Sir Ian McKellen has returned to Wellington with plans to drop in on an old stomping ground – the hobbit hole at Bag End. The revered British actor, who played the wise wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is in New Zealand with the Royal Shakespeare Company to play the title role in King Lear. He intends to catch up with old friends while in Wellington, and Peter Jackson has invited him to stay at his home in Wairarapa. “He kept the set of Bag End, which was Frodo’s house, and set it up for guests with running water, so I’m going to spend the night there,” Sir Ian said yesterday. “It’ll be the one the hobbits were in which made them look small, so it’ll be big enough for humans.” [More]
Category: Hobbit Movie
Stephen Jewell writes: This week, the great Ian McKellen is back in New Zealand, acting in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring productions of King Lear and The Seagull. He tells STEPHEN JEWELL why he can’t have sex in Singapore or smoke in New Zealand and why “you can always rely on Shakespeare”. Just as the titular majesty goes missing in the third act of King Lear, Sir Ian McKellen is proving equally elusive. The original plan was to travel up to Stratford-upon-Avon to watch the final performance of King Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Courtyard Theatre and then meet McKellen and co-star Frances Barber the following day. [More]
Geths writes: Thought you might find this video link of Sam Raimi at comic-con a little interesting. A Tiny mention about New Line and ‘The Hobbit’. [More]
Last Monday Sir Ian McKellen was on the telly in his star turn in Extras. “I said to Peter Jackson, ‘you do know I’m not really a wizard?”‘ he said, to Ricky Gervais’ character. Now here he is in Melbourne where, the next night, I will watch his King Lear strip away the layers until he stands naked and tormented before us. His Lear got a standing ovation and he put his hand over his heart as he took his bow. Now, I do know he is not really a king but for 3 1/2 hours I believed he was. That’s the confusing, wonderful magic of acting. His Lear, and in almost everything written about it this is mentioned with varying degrees of rude innuendo, gets his pants off. This seems to be some big deal, but it’s not, he sighs, to him. [More]
From abc.net.au: Sir Ian McKellen is widely recognised as the best classical actor of his generation, he has a glittering array of awards including two Academy Award nominations, and he’s been knighted. Now at 68, Sir Ian has finally tackled perhaps Shakespeare’s most demanding role, King Lear, and for eight days in Melbourne, he and a stellar cast will present 10 performances of ‘Lear’ and another great classic, Chekov’s ‘The Seagull’. [More]
SINGAPORE — Ian McKellen says playing the title character in William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” is more nerve-racking than his recent Hollywood film roles. Singapore is the first stop on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s international tour of “King Lear” and “The Seagull” by Anton Chekhov. ” ‘King Lear,’ I’ve been seeing all my life. I mean, the great actors of my lifetime … to join their company, as it were, by playing a part that’s challenged them, is one of the great joys of being an actor who does the classics,” the 68-year-old actor said Wednesday at a briefing. “Without doubt, Lear is the one I got most nervous about.” [More]