Lord of the Ring star's Bolton links

Here the star of the Film of the Year Lord of the Rings talks abour his early life in Lancashire, and career in acting

IAN Murray McKellen was born at 8.30pm, on May 25 1939, in the general hospital of Burnley, where his father Denis Murray was a civil engineer.

He and Margery Lois (nee Sutcliffe) already had a five-year-old daughter Jean. Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, the family moved to Wigan.

In his earliest years, Ian slept under the iron bomb-proof table in the dining-room. Overcoming diphtheria when he was three, he was shortly after attending the nursery school attached to the Dicconson Street Wesleyan Primary School in the centre of the town.

He walked to school, from the family four-bedroomed semi-detached house (circa 1929) opposite Mesnes Park and backing onto Wigan Cricket Club's grounds. On Sundays he attended morning service at Hope Street Congregational Church and afternoon Sunday School.

By 11, he was at Wigan Grammar School for Boys but a year later transferred to Bolton School (Boys' Division), when his father was made borough engineer and surveyor of Bolton (population 120,000).

An early fascination with theatre was encouraged by his parents, who took him on a family outing to Peter Pan at Manchester Opera House when he was three.

At all his schools he acted, most crucially for Frank Greene, the senior English master who directed the annual, spring-term Bolton School classical play in the main hall, seating 800 people.

Bolton School, where McKellen was a scholar, further encouraged the actor at the Hopefield Miniature Theatre and between 1957-58 he was head boy there.

This converted Edwardian house had an auditorium for 50 adoring parents and a tiny stage for puppetry, one-act entertainments in French or translated from the Greek or written especially by the masters.

In one of these latter, Sir Ian made the first of very few appearances in drag, as a Bolton mill-girl who cheats her way to the finale of a beauty contest (The Beauty Contest, by Leonard Roe.) His first Shakespeare performance was at Hopefield, as a 13-year-old Malvolio in the letter scene from Twelfth Night.

Each summer, he attended the school's camp to Stratford-upon-Avon: under canvas in Bell tents in a field upstream in Tiddington, half-an-hour to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre by punt. In the evening, he saw Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, Charles Laughton, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, John Gielgud, Paul Robeson in Shakespeare and, round the camp-stove, learnt to express why not all the productions were good.

As it was, he won an exhibition to read English at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. This honour was withdrawn after two years, as his academic progress had been overtaken by the 21 undergraduate productions he acted in.

He began to be noted by the national press and when he graduated Bachelor Arts (2.2) in 1961, he had decided to become an actor ("I wasn't fit for anything else!") and without going to drama school made his first performance as Roper in the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry's production of A Man for All Seasons. Three years later, he was living in London with two Scottish terriers and his lover Brian Taylor, a history schoolteacher from Bolton.

From the proceeds of a year on Broadway as Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, he bought a riverside terraced house in Limehouse, within sight of both Canary Wharf and Tower Bridge.

He was named Commander of the British Empire in 1979, followed by his Knighthood of the British Empire for services to the performing arts in the Queen's New Year Honours of 1990. He is one of the very few openly-gay knights.

In 1988, he publicly came out as a gay man during a BBC Radio 4 discussion about the Thatcher government's infamous Section 28 of the Local Government Act, making illegal the public "promotion of homosexuality".

On performing in the main hall at Bolton School: "This required experimenting with being audible above the constant squeal of 800 bottoms shifting on 800 rush-bottomed chairs. Frank Greene was right: if you can't be heard, you can't act onstage."

Here, the respected actor talks about the many months he spent in New Zealand filming Lord of the Rings:

Q: Fans have expressed concern that Tolkien's story will be drastically changed to adapt the books to film. How closely will the movies follow the books?

Sir Ian: Lord of the Rings is perhaps the most faithful screenplay ever adapted from a long novel. This is not just because our writing trio (Phillipa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Frances Walsh) are devoted to the original and would share other fans' resentment if it were 'mistreated'. Tolkien has an advantage over Dickens, Tolstoy and other epic writers. His storylines have a clear sweep and are less concerned with the byways and subplots that characterise 19th century novels. Consequently the major milestones of the Fellowship's journey are intact. Inevitably, even in a three-film version, there will be some omissions of characters, but as the story unfolds onscreen and as the landscapes are seen for the first time, little will be missed.

