Ian Mckellen Quotes
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There's lots of Tolkien that must be confusing to people.
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We're very lucky, men, that there are these fabulous parts. Women - once you've done all the parts in Shakespeare, they start running out. So you can pick and choose and find something to energise 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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There are a lot of actors - I'm probably one - who are most at home when they're on stage.
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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 came rather late to film. I've done an awful lot of theater before - before I discovered the camera, you know, seeing everything, requiring much less acting and - and much less presentation, much less projecting, more just being.
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To be allowed for the first time in your later career to play leading parts in extremely popular movies is not a situation to worry about.
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I've always felt that 'X-Men' was about something serious. It wasn't just fantasy.
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My friends are my family.
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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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My own death threats have declined considerably.
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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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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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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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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's something wholesome about the theatre.
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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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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'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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My ambition is to get better as an actor.
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Theatre is relatively easy if you're British - you're living in the theatre capital of the world, London - there are so many places you can work, still. If I had begun to think of myself as a film actor, I think I would have got distracted.
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Bolton School has a great tradition in the liberal arts.
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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.
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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.