Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Judi Dench and Ian McKellen taught me how to work hard and respect the theatre.
It was just really odd to be in a room with Ian McKellen sharing cucumber sandwiches.
Ian McKellen always said I should come out. But why? I make my living playing heterosexuals.
I've been grateful enough, smart enough to take the work with Ian McKellen in Gods And Monsters.
When you get to work with people like Ian McKellen or directors like Peter Jackson, you sit and watch.
I think Ian McKellen made it all happen, because he used to throw dinner parties and invite everyone over.
Ian McKellen is brilliant with research. I paid really close attention to the sources he goes to. He's a very, very intelligent man.
I love the acting community at Cambridge. It's really quite committed and serious, since the days of Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen right through to Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie.
I do admire Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen, but I'm a philistine. I like the good life too much; I'm not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons.
Look at a guy like Ian McKellen, who is eighty or whatever, and he's just loving his work, and you can see that in the work. That defines what type of actor you are. And what kind of people want to work with you. And whether you can do this job for a long, long time.
Some of the greatest actors have turned superheroes into a serious business: Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in 'Batman'; Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, the first venerable knights of the X-Men, who have now passed the baton to Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy.
Theatre outings are my favourite thing to spend money on. The most influential play I saw was 'Bent,' which starred Ian McKellen. And I loved the original performance of 'The Rocky Horror Show,' with Richard O'Brien and Tim Curry at the Royal Court, when I was about 15.
The first two actors we cast were Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Because we started so highbrow, we were able to get anyone. Plus, some of these people have children, and their kids love 'X-Men.' They'll do it because of them - that's our little extra ace in the hole.
It's great to work with people who are jobbing actors at different stages of their career, and learning from them, and getting over being star-struck by somebody like Ian McKellen because he has such a long prestigious history in the business, but then seeing how he works on the camera; you never stop learning.