Ian Mckellen Quotes

Directed By: Peter Jackson Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen ~ Jamerson INC

I live for the text. It's my job. ~ Ian McKellen

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. ~ Ian McKellen

Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like. ~ Ian McKellen

I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy. Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims. ~ Ian McKellen

Frodo: 'It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill Gollum when he had the chance.'
Gandalf: 'Pity? It's a pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play in it, for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.' Frodo: 'I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.'
Gandalf: 'So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides that of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

I remember Tom Stoppard saying to me when I came out, 'I feel so sorry for you, because you'll never have children.' These days I would say, 'Well, why not, Tom?' ~ Ian McKellen

I have never wanted to be typecast, one of those actors who plays a variation on a one-note theme. So just as I enjoy playing a wide variety of characters, from good to bad to ugly to cute - so I have enjoyed of late working in film and television, as well as in theatres of various sizes and shapes. ~ Ian McKellen

Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out. ~ Ian McKellen

Why not celebrate those who want to marry and bring up a family? ~ Ian McKellen

The whole atmosphere of the book, the tone of 'The Hobbit,' is of a kid's adventure story, told in the first person by Tolkien, who is introducing young people to the notion of Middle-earth. A lot of it is very light-hearted. ~ Ian McKellen

I know actors who have had to turn down good roles because they just don't pay enough. It's hard. ~ Ian McKellen

One of the few lessons I have learnt from studying people who do terrible things is that tehey are all too human. And that we are all capable of doung almost anything. ~ Ian McKellen

The BAFTAs give the British point of view, and the Oscars give the American point of view, but the truth is we're all working in an international industry. ~ Ian McKellen

Until I came out, my acting was all about disguise, and thereafter it became about telling the truth. ~ Ian McKellen

I quite like it when I'm on the Tube and people offer me their seat. Sometimes I take it. The other day I was offered a seat by a pregnant lady. I thought, 'That's going a bit far.' ~ Ian McKellen

The performance is created by the director. The actor is the material. And I think that has to be true. ~ Ian McKellen

If you are playing King Lear you are the centre of attention anyway. You don't need to draw attention to yourself. It's all laid out for you. ~ Ian McKellen

On the day after 9/11, I walking through the smoke and the smells of New York. There were knots of policemen everywhere. As I went past one officer, he called out: "Hi, Magneto." That's an indication of X-Men's extraordinary reach. ~ Ian McKellen

It is really, really wonderful that in your old age you are protected by specialists who understand your problems and sort them out for you. Well, isn't that what we all need? ~ Ian McKellen

If I was on a march at the moment I would be saying to everyone: 'Be honest with each other. Admit there are limitless possibilities in relationships, and love as many people as you can in whatever way you want, and get rid of your inhibitions, and we'll all be happy. ~ Ian McKellen

Some relationships get easier as you get older, depending on what sort of person you are. I don't think I've got any better at them. ~ Ian McKellen

The spirit of the four hobbits in 'Lord of the Rings,' I suppose I miss that. ~ Ian McKellen

It's easier to go from theatre to film than the other way round. In film you're absolutely loved and cossetted and cared for. In film your director makes your performance. In theatre you're carrying it all. ~ Ian McKellen

You mustn't upstage the bride. ~ Ian McKellen

The wonderful thing about modern medicine is that so many of these complaints that used to signify old age and decline can be coped with. ~ Ian McKellen

I've got a waistline to develop. ~ Ian McKellen

The huge difference in my lifetime is that you can just go up to somebody and make a pass. You couldn't do that in the 1950s if you were gay. There were secret handshakes, a secret language. There was nowhere you could go to be romantic outside of people's houses. ~ Ian McKellen

What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in other shows. Everybody knows you're opening and cares about you. There's a real village atmosphere. ~ Ian McKellen

I don't think many people will re-read 'The Da Vinci Code.' ~ Ian McKellen

I think Ian McKellen made it all happen, because he used to throw dinner parties and invite everyone over. ~ Shawn Ashmore

I think New York audiences are some of the brightest in the world, and certainly the most enthusiastic. ~ Ian McKellen

I'd never read 'Lord of the Rings' until I was asked to play Gandalf, so I didn't really know it was a frightfully famous book. ~ Ian McKellen

Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it. ~ Ian McKellen

Acting is no longer about lying. It's now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the best policy. ~ Ian McKellen

