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" Actors don't, in fact, retire, do they? It took me a while to remember that. "
Ian Mckellen
Took
Me
Remember
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" 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
New
People
Precious
" 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
Acting
Done
Know
" 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
Passionate
Think
Turn
" 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
Time
Play
Movies
" 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
You
Worry
Time
" I don't have Gandalf the White's certainty about everything. "
Ian Mckellen
White
Everything
Certainty
" Bill Gallagher's new version of 'The Prisoner' is an enthralling commentary on modern culture. It is witty, intelligent and disturbing. I am very excited to be involved. "
Ian Mckellen
New
Intelligent
I Am
" Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out. "
Ian Mckellen
Person
Thanks
Come
" 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
Out
Lying
Years
" I got intrigued by working in small theatres. "
Ian Mckellen
Small
Intrigued
Got
" 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
Personality
Character
You
" 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
Me
Children
Saying
" I live for the text. It's my job. "
Ian Mckellen
Text
Job
Live
" 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. "
Ian Mckellen
Think
Time
Understanding
" Gandalf is in Middle-earth to keep an eye on everybody, and that can be a rather serious matter. "
Ian Mckellen
Keep
Serious
Eye
" I'll never put my memoirs in print. "
Ian Mckellen
In Print
Put
Print
" In Singapore, Malcolm X type of activity would be extremely difficult because the government can be very harsh on lawbreakers. "
Ian Mckellen
Harsh
Singapore
Government
" It was wrongly assumed that I wished to become some sort of leader among gay activists, whereas in reality I was happier to be a foot soldier. "
Ian Mckellen
Leader
Reality
Soldier
" Tolkien is as good as Dickens at sketching a scene. "
Ian Mckellen
Dickens
Good
Scene
" In the '50s and '60s, the life of a gay man was a secret. Homosexuality was illegal, so you didn't draw attention to yourself. "
Ian Mckellen
Gay
Attention
Life
" 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
See
Treat
Me
" I get pretty grumpy about TV. "
Ian Mckellen
Get
About
TV
" 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
Long
Doing
Intention
" I'm an eccentric English actor, and there's a lot of us around. "
Ian Mckellen
English
Us
Eccentric
" Gandalf saves the world and saves the soul of the world, really. "
Ian Mckellen
World
Soul
Really
" If I have any audience, they can know that anything I am in, I would go see, with the expectation of being really satisfied. "
Ian Mckellen
Audience
Expectation
I Am
" One thing Middle-earth is short on is the feminine. "
Ian Mckellen
Thing
Short
One Thing
" 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
You
Need
Yourself
" 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
Open
Bed
Girlfriend
" 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
You
Fact
Job