Sir Ian McKellen opens up on the possibility of reprising his role as Gandalf
He was chatting to Simon Mayo
Last updated 13th Sep 2024
Legendary actor Sir Ian McKellen joined Simon Mayo on Greatest Hits Radio to talk about his latest film The Critic, due out on Friday 13th September, as well as his fall off stage a few months ago.
The actor, known for his iconic role Gandalf in the Lord of The Rings films, also revealed how it felt to possibly return to a role he thought he'd finished with nearly a quarter of a century ago.
When Simon asked him about the role, saying he had been quite animated about the thought of reprising the character, Sir Ian said: "One can't be indifferent to the possibility you might asked to go back and play a part I thought I'd finished with 20 years ago, nearly 25 years ago!
"Yes, apparently there are going to be two films that might involve Gandalf in some way, but until I've read the script, I don't know whether it's something I'd want to do, but I do feel rather proprietorial."
The actor played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) trilogies, and revealed that he thought the late Michael Gambon's depiction of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter began to look more and more like Sir Ian's Gandalf.
"That must have been deliberate," he said. "In which case it's a nice compliment! I did once say to him, did he get mistaken for me, and (he said) 'oh yes the whole time', I said 'what do you do?' and he said, 'well they give me actual photographs of you and I just sign your name!'"
Sir Ian also opened up about his fall of stage earlier this year, in which he thought he had seriously injured himself. The actor explained: "I was in the middle of a performance, I'd damaged myself considerably, but because I was playing John Falstaff, I was wearing a padded fat suit, which broke the fall, so that I didn't break my ribs or my hips.
"It was just my extremities, wrist and so on..."
The 85-year-old went on to admit he thought it was a lot more serious than it was at the time: "I think I thought I was about to die, I thought I'd broken my neck," Sir Ian admitted, explaining that he was told he'd said: "I've broken my neck, I am dying. I said it, I must have thought that I was!"
When asked when he might be back acting on stage he admitted: "I think I’ll know because the contract says I have to turn up at a particular time! I’m not proposing to work on stage for another year and I think by then this will all be alright."
Thankfully, Sir Ian is making a good recovery and although he hasn't been acting on stage since, he is about to release a new thriller called The Critic, in which he plays Jimmy Erskine. The Critic is out in cinemas on Friday 13th September.
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