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" You see people in Hollywood trying to make blockbuster after blockbuster, but it's not possible. There's some god up there saying, 'You will fail now.' But I suppose that's true of us all. "

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" The BAFTAs give the British point of view, and the Oscars give the American point of view, but the truth is we're all working in an international industry. "

Ian Mckellen

American

View

Working

" I don't think many people will re-read 'The Da Vinci Code.' "

" I have lots of fans, they are mostly under the age of 12, boys and girls. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I can't make up my mind whether I want to dance like Josef Brown or dance with Josef Brown. "

Ian Mckellen

Want

" I certainly wouldn't define myself as a northerner. I'm not even really sure what that means. I've lived in London for 50 years. I wasn't born here, but I have spent most of my life here. So I don't make much of it, to be honest. I'm just myself. "

" 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

" The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo. "

" The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie. "

" 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. "

" It's nice for me to be in touch with a younger generation. "

Ian Mckellen

Younger

Generation

" Shakespeare's villains are fabulous because none of them know that they are villains. Well, sometimes they do. "

" 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.' "

" I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And it was important to do it as well as you possibly can. "

" 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. "

" I'm not someone who wears shades all the time and ducks into a darkened car in case I'm recognized - that would be absolute misery. "

" I have little routines in the theater. Once I've established something, like the order of putting on makeup and a costume, I have to invariably do it in the same order every time, even if I only did it by chance the first time round. "

" Every anti-gay remark from the Church gives the thug a license to be cruel. "

" 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. "

" Actors don't, in fact, retire, do they? It took me a while to remember that. "

Ian Mckellen

Took

Remember

" I owe a great deal to Harold Hobson, doyen drama critic of the 'U.K. Sunday Times,' who championed me as Shakespeare's Richard II at the 1969 Edinburgh Festival. "

" It's my impression that I've done every job that I've been asked to do. "

" I get pretty grumpy about TV. "

Ian Mckellen

Get

About

" I know actors who have had to turn down good roles because they just don't pay enough. It's hard. "

" Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: 'I'm waiting to win the lottery. I'm waiting to fall in love'. For me, as a child, it was Christmas. At least that eventually came. "

" I'm brilliant at cooking my stepmother's scrambled egg recipe. The secret is to put eggs, butter, milk, and seasoning together in the saucepan, and to keep stirring with a wooden spoon under a low heat until the preferred consistency is reached. "

" 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. "

" The one thing you can ask, I think, is that actors get paid a living wage. I would like it if all the repertory theatres that currently exist could do that. It would make a huge difference. "