Even now, there are young actors who want careers as romantic leading men, and the best thing is not to reveal you're gay. ~ Ian McKellen

There is a fantasy as old as the modern gay rights movement that if all our skins turned lavender overnight, the majority, confounded by our numbers and our diversity, and recognising a few of our faces, would at once let go of prejudice forevermore. ~ Ian McKellen

'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. ~ Ian McKellen

I often get mistaken for Dumbledore. One wizard is very much like another. ~ Ian McKellen

I had never come across the 'X-Men' comics till I was asked to play Magneto, so I just jumped into that job. ~ Ian McKellen

The audience's expectations are ever-present. ~ Ian McKellen

It's a joy to be up close to Derek Jacobi's work. Alas, we haven't worked very much, over the years, since we were at university together, but I don't think I've missed many of his great shows and performances. ~ Ian McKellen

I love working in New York. ~ Ian McKellen

In the U.K. there is still work to be done, particularly in schools, stopping the homophobic bullies in the playground and introducing unbiased discussion on gay issues in the classroom. ~ Ian McKellen

The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie. ~ Ian McKellen

There's something wholesome about the theatre. ~ Ian McKellen

There are still times in my life where I pull back from being totally honest, and I can't imagine a single straight person who would understand that. ~ Ian McKellen

If you've been in a film that's seen by millions and millions and millions of people, you're more likely to be recognized for that than for your theater performances, which were seen by considerably less people. Why would I get upset by that? ~ Ian McKellen

Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying. ~ Ian McKellen

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. ~ Ian McKellen

There are some fantastic parts for older actors. ~ Ian McKellen

If we just made one movie, 'The Hobbit,' the fact is that all the fans, the eight-, nine- and 10-year-old boys, they would watch it 1,000 times. Now, they've got three films they can watch 1,000 times. ~ Ian McKellen

When I appeared in 'Coronation Street,' I lived in Manchester and enjoyed it very much. ~ Ian McKellen

The one thing you can ask, I think, is that actors get paid a living wage. I would like it if all the repertory theatres that currently exist could do that. It would make a huge difference. ~ Ian McKellen

Theatre outings are my favourite thing to spend money on. The most influential play I saw was 'Bent,' which starred Ian McKellen. And I loved the original performance of 'The Rocky Horror Show,' with Richard O'Brien and Tim Curry at the Royal Court, when I was about 15. ~ Dawn French

The demographic of our audience is young. It also contains a high proportion of black, Jewish and gay people, who have all been encouraged by society to think of themselves as oddities or mutants. I hope that's why X-Men chimes with them - it's certainly why I was attracted to the idea in the first place. ~ Ian McKellen

My own death threats have declined considerably. ~ Ian McKellen

Eventually, before I die, I hope to have written about every part I've played. ~ Ian McKellen

Very, very rare that you do a job knowing that the audience is desperate for you to do that job. Most films you make don't get released, is the fact. ~ Ian McKellen

Look at a guy like Ian McKellen, who is eighty or whatever, and he's just loving his work, and you can see that in the work. That defines what type of actor you are. And what kind of people want to work with you. And whether you can do this job for a long, long time. ~ Jason Clarke

Gandalf's a good guy, and it's a good part. He says the right things, he believes the right things. An actor can have fun with it. ~ Ian McKellen

When you were on stage, you could be absolutely open about your emotions and indulge them and express yourself in a way that - in real life - I wasn't doing. ~ Ian McKellen

That was the big effect Lord of the Rings had on me. It was discovering New Zealand. And even more precious were the people- not at all like the Australians. ~ Ian McKellen

I was brought up in industrial south Lancashire, down the cobbled road from where LS Lowry (1887-1976) lived and painted. ~ Ian McKellen

Why live outside the US? Do you want health care or safe food products or democracy or something? They're all overrated. Stay for the excellent cable TV. ~ Ian McKellen

Hey Atticus, do me a quick favour before we go? its easy.
Sure. What is it?
Hold Granuailes staff for just a minute. You know, rest it on the ground so that its like a walking stick or something and the top of it is near your right cheek.
Granuaile and I traded weapons to humor him and I stood as instructed.
Thats perfect! Now say this like Sir Ian McKellen I am Atticus the White, and I come back to you now at the turn of the tide. ~ Kevin Hearne

