Name: "There's Nothing I Enjoy More Than Acting In The Theater" - Ian McKellen EXTENDED INTERVIEW
Uploaded: 2026-02-08T17:02:05.000Z
Duration: 26 min 40 s
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The imperative

Ladies and gentlemen, my guest tonight is a stage and screen legend you've known as Hamlet, Prospero, Magneto, and

He now stars in a new play called Anarchy.

Now, before we get to anything else, Happy this year's 25th anniversary of the greatest trilogy of all time.

To celebrate, you recently got together with the Hobbits for an Empire magazine cover.

And did you get together to compare how your tattoos have aged?

Because you all have the elvish 9 tattoo on your shoulder right there.

And although the right way up, it spells 9 for the fellowship in Elvish.

Do you know what the word nine is in Elvish?

But upside down, which is the way I read it, it spells Gucci.

All right, now, will you start this very quickly here?

I understand when you, like, first got the role, you hadn't read the books.

I didn't really know what they were talking about when they came to ask me to be in it.

There were just a few designs for the scenery and so on.

Of course, ever since members of the family and friends and total strangers come up to me and tell me that they have, like, you read the books and some even boast.

Well, on my first day in Wellington in New Zealand, I was taken out to dinner by Peter Jackson, who's, you know, is a very sociable fellow.

And that's where I met for the first time the four adorable Hobbits.

And the glamorous three, Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas.

And a rival wizard was sitting next to me at supper, Christopher Carandini Lee, veteran of 200 movies, in 10 of which he played Dracula.

And during the soup, he turned to me with that dreadful, piercing look in those dark eyes, as if he was contemplating a virgin neck, and

he said to me, I read Lord of the Rings every year.

I've always thought I should play Gandalf.

But he was a very nice man indeed, and I think that was a joke.

I understand, looking back, that first day on set was a rather unusual scene for you to shoot on the first day.

Well, it was the very first scene of my character arriving in Hobbiton with the hat, which kept blowing off and had to be fixed with a piece of elastic, which I hope you didn't see, but

But the next day, I was filming the very last Scene of the 3rd mov when I.

By which time I was Gandalf the White, about whom I knew very little.

And I said to Peter Jackson, do I know these guys?

He said, yes, yes, you've been through quite a lot with them.

But if you look back at that particular shot, you'll see there is absolutely nothing happening on my face at all.

I thought that was the safest thing to do.

We could just project onto and you can project what you want.

Now, I was so happy to hear that you're going to be reprising the role of Gandalf in the Hunt for Gollum, which is the next film Andy Serkis is directing.

I know that you really can't tell us anything about the story.

I think in July, which is unfortunate because it's winter down there in New Zealand, and

I'm not sure that I want to be out there in the wind and the rain.

But we'll be indoors probably most of the time.

I put on the pointy hat and the beard and the nose and the eyebrows and the mustache.

People have sort of caught you wearing things that are not canon.

Like there's a moment when you're fighting in Minas Tirith.

You look, you've got your watch on, and there's another moment.

You look down, you've got, like, trainers on, you've got sneakers on.

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"There's Nothing I Enjoy More Than Acting In The Theater" - Ian McKellen EXTENDED INTERVIEW

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