Sir Ian McKellen's talk.
Oct. 18th, 2003 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aleathielOkay, I finally wrote it. Sorry about not getting it done earlier - I was hyper-excited about my good news yesterday and then went, on the spur of the moment, to see an outdoor production of Hamlet at Jesus College last night.
Sadly the cold (it was FREEZING) probably wasn't good for me, because I am feeling quite flu-ey today. But that does mean I'm having a quiet night and have used the time to finish the report.
So, here is is:
I was going to try and tell this in chronological order, but have decided that basically there is no point because I can’t remember in that much detail. To the extent I can, I will stick to the shape of the talk but the questions jumped about all over the place.
The whole thing was being filmed to go on a South Bank Show ‘ Year in the life of Ian McKellen’, so I’m sure any of the most interesting bits will be on that, which is due to be shown on ITV1 in 2004.
As I explained, we missed the beginning of the talk, which was in fact more of a question and answer session. I’ve rounded up what I can remember on each topic, even if they were separate answers to make a more coherent account.
On being gay:
The first part I heard he was talking about his sexuality. He continually referred to being gay and what it meant to him during the talk, and made jokes. He talked about the fact that when he grew up it was very much not talked of and that until he was twenty-eight gay sex was illegal. He said that he felt the gay liberation movement had somehow passed him by, and it was the introduction by the Thatcherite government of section 28 which drove him to come out in public.
Someone asked him whether he had had any scruples about accepting a knighthood from such obviously homophobic people, and he replied that in fact it was one of the things that mattered the most to him: when he was offered the knighthood they had know that he was an openly gay man, so he saw it as progress.
He talked about the fact that he felt that sometimes they should go around with a circus tent and call out ‘Come on down!’ and get everyone to admit to being gay instead of hiding it inside. He very touchingly said that he hoped that if there was anyone in the room who was afraid of talking about their sexuality, that he honesty would help them make up their minds.
Someone asked what he thought of men like Graham Norton and Julian Clary who have almost made a name for themselves out of being gay. He asked in return why she asked and what she thought. The girl replied that she thought it was disgusting because it was acting to a stereotype and very insulting. Ian said that Graham was a good friend of his, which brought a round of laughter after the girl’s comment. Then he said that, as he saw it, Julian and Graham were just being themselves. He said he found it insulting when someone played up to the stereotype without admitting that they were gay .
On Acting:
He says he can remember when he thought that the theatre was the only real place to act and how he felt sorry for the people who went into films because it meant that they hadn’t got a job in the theatre.
He said he thought there were a lot of gay actors because gay people can get very used to pretending and hiding things. He thinks acting is just another way of pretending something is real.
He was asked whether there were any particular parts he wanted to play, and ambitions he hadn’t yet fulfilled. He thought for a moment and then said that he wanted to be a pantomime dame. Obviously this caused a laugh, but he maintained that he was serious and that he had talked to some of his friends and that they wanted to do a panto in the Old Vic in London, not for this coming Christmas, but the year after. He said it would be mostly actors with a few ‘turns from celebrities’ (by which I assume he meant panto appearances by the kind of people who do that sort of thing. To all Americans - and possibly others, I don’t know to where this custom extends - I can explain the point of a panto if you’ve never seen one, but I won’t labour the point now, just ask). He said there would be ‘all the pretty girls kicking their legs around, and the boys too, of course’.
On performing Shakespeare:
He says it is the words that are important. That things can be updated and set in different places as long as the production is true to the words, which is where the story is and where the characters are developed. He says when on stage he always imagines that ‘Shakespeare has just popped out to go to the loo and will be back in a minute’ so he has to justify each decision he makes about the portrayal of his character.
On Shakespeare on Film:
He says his favourite of both his own and those he had only seen of the films of Shakespeare was the Macbeth with himself and Judi Dench. He says they performed it in a theatre ‘with an audience no bigger than this one - maybe smaller’ and that when it was put on screen he saw it as ‘photographing the words’. He talked about what he sees as the three ‘problems’ with Macbeth. Firstly, Scotland. He thinks productions get too worked up about location, which really doesn’t matter. In this production it was performed on a bare stage. Secondly, the witches. He thinks that they can be overdone and ruin the production. Finally he doesn’t like the fifth act. ‘Sorry, Shakespear old chap, but as soon as you start getting inside Macbeth’s head - which is the interesting part and where you want to be then the scene changes and you are back with Macduff and Malcolm and their rhododendron branches pretending to be Burnham Wood’. He talked about the decision they made to keep the focus on Macbeth throughout the fifth act and for him to stay central on the stage while the actors around him said the lines for the other scenes.
