Ian Mckellen Quotes
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I tend to discourage people from calling me 'Sir Ian,' because I don't like being separated out from the rest of the population. Of course, it can be useful if you're writing an official letter, like trying to get a visa or something passed through Parliament. They're impressed by these things.
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I had never come across the 'X-Men' comics till I was asked to play Magneto, so I just jumped into that job.
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The press like to talk to actors. They mustn't be surprised when actors talk back to them.
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I'm an eccentric English actor, and there's a lot of us around.
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Macbeth is a very popular play with audiences. If you want to sell out a theater, just mount a production of Macbeth. It's a short play, it's an exciting play, it's easy to understand, and it attracts great acting.
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My ambition is to get better as an actor.
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I've always felt that 'X-Men' was about something serious. It wasn't just fantasy.
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Most actors are not rich - they are very poor indeed. What keeps them going is that they just love the job.
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No actor wants to play to an empty house.
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I don't really like being with people my own age for long periods, because all we talk about is our decrepitude, how the world is changing for the worse even though it isn't.
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We are very lucky to be men because women have a terrible time getting older parts. It's much more difficult.
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If you get criticized, good - I don't think people get criticized enough. People talk behind your back and they criticize you, but they don't often come up and say it to you.
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There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my life admiring many of them, like Laurence Olivier. So it's very flattering to be in their company. But you also end up in the company of people you don't admire, including some rather dodgy politicians.
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I'm the sort of person who doesn't write in ink. I only write in pencil, so it can be rubbed out.
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There's something wholesome about the theatre.
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When I was playing Gandalf, I didn't think, 'Oh my dear, I'm playing a 7,000 year old wizard,' because I've never met one, and I don't know what they're like.
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If I was a star, it would be difficult to go off and do 'Coronation Street.' So I guess I'm not a star.
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It's my impression that I've done every job that I've been asked to do.
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I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine - that's up to them.
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My own death threats have declined considerably.
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I'm not experienced enough, or certain enough of my acting on the screen to say to a director, "You are wrong, I am right. I will only do it this way." I could never feel that, I wish I could be absolutely certain. But on the stage, it's different. I know where I am on the stage.
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Bolton School has a great tradition in the liberal arts.
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The most likely explanation is the most practical. 'Macbeth' is a very popular play with audiences. If you want to sell out a theater, just mount a production of 'Macbeth'. It's a short play, it's an exciting play, it's easy to understand, and it attracts great acting.
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I just followed my parents' example and advice on living, which was to leave the world a better place than you found it. They were professional do-gooders, ministers of the church, social workers, teachers, and missionaries, that sort of thing.