304 Quotes by Ian Mckellen

Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I’ve ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn’t even realized I was carrying.

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.

Ever since the invention of the camera, people have been trying to create 3D, because we see things in 3D, and everyone’s aware that the camera doesn’t.

Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef – but that’s only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t ever believe that I was good enough to be come one.

I have never wanted to be typecast, one of those actors who plays a variation on a one-note theme. So just as I enjoy playing a wide variety of characters, from good to bad to ugly to cute – so I have enjoyed of late working in film and television, as well as in theatres of various sizes and shapes.

Journalists often ask me: “Aren’t you sorry that after all the work you’ve done, you’re best known as Magneto and Gandalf?” But that’s what I’ve always wanted – not to be known as myself. I want to draw attention to the characters.

I’m cheaper than Anthony Hopkins.

As for the clarity of the 48 frames, I’ve heard people say that it looks odd, it’s too demanding, there’s too much information, you don’t know where to look.

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.