Tony Blair is not a villain, but he's played the part very well. ~ Ian McKellen

It's an interesting but useless bit of information that every single character in 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' wears a wig, and many of them wears a prosthetic - false ears, feet, hands. In my case, nose. ~ Ian McKellen

I love the acting community at Cambridge. It's really quite committed and serious, since the days of Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen right through to Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie. ~ Tom Hiddleston

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. ~ Ian McKellen

I can't take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I'll have to leave those other battles to somebody else. ~ Ian McKellen

I got better as an actor, and still I'm getting better. That's only been possible because there's always been work. ~ Ian McKellen

I think I'm a bit gruffer than I used to be, and I'm certainly older. ~ Ian McKellen

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. ~ Ian McKellen

I've always had very catholic tastes. ~ Ian McKellen

People on television have trouble with fame because audiences think they're their mates. ~ Ian McKellen

'The Da Vinci Code' is the most popular book of our times. ~ Ian McKellen

No one needs to feel sorry for me or anyone else who has fallen victim to success. ~ Ian McKellen

'The Lego Movie?' I've never heard of it. ~ Ian McKellen

Some directors don't tell you that it's not your fault, so you get increasingly depressed that you're not delivering what's required, and then you discover it's not you at all, it's something in the background that's out of focus. ~ Ian McKellen

I'm not someone who wears shades all the time and ducks into a darkened car in case I'm recognized - that would be absolute misery. ~ Ian McKellen

God, all those months of seeing Kelsey's pictures and hearing about her travels, and I had been raging with jealousy. And now it was my turn.
I wanted to mind the gap at the tube station and eat fish and chips and try to make the Queen's guards laugh. I wanted to see Big Ben and the Globe and the London Bridge and Dame Judi Dench. Or Maggie Smith. Or Alan Rickman. Or Sir Ian McKellen. Or anybody famous and British, really.
Holy crap. This was really happening.
And I wasn't just a tourist. I was visiting with someone who'd grown up in the city. With my fiancé.
Take that, world. ~ Cora Carmack

What's nice for me, having identified myself for years as being rather shy, is now, wherever I am, in public, there tends to be a friendly face who's pleased to see me, and I like that. ~ Ian McKellen

I think with Shakespeare you can be required to do absolutely anything at the turn of a sixpence - suddenly you go into a battle, suddenly you utter something passionate. ~ Ian McKellen

I think the point to be understood is that we're all different. I've never been a fan of theories of acting. I didn't go to drama school, so I was never put through a training that was limited by someone saying, 'This is the way you should act.' ~ Ian McKellen

Magneto wants to cope with the difficulties thrust upon him by society and by his own nature. ~ Ian McKellen

I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And it was important to do it as well as you possibly can. ~ Ian McKellen

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. ~ Ian McKellen

The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo. ~ Ian McKellen

I am lucky, I don't have aches and pains. I do Pilates regularly, which is a series of stretching exercises, and I recommend it to anyone of my age because the temptation is not to exercise when you get older. Well, you should. ~ Ian McKellen

Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in public with someone you love of the same gender, or to talk of that love in the hearing of anyone under 18, will put you prison? ~ Ian McKellen

For old actors, just remember that inside you're only 14. Acting is for kids. You poor old grown-ups, you've forgotten how to do what kids know automatically. ~ Ian McKellen

When you're on stage with an audience, the director's nowhere to be seen. He's onto the next job. ~ Ian McKellen

I am very lucky to be man because women have a terrible time getting older parts. It's much more difficult. ~ Ian McKellen

I'm a latecomer to popular TV. This is rather new to me, being in a sitcom. It's been an ambition of mine. ~ Ian McKellen

When I came out, I told my stepmother Gladys, and she just said she had known for years and was glad I wasn't lying anymore. ~ Ian McKellen

2D looks so flat. Well, it is, of course, it's flat. But 3D isn't. And for an adventure story that takes you into a long-distant, fictional world, it's ideal, I think. ~ Ian McKellen

I don't make any distinction between a popular TV series or blockbuster film and doing Shakespeare. They're different, but as long as the material is good and the intention is honourable, it's all the same to me. ~ Ian McKellen

The thing you notice here after America is how refreshingly ordinary people look because they haven't had their chin wrapped around the back of their ears. ~ Ian McKellen

[There's] nothing special about an actor's imagination, except that he uses it a lot. ~ Ian McKellen