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
If you’ve got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed – I’ve just imagined X-Men 3 might open with me in bed with Patrick Stewart. – 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
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
I have got prostate cancer, and I have to keep monitoring that. It’s no problem, it’s under control and I’m very cool about it, but other people are dying from it. – Ian Mckellen
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. – 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 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
When we’d suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, ‘Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.’ As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing. – Ian Mckellen
I headed out to have a breather at the stage door, dressed in my tramp costume. I had my bowler hat between my feet and there were passers-by, and one of them turned back and said, ‘Do you need help, brother?’ And $1 fell into my hat! – Ian Mckellen
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. – Ian Mckellen
One school invited me down, as two pupils had come out, and the headmaster didn’t know what to do about it. I said, ‘How many students here are gay?’ and he said, ‘Just these two.’ Clearly not. ‘How many gay members of staff have you got?’ He had no idea. And this was a concerned man. – Ian Mckellen
When I left Cambridge, I applied to regional repertory theaters in the U.K. and got accepted by one of them… And here I am, still at it. – Ian Mckellen
I’m not being offered a constant stream of wonderful parts with wonderful directors that would keep me away from the theatre. When they turn up, I do them. – Ian Mckellen
You won’t hear me talk about my politics, you won’t hear me talk about my vegetarianism, you won’t hear me comment on the Iraq war. You’ll only hear me talk about being gay and being an actor. I am just public on those two issues. – Ian Mckellen
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. – 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
Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you’re playing through your own experience – so we’re all different. – 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
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’m the sort of person who doesn’t write in ink. I only write in pencil, so it can be rubbed out. – Ian Mckellen
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. – Ian Mckellen