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" Eventually, before I die, I hope to have written about every part I've played. "
Ian Mckellen
Every
Die
Before
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" The most likely explanation is the most practical. '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
Play
Easy
Acting
" 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
Character
Hands
Wig
" The press like to talk to actors. They mustn't be surprised when actors talk back to them. "
Ian Mckellen
Press
Them
Back
" 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. "
Ian Mckellen
Actor
Leave
Learn
" Actors don't, in fact, retire, do they? It took me a while to remember that. "
Ian Mckellen
Took
Me
Remember
" 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
Romantic
Young
Best
" 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
" Anyone who thinks Peter Jackson would fall for market forces around him rather than artistic integrity doesn't know the guy or the body of his work. "
Ian Mckellen
Know
Integrity
Him
" 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
" 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
Film
You
Why
" I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine - that's up to them. "
Ian Mckellen
Different
Mine
Someone
" 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
You
I Am
Gay
" 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
Prejudice
Old
Numbers
" I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf. "
Ian Mckellen
Like
Famous
Fortunate
" 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 Am
Shy
Nice
" I can't make up my mind whether I want to dance like Josef Brown or dance with Josef Brown. "
Ian Mckellen
Like
Want
Up
" You might be surprised by how interested young people are in older people. "
Ian Mckellen
Young
Older
Young People
" Gandalf is in Middle-earth to keep an eye on everybody, and that can be a rather serious matter. "
Ian Mckellen
Keep
Serious
Eye
" 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
Older
Better
Relationships
" The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo. "
Ian Mckellen
Play
Role
First
" 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. "
Ian Mckellen
You
Writing
Trying
" Every anti-gay remark from the Church gives the thug a license to be cruel. "
Ian Mckellen
Church
License
Thug
" 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
Real
People
Friendship
" 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
Fun
Guy
Good
" 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
" I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, unless you're a good comedian, you're never going to be able to play Hamlet properly. "
Ian Mckellen
Play
Never
Acting
" Before I ever acted as an amateur - which I did a great deal at school and at university - I used to go to the theater with my parents in the north of England, where I was born and brought up... Theater of all sorts. "
Ian Mckellen
Born
Parents
Great
" 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
Life
You
Doing
" 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
" 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
Problems
You
Old Age