "Lord of the Rings" films, released between 2001 and 2003. The third film, "Return of the King" won an Oscar for Best Picture.

McKellen's performance in "Fellowship of the Ring" was nominated for an Oscar. He was recently seen on AMC's "The Prisoner" miniseries.