Ian McKellen so deeply loves the art of performance that he was willing, at the age of 86, to return to both the X-Men and Lord of the Rings franchises that made him a household name. In December, he’ll appear in Avengers: Doomsday as Magneto, a role he originated in 2000’s X-Men. And McKellen has said he expects to suit back up in his grey robes to play Gandalf in The Hunt for Gollum, currently due out in 2027.
But as he told Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night’s The Late Show, none of the process behind big-screen spectacle compares to the communal experience of taking the stage in front of a live audience.
“There’s nothing I enjoy more than acting… not so much in the movies, but in the theater,” McKellen says.
Most of us will never see McKellen, who has gained renown on both the West End and Broadway since the 1960s, perform on stage. That’s both the beauty and the tragedy of live theater — it’s temporary art. And so it’s a gift to get McKellen back in an X-Men or a Lord of the Rings movie whenever the stars align, the chance to see a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company inject fantasy mumbojumbo with the rigor required to speak The Bard’s words. But his appearance on The Late Show offered a rare treat: McKellen performing a monologue from a Shakespearean play he originated over 60 years ago. When the lights go down, Colbert’s audience completely locks in, and McKellen delivers.
The origins of Sir Thomas More are debated among scholars, but most seem to agree that Shakespeare had a hand in rewriting the story of the lawyer and Catholic martyr. The monologue finds More responding to riots in the streets, where the people are rejecting a wave of immigrants who arrived in London. More, who sticks to his principles, might as well be talking to ICE agents in the streets of Minneapolis. The relevancy is not lost on McKellen. In fact, it powers the performance.
During his interview with Colbert, McKellen says that once again he was hoisted up and asked to wave his hands around in order to mimic Magneto’s telekinetic powers. In Avengers: Doomsday, the antihero apparently destroys New Jersey? Spoiler or not, I’m glad he made it out unscathed. At 86, we must protect McKellen at all costs, knowing he can go this hard on a late-night American talk show.