Which leads to his talk of audiences. He said during that production there was a preist who bought a ticket to nearly ever show and sat in the front row holding up a crucifix. He says he remembers finally asking what he was doing and the priest telling him, ‘I am protecting us all’. He says he thinks it is a pity to lose small theatre spaces where something like that can happen.
He says British audiences are easily the worst theatre audiences in the world because all you ever get is polite applause and that if there is a standing ovation you know there are Americans in the audience. He says in Tokyo actors are treated as gods and have adoration shouted down on them, blessing them with health and happiness, long lives and prosperous families.
This lead to comment on audience disruption. He had already commented on the number of people coughing (in fact had asked someone to ‘cough more quietly please’ which was so arrogant it almost lost him a lot of my respect, but I think he was joking). One of the highlights of the evening was someone’s phone going off. They guy was really embarrassed and reached to turn it off, but Ian McKellen asked to be given the phone and answered it (Okay, so it’s becoming a cliché for celebrities to do this, but it was very funny) “No, it’s Ian McKellen. I’m afraid we are rather busy now. Yes, we’re having a bit of a chat. I will tell him you called, I’m sure he’s got your number.’ He got a very loud round of applause for that.
He was asked whether there was a part he felt he had put himself into more than any other, to which he said no - that every part he plays is his body and his vocal cords and that there is no one he identifies with most. When asked which of the X-men he would want to be he replied, ‘A younger Magnito’.
He talked about parts that were good. ‘Never play Romeo, play Mercutio’ (although he did play Romeo. He said he’d wanted to play Antonio in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ because he sees the Antonio/Bassanio/Portia love triangle as fascinating. He says he has no doubt that Antonio was Bassanio’s lover before the opening of the play and he would like to see it performed with this dynamic in mind. He was going to play Antonio in a flm, but it was delayed and he had to pull out due to prior commitments. He said the other part he was upset about losing was that of Ned Kelly to Mick Jagger (this was where he made the comment about going to see the Heath Ledger version because he ‘likes Orlando’. He left just enough of a pause to play the audience before finishing with, ‘He’s my friend!’
He was asked whether, in his film version of Othello, he had intentionally portrayed Iago as having homosexual desires for Othello. He said whoever had suggested that had read to many biographies and that if it was there it was totally unintentional.
He lamented the fact that all young actors now seem to think that it is necessary to go to drama school, when really experience on the stage, even at an amateur level, is far more beneficial. He pointed out that few of the actors of his generation ever had any formal training.
He said he reads his rivews, and that he is still hurt by those which are overly negative. He says he thinks it’s something that doesn’t ever go away. But he says he also finds overly positive ones discouraging. He mimed as he said, ‘And the moment when Ian McKellen lifted the wineglass to the light changed my life’. He said that was obviously an over-exaggeration, but that over glowing reviews are difficult because he doesn’t feel he will ever be able to surpass them, and that makes him feel down.
He says watching himself on film is like looking at an old photograph: ‘Did I really have a haircut like that?’, but that watching what he has just done on a film monitor is useful because he can see how to improve.
He talked about his time at St Catherine’s College (where we were), and reminisced about getting into college drama productions, and about the night the rowing team won Bumps (it’s the Cambridge rowing race - maybe I will talk about this in more detail sometime if I continue with my own rowing) and came back to celebrate and ended up setting the college on fire (having just been to a rowing formal - this doesn’t surprise me in the least!). All the undergrads were fined although it was the fault of the first-boat team, and he says he went to the Dean to complain and got a lecture about College solidarity.
He finished by performing a soliloquy from ‘Sir Thomas Moore’, a play which Shakespeare co-wrote and which Ian McKellen was the first person ever to star in when it was performed for the first time ever in the 1960s. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how fantastic this was. He can really act. Obviously.
Then he came through the audience to leave, saying he had to get back to London that night because he was filming in the morning. Most people were talking amongst themselves but a few of us at the back followed him out. The girl in front of me asked for his autograph. He replied that he didn’t really want to give any, because if he gave one to her, then the others would see and he would have to to about 150 and he’d never get away on time. But he said he’d do it quickly, and so did. Then he looked up and smiled at me.
I said, ‘I won’t ask if you don’t want to sign. It’s okay.’ (I hope you’re all impressed at my polite restraint!!)
He replied, “Do you want me to? For you?”
I said of course, but that I understood he needed to leave. He said he would sign one more, signed mine and then left as the others started coming out.
We went home (or back to our college). So yes, he only signed two autographs and one was for me! And I was so good: I didn’t even ask!
There is my story. I’m sure there was more that I can’t remember, but I think I got most interesting stuff in!
