304 Quotes by Ian Mckellen

Most of the time when you do a job, a play or a film, you’re wondering, “Will there be an audience?”

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.

In the theatre, the actor is in total control. The director wasn’t in the house last night, the designer wasn’t there, the author’s dead. It’s just us and the audience.

Acting is no longer about lying. It’s now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the best policy.

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.

It’s a joy to be up close to Derek Jacobi’s work. Alas, we haven’t worked very much, over the years, since we were at university together, but I don’t think I’ve missed many of his great shows and performances.

Some directors don’t tell you that it’s not your fault, so you get increasingly depressed that you’re not delivering what’s required, and then you discover it’s not you at all, it’s something in the background that’s out of focus.

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.

I often thought my gravestone would say, ‘Here lies Gandalf. He came out,’