A theatrical legend is in the Capital City looking to inspire the future of the entertainment world. Sir Ian McKellen, who is most notably known for his role as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings and Magneto mag-neat-oh from X-Men, spoke with FSU theatre students Tuesday afternoon sharing his journey from live theatre to the silver screen. “it’s unbelievable. Especially since he’s an Oscar nominated actor, he’s been in Oscar movies, it’s just so unbelievable,” says FSU Theatre student Alyssa Morris. More..
Category: Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Mckellen is enjoying a relaxing holiday before throwing himself into filming The Hobbit – because it’s the first time he’s taken a break in his entire career. The veteran actor celebrated his 70th birthday in May and admits reaching the landmark age prompted him to slow down his hectic filming schedule and take some time to himself.
He says, “I’m in the middle of a holiday. I’m not working at the moment and it means I can do lovely things. It’s a change for me because, for the first 50 years of my life, I just worked and worked and worked and I didn’t feel happy unless I knew what the next job was going to be. And then I hit 70 this year and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to have a little bit of downtime for myself.'” More..
The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, will present a one-night-only benefit performance of Sir Ian McKellen’s one-man show A Knight in Harman Hall on Oct. 29, four days after his acceptance of STC’s William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre. According to STC, “His solo performance weaves together stories of his early experiences in the theatre, his advocacy of GLBT rights and his more recent world-wide acclaim and film celebrity. This will be a rare opportunity to hear the personal and heartfelt story of one of the greatest living actors of stage and screen.” More..
A few reports are coming in from Ringers who tuned into the UK’s Channel 4 Paul O’Grady Show. Sir Ian McKellen was a special guest today, and confirmed a few things: He has received ‘both’ scripts. Original LOTR cast members will be returning. He has signed the declaration that he will not talk to friends, family or even his agent about the script! He does not know who is cast as Bilbo, but believes he will be an English actor. Sounds like a great interview – hopefully it will be posted on the O’Grady site soon. Thanks to Ringers Simon and Paul for the heads up. [O’Grady Website]
From Joe Utichi at rottentomatoes.com: Sir Ian McKellen is spending the week at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, where he was last night presented with a special Donostia Award in recognition of his career as an actor. RT was in town to catch the presentation, and earlier in the day we sat down with McKellen to discuss the award and his work. Of course, as Guillermo del Toro readies to direct The Hobbit, which will see McKellen pull on the cloak and hat of Gandalf the wizard for the first time in seven years, we couldn’t help but look to the future and find out how things were going with the project. In fact it was McKellen who raised the wizard’s name before we asked, rather controversially declaring to RT, “I don’t want to play Gandalf again.” But before a million Rings fans cry out in terror at the thought of another thesp stepping into the role, McKellen was actually discussing the risk of typecasting the wake of a big success. “If you play a part that gets an awful lot of attention,” he explained, “forever after you’re being asked by directors to play the same part in their movie. But I played the best wizard, and I’m happy to revisit him, which I shall do in The Hobbit with Guillermo del Toro.” More..
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) – British actor Ian McKellen was Wednesday honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain. The 70-year-old “Lord of the Rings” star received the festival’s Donostia Award, which goes to “a great film personality in recognition for their work and career.” “I’m very gratified for this Donostia Prize because it’s not just for a character, but for a career,” he told a news conference. More..