Sadly the cold (it was FREEZING) probably wasn't good for me, because I am feeling quite flu-ey today. But that does mean I'm having a quiet night and have used the time to finish the report.
So, here is is:
I was going to try and tell this in chronological order, but have decided that basically there is no point because I can’t remember in that much detail. To the extent I can, I will stick to the shape of the talk but the questions jumped about all over the place.
The whole thing was being filmed to go on a South Bank Show ‘ Year in the life of Ian McKellen’, so I’m sure any of the most interesting bits will be on that, which is due to be shown on ITV1 in 2004.
As I explained, we missed the beginning of the talk, which was in fact more of a question and answer session. I’ve rounded up what I can remember on each topic, even if they were separate answers to make a more coherent account.
On being gay:
The first part I heard he was talking about his sexuality. He continually referred to being gay and what it meant to him during the talk, and made jokes. He talked about the fact that when he grew up it was very much not talked of and that until he was twenty-eight gay sex was illegal. He said that he felt the gay liberation movement had somehow passed him by, and it was the introduction by the Thatcherite government of section 28 which drove him to come out in public.
Someone asked him whether he had had any scruples about accepting a knighthood from such obviously homophobic people, and he replied that in fact it was one of the things that mattered the most to him: when he was offered the knighthood they had know that he was an openly gay man, so he saw it as progress.
He talked about the fact that he felt that sometimes they should go around with a circus tent and call out ‘Come on down!’ and get everyone to admit to being gay instead of hiding it inside. He very touchingly said that he hoped that if there was anyone in the room who was afraid of talking about their sexuality, that he honesty would help them make up their minds.
Someone asked what he thought of men like Graham Norton and Julian Clary who have almost made a name for themselves out of being gay. He asked in return why she asked and what she thought. The girl replied that she thought it was disgusting because it was acting to a stereotype and very insulting. Ian said that Graham was a good friend of his, which brought a round of laughter after the girl’s comment. Then he said that, as he saw it, Julian and Graham were just being themselves. He said he found it insulting when someone played up to the stereotype without admitting that they were gay .
On Acting:
He says he can remember when he thought that the theatre was the only real place to act and how he felt sorry for the people who went into films because it meant that they hadn’t got a job in the theatre.
He said he thought there were a lot of gay actors because gay people can get very used to pretending and hiding things. He thinks acting is just another way of pretending something is real.
He was asked whether there were any particular parts he wanted to play, and ambitions he hadn’t yet fulfilled. He thought for a moment and then said that he wanted to be a pantomime dame. Obviously this caused a laugh, but he maintained that he was serious and that he had talked to some of his friends and that they wanted to do a panto in the Old Vic in London, not for this coming Christmas, but the year after. He said it would be mostly actors with a few ‘turns from celebrities’ (by which I assume he meant panto appearances by the kind of people who do that sort of thing. To all Americans - and possibly others, I don’t know to where this custom extends - I can explain the point of a panto if you’ve never seen one, but I won’t labour the point now, just ask). He said there would be ‘all the pretty girls kicking their legs around, and the boys too, of course’.
On performing Shakespeare:
He says it is the words that are important. That things can be updated and set in different places as long as the production is true to the words, which is where the story is and where the characters are developed. He says when on stage he always imagines that ‘Shakespeare has just popped out to go to the loo and will be back in a minute’ so he has to justify each decision he makes about the portrayal of his character.
On Shakespeare on Film:
He says his favourite of both his own and those he had only seen of the films of Shakespeare was the Macbeth with himself and Judi Dench. He says they performed it in a theatre ‘with an audience no bigger than this one - maybe smaller’ and that when it was put on screen he saw it as ‘photographing the words’. He talked about what he sees as the three ‘problems’ with Macbeth. Firstly, Scotland. He thinks productions get too worked up about location, which really doesn’t matter. In this production it was performed on a bare stage. Secondly, the witches. He thinks that they can be overdone and ruin the production. Finally he doesn’t like the fifth act. ‘Sorry, Shakespear old chap, but as soon as you start getting inside Macbeth’s head - which is the interesting part and where you want to be then the scene changes and you are back with Macduff and Malcolm and their rhododendron branches pretending to be Burnham Wood’. He talked about the decision they made to keep the focus on Macbeth throughout the fifth act and for him to stay central on the stage while the actors around him said the lines for the other scenes.
Which leads to his talk of audiences. He said during that production there was a preist who bought a ticket to nearly ever show and sat in the front row holding up a crucifix. He says he remembers finally asking what he was doing and the priest telling him, ‘I am protecting us all’. He says he thinks it is a pity to lose small theatre spaces where something like that can happen.
