by Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Gandalf the Wizard put his money on The Lord of the Rings Monday to work its magic at the Oscars next month.
And in the lead-up to Hollywood's big night, the Tolkien fantasy scooped a string of glittering prizes while rival Harry Potter was busy winning the battle of the box office.
After The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring landed five British Film Academy Awards, star Ian McKellen firmly backed the fantasy epic to dominate Oscar night.
"The received wisdom is that they (Hollywood) never vote a fantasy movie as best film, which gives an added excitement," said McKellen, who plays the wizard in the sweeping three-part epic that cost $270 million to make in New Zealand.
"But my money is absolutely on Lord of the Rings because I don't think it looks like a fantasy film, it looks as if it actually happened. That may win them over," he told BBC Television Monday.
McKellen said it was always likely that one of the most renowned literary works of the 20th century -- J.R.R. Tolkien's classic -- would have a ready-made audience.
But Director Peter Jackson, whose film has already garnered 13 Oscar nominations, was inevitably taking a risk with impassioned fans of this dark tale of the fight between good and evil played out by hobbits, elves, wizards and orcs.
"Of course if they hadn't liked what Peter Jackson had done, if his imagination hand't fitted in with theirs, then we would have problems.
"But all is going well -- it opened in Japan and has gone right through the roof. Every single country in the world has taken to it."
Making Lord of the Rings was a great leap of faith by the producers. Three films were made back-to-back over 18 gruelling months with a cast of 2,400. The next two movies in the trilogy are to open at the end of 2002 and 2003.
The big surprise at Sunday night's glittering British awards ceremony was the total eclipse of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
The tale of the teenage wizard was nominated for eight awards -- but it came away with none.
But Harry Potter is at least laughing all the way to the bank. The film has so far earned $926.1 million, making it the second-highest grossing film ever after the romantic blockbuster Titanic.
© 2002 Reuters