Ian McKellen, best known for his role as the elder version of Magneto in the X-Men franchise, has played many different roles in his extensive acting career. However, he will soon be taking on a new role that may be the strangest that he has played to date.

The 75-year-old actor will be playing the role of Cogsworth the talking grandfather clock in Disney's live action remake of the animated classic, Beauty and the Beast.

According to Variety, it has been confirmed that the feature film will star Emma Watson in the role of Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts. The character Cogsworth's life changes for the worse when the castle that he inhabits with the Beast is cursed.

He and the other members of the household are turned into various anthropomorphic non human items, and the only way to free them from the kiss is their master sharing a kiss with his true love before the last petal on the rose falls.

Meanwhile, Disney plans to reboot several of its other animated classics including Mulan, Dumbo, Pinocchio, The Jungle Book and Winnie the Pooh. This comes after the production company had quite a bit of success with Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent and most recently Cinderella, starring Lily James in the eponymous role.

Beauty and the Beast is expected to go into production beginning later this year. The release of the film is planned for March 2017.

The original version of the movie grossed over 375 million dollars worldwide, in addition to a nomination for a Best Picture Oscar.

Beyond all that, Ian McKellen, has also confirmed that he will be reprising his role as Magneto in the upcoming film, X-Men: Apocalypse.