He says British audiences are easily the worst theatre audiences in the world because all you ever get is polite applause and that if there is a standing ovation you know there are Americans in the audience. He says in Tokyo actors are treated as gods and have adoration shouted down on them, blessing them with health and happiness, long lives and prosperous families.
This lead to comment on audience disruption. He had already commented on the number of people coughing (in fact had asked someone to ‘cough more quietly please’ which was so arrogant it almost lost him a lot of my respect, but I think he was joking). One of the highlights of the evening was someone’s phone going off. They guy was really embarrassed and reached to turn it off, but Ian McKellen asked to be given the phone and answered it (Okay, so it’s becoming a cliché for celebrities to do this, but it was very funny) “No, it’s Ian McKellen. I’m afraid we are rather busy now. Yes, we’re having a bit of a chat. I will tell him you called, I’m sure he’s got your number.’ He got a very loud round of applause for that.
He was asked whether there was a part he felt he had put himself into more than any other, to which he said no - that every part he plays is his body and his vocal cords and that there is no one he identifies with most. When asked which of the X-men he would want to be he replied, ‘A younger Magnito’.
He talked about parts that were good. ‘Never play Romeo, play Mercutio’ (although he did play Romeo. He said he’d wanted to play Antonio in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ because he sees the Antonio/Bassanio/Portia love triangle as fascinating. He says he has no doubt that Antonio was Bassanio’s lover before the opening of the play and he would like to see it performed with this dynamic in mind. He was going to play Antonio in a flm, but it was delayed and he had to pull out due to prior commitments. He said the other part he was upset about losing was that of Ned Kelly to Mick Jagger (this was where he made the comment about going to see the Heath Ledger version because he ‘likes Orlando’. He left just enough of a pause to play the audience before finishing with, ‘He’s my friend!’
He was asked whether, in his film version of Othello, he had intentionally portrayed Iago as having homosexual desires for Othello. He said whoever had suggested that had read to many biographies and that if it was there it was totally unintentional.
He lamented the fact that all young actors now seem to think that it is necessary to go to drama school, when really experience on the stage, even at an amateur level, is far more beneficial. He pointed out that few of the actors of his generation ever had any formal training.
He said he reads his rivews, and that he is still hurt by those which are overly negative. He says he thinks it’s something that doesn’t ever go away. But he says he also finds overly positive ones discouraging. He mimed as he said, ‘And the moment when Ian McKellen lifted the wineglass to the light changed my life’. He said that was obviously an over-exaggeration, but that over glowing reviews are difficult because he doesn’t feel he will ever be able to surpass them, and that makes him feel down.
He says watching himself on film is like looking at an old photograph: ‘Did I really have a haircut like that?’, but that watching what he has just done on a film monitor is useful because he can see how to improve.
He talked about his time at St Catherine’s College (where we were), and reminisced about getting into college drama productions, and about the night the rowing team won Bumps (it’s the Cambridge rowing race - maybe I will talk about this in more detail sometime if I continue with my own rowing) and came back to celebrate and ended up setting the college on fire (having just been to a rowing formal - this doesn’t surprise me in the least!). All the undergrads were fined although it was the fault of the first-boat team, and he says he went to the Dean to complain and got a lecture about College solidarity.
He finished by performing a soliloquy from ‘Sir Thomas Moore’, a play which Shakespeare co-wrote and which Ian McKellen was the first person ever to star in when it was performed for the first time ever in the 1960s. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how fantastic this was. He can really act. Obviously.
Then he came through the audience to leave, saying he had to get back to London that night because he was filming in the morning. Most people were talking amongst themselves but a few of us at the back followed him out. The girl in front of me asked for his autograph. He replied that he didn’t really want to give any, because if he gave one to her, then the others would see and he would have to to about 150 and he’d never get away on time. But he said he’d do it quickly, and so did. Then he looked up and smiled at me.
I said, ‘I won’t ask if you don’t want to sign. It’s okay.’ (I hope you’re all impressed at my polite restraint!!)
He replied, “Do you want me to? For you?”
I said of course, but that I understood he needed to leave. He said he would sign one more, signed mine and then left as the others started coming out.
We went home (or back to our college). So yes, he only signed two autographs and one was for me! And I was so good: I didn’t even ask!
There is my story. I’m sure there was more that I can’t remember, but I think I got most interesting stuff in!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 02:38 pm (UTC)*LOL*
I know that kind of reaction too well;) I mean, not on films but photographs of course.
However, I'd ask myself: 'Did I really have a hair colour like that?'
(I hope you’re all impressed at my polite restraint!!)
Good girl! Will you post a scan of that autograph?
And thanks for the report!
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 02:42 pm (UTC)I'll do my best.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 02:47 pm (UTC)I know you will. Was just asking, no pressure, hun:)