I can’t make up my mind whether I want to dance like Josef Brown or dance with Josef Brown.
If I say often enough that I’m going to be in ‘King Kong,’ I’m hoping that Peter Jackson will take the hint.
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.
I love musicals; I love the ballet, opera, the circus. It’s all performance to me.
I’m only an actor. I’m not a writer. I’m not going to leave any legacy. All I’ve ever done is learn the lines and say them.
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.
People who are truly horrible are often the most interesting people in the room. You look at them and just say, ‘Why?’
Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you’re in their presence. Film stars don’t know what it is to have an audience.
If I have any audience, they can know that anything I am in, I would go see, with the expectation of being really satisfied.
I’m fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf.
There have been many gay knights in the past – like Sir Noel Coward or Sir John Gielgud.
‘Macbeth’ was a very lucky play for me.
In Singapore, Malcolm X type of activity would be extremely difficult because the government can be very harsh on lawbreakers.
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.
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.
I’ve always felt that ‘X-Men’ was about something serious. It wasn’t just fantasy.
Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef – but that’s only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t ever believe that I was good enough to be come one.
I often get mistaken for Dumbledore. One wizard is very much like another.
I used to think ‘King Lear’ was an analysis of insanity, but I don’t really think it is. When Lear is supposed to be at his most insane, he is actually understanding the world for the first time.
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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
Most actors are not rich – they are very poor indeed. What keeps them going is that they just love the job.
In any human-rights campaign, everybody must do what they can.
In the past, kids didn’t tell their parents they were gay, so there were never the bust-ups. Some parents react so strongly to the news that their children are gay that the reaction is, ‘Get out of our house.’ There’s a residue of old prejudices that are going to die hard.
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.
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.’
The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo.
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.
I love the Broadway audiences, who relish live drama and don’t hesitate to display their enthusiasm.
I think New York audiences are some of the brightest in the world, and certainly the most enthusiastic.
Tony Blair is not a villain, but he’s played the part very well.
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.
So it’s joyful to me, in my 71st year, to be able to be in a play that is absolutely right for my age and my experience, and that is a popular success. What more could you ask as an actor?
There are a lot of actors – I’m probably one – who are most at home when they’re on stage.
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.
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.
How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I’m portraying in the film or play.
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.
The press like to talk to actors. They mustn’t be surprised when actors talk back to them.
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.
My own death threats have declined considerably.
Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it.
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