From his extensive Shakespearean roots to his knockout X-Men and Lord of the Rings roles as Magneto and Gandalf, Sir Ian McKellen boasts a prowess so refined that he’s now playing a role, The Prisoner’s power-hungry villain Number Two, previously inhabited by not one actor but 17. Yet McKellen insists this isn’t your grandmother’s Number Two. “There’s no point in wondering how am I going to measure up to the other Number Twos, because it’s just a different script altogether,” the soft-spoken knight explained to Wired.com after addressing an auditorium of TV reporters at Hollywood’s Universal Hilton earlier this year. “My man is called Number Two, because the character was originally called Number Two. But he is Number One.” More..
Category: Ian McKellen
Lord of the Rings Radio City Music Hall Website Now Live! FOTR Weekend in New York City: October 9–11, 2009
Visit: http://www.theradiocitylotrconcert.com
The full Lord of the Rings – Fellowship of the Ring Radio City Music Hall website is now live! Visitors are now welcomed to the website with the booming voice of Gandalf himself, Sir Ian McKellen, and are encouraged to sign up for newsletter updates!
The website also features forewords from LOTR Composer Howard Shore, Author Doug Adams, and the LOTR Fan Committee. Continue reading “Lord of the Rings Radio City Music Hall Website Now Live!”
The folks over at Rottentomatos.com have produced a fun list of the most memorable movie wizards. Can you guess who is number one? The following ten appeared in the list, so we suggest making your own rankings and heading over to Rottentomatos for comparisons. Then, give us your thoughts on our message boards and help explain how Saruman didn’t make the cut. (Editor’s note: Tim the Enchanter was robbed!)
Wizard – film
Akiro – Conan the Barbarian
Dumbledore – Harry Potter
Gandalf – LOTR trilogy
High Aldwin – Willow
Lo-Pan – Big Trouble in Little China
Merlin – Excalibur
Miracle Max – The Princess Bride
Tim the Enchanter – Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Ulrich – Dragonslayer
Wizard of Oz – The Wizard of Oz
Moviefone.com has a fairly extensive (if unoriginal) rundown on all things known about RTD’s ‘The Hobbit’ films. Take a look!
London, June 6 : ‘Lord of the Rings’ star Sir Ian McKellen has called for playwrights to create more stage and screen roles for older actresses. McKellen backed a campaign by actors’ union Equity, which called on broadcasters to change their attitudes towards actresses aged over 45, in a bid to revive the British theatre and television. Over 4,000 people, including Julie Walters and Harry Potter actress Imelda Staunton, have signed a petition supporting the cause. Sir Ian McKellen urges for more roles for mature actresses
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE (born 25 May 1939), is an English actor of stage and screen, the recipient of the Tony Award and two Academy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is known to many for roles such as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and as Magneto in the X-Men films.
He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1979, and knighted in the 1991 New Year Honours for his outstanding work and contributions to the theatre. In the 2008 New Year Honours he was made a Companion of Honour (CH) for services to drama and to equality.
In 1988, he came out as gay and became a founding member of Stonewall, one of the United Kingdom’s most influential LGBT rights groups, of which he remains a prominent spokesman. www.mckellen.com