Sir Ian McKellen website

nobby.c · 13th August 2002, 01:17 PM

check out this link http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/lotr/wb/wb14.swf talks briefly about Sir Ian's return to NZ for some Two Towers reshoots.
He has a nice informal site (as mentioned in the Missing Wand Thread), definately not as good as this one but some nuggets of info in there.

Josslyn · 16th August 2002, 05:25 PM

You can also go to the main page for McKellen's site and view the Grey Book in which he discusses shooting LOTR from 1999 on. There are more photos as well. I especially enjoyed reading about Cannes.
http://www.mckellen.com

Old Soul · 16th August 2002, 09:23 PM

I have been to his site, he dose talk a lot about the filming, and a little of what to expect in TT. I wonder if it

Josslyn · 17th August 2002, 06:40 AM

McKellen is pretty fearless. In my edition of Marlowe's Edward the Second there is an essay about the stage productions and it mentions McKellen's performance. Apparently he played Edward's death scene graphically and completely nude. (For anyone who doesn't know, Edward was killed in a very gory manner that did call for nudity.)
So I think McKellen would probably do it if asked by the director but as to what will really be included, who knows.

Kikishwa · 18th August 2002, 01:34 AM

Sir Ian was asked this question in his email section on LoTR and he said he was going to be nude. For his sake I hope it was done in a well heated studio, New Zealand can get decidedly chilly. :)

Kikishwa

Old Soul · 18th August 2002, 07:08 AM

Well, I guess it is safe to assume that Sir Ian McKellen is not a shy man

Jurious · 18th August 2002, 02:37 PM

True, Old Soul! :D

I just took a quick look at Sir McKellan's 'Grey Book' on his site, where he records alot about filming the Lord of the Rings. It's very interesting. I found a lil snippet from when he and Mr.Lee were filming the fantastic scene in Orthanc. I don't know whether people here have seen this before, but I'll post a quote from it anyway:

"Last week, the day after Gandalf packed Frodo and Sam off to Bree, promising to meet them at The Inn of the Prancing Pony, I worked with Christopher Lee for the first time. Gandalf visits his fellow Istar at the Orthanc Tower, where Saruman consults his seeing stone, the palantir. I don't feel face to face with Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Fu Man Chu all at once because Christopher looks saintly in his robes. And there is work to be done.

"For instance, I have to learn a new pronunciation. All this time we have being saying "palanTIR" instead of the Old English stress on the first syllable. Just as the word was about to be committed to the soundtrack, a correction came from Andrew Jack, the Dialect Coach; he taught me a Norfolk accent for Restoration, and for LOTR he supervises accents, languages and all things vocal. Palantir, being strictly of elvish origin should follow Tolkien's rule that the syllable before a double consonant should be stressed - "paLANTir" making a sound which is close to "lantern."

"Christopher Lee proves that a distinctive voice is an asset in the movies. Stars are not just pretty faces, so to speak, they must sound good too. His 200 (or is it 300?) films have robbed theatre audiences of a resounding Shakespearian. Spread across the black throne under Orthanc's vasty roof, he looked like King Lear in age and authority. He is 78 years old, handsome and powerful. When he speaks, all I see and hear is Saruman, my old associate gone wrong. Except once when he rounded off a speech, at Peter Jackson's suggestion, with a snarl. To be within four feet of a Lee snarl is unsettling. I was glad he wasn't wearing his fangs.

"He loves stories about actors and I amused him last week with one he didn't know, which I was told by Brian Bedford:
"Noël Coward reads a poster: Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde in The Sea Shall Not Have Them! 'I don't see why not -- everyone else has.' " I like making Saruman laugh."

This was from 12 March 2000 entry. If you wanna view the whole page, click HERE !