The enthusiasts who have read the novels over and over may notice every change but in doing so they will miss the point.

Peter Jackson's movie does not challenge the novel's supremacy any more than the distinguished book illustrations by Howe, Lee et al were meant to replace Tolkien's descriptive words. Paintings, drawings, animations and at last the feature films all augment our appreciation of Lord of the Rings. And just watch the book sales rise as New Line's publicity for the film gears up.

Another point on this, the adaptation of masterpieces from one medium to another is as old as literature. Most of

Shakespeare's plays are reworkings of stories, poems or written history.

When I moved Richard III from stage to screen, I was determined to make a good film in honour of a great play. Had I left every scene and line of the text intact in the movie, it would not have been a good one.

Q: Did you find the role of Gandalf to be physically demanding? Did you do your own stunts?

Sir Ian: Generally if some action is potentially dangerous, I am happy to let others take over, knowing that in the completed film, no one will be the wiser.

When I realised on Last Action Hero that even so fit a gent as Arnold Schwarzenegger has a double, I lost any worries about being thought weedy.

Doubles have a double advantage -- it means that two "Gandalf" scenes can be shot simultaneously, and so the schedule progresses.

Q: Do you stay in character when the cameras stop rolling?

Sir Ian: During filming I don't like to be too distracted from Gandalf. After all I look like him, wear his clothes and must be ready whenever I'm called to go and speak his lines. Once the day's work is through, I shed the character with his clothes and make-up, although sometimes need a few stretching exercises to discard his stoop and age's stiffness.

Q: What do you think about the attention LOTR has been receiving on the Internet? Do you visit the fan sites?

Sir Ian: I take comfort from the worldwide interest in the films as it confirms that there will be a large audience awaiting their release. More obscure films, however accomplished, fail to find a distributor and therefore a cinema audience. As for others' concerns about the details of the screenplay and characterisation, I take what is useful (call it "research") and then plod on with my own interpretation, guided of course by the director and the other participants in front of and behind the camera.

Q: Which of Shakespeare's roles do you feel are most similar to Gandalf?

Sir Ian: Tolkien's tales and mythology seem more influenced by the epics of classical literature from the "Odyssey" to "Beowulf" to the Bible, rather than to the dramatic form of Elizabethan theatre.

Q: Excluding yourself whom would you have picked to play Gandalf?

Sir Ian: Fans have expressed enthusiasm for Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Lee as likely Gandalfs. I would have picked Paul Scofield.

Q: Is there another part in Lord of the Rings that you would like to play if you were not cast as Gandalf?

Sir Ian: Were I the right age, I should like to have tackled Frodo -- I have always been attracted to characters who go on journeys and change/mature as a result.

Q: What's it like to wear Gandalf's famously lengthy beard?

Sir Ian: After a while I became reconciled to having my face disguised by false hair all day and even found some comforting security in the wig, moustache and flowing beard. After all, without them, I wouldn't look (or feel) much like Gandalf.

When the wind, or wind machine, blew and the odd wayward hair tickled my cheek or forehead and Jeremy Woodhead was called on set to comb and tease it back, I did get distracted from the acting. At lunchtime, my wig was pinned back and the beard was bundled into a hair-net to snood it out of the way of salad and dessert.

Q: Did the success of Star Wars influence the studio's decision to do LOTR in trilogy format?

Sir Ian: All filmmakers admire the Star Wars trilogy and it certainly set a sort of precedent. But as you can tell, it was a storytelling imperative that made Peter Jackson stick out for at least two films. He was very happy when Bob Shaye of New Line Cinema offered money enough for three.

They are dealing with a classic whose following is worldwide -- 6.6 million downloaded the online snippet of "Lord of the Rings" in its first week.

Q: When did you first become familiar with the works of Tolkien?

Sir Ian: I read "The Hobbit" at university.

Q: Why wasn't "The Hobbit" considered as a first movie?

Sir Ian: Lord of the Rings can be read independently of The Hobbit and is different in tone and intention perhaps. Our screenplay refers to Bilbo's adventures much as Tolkien does in the trilogy.

Q: Will you be using Gandalf's sword Glamdring in combat and what sort of training have you undergone? Have you ever worked with notable fight-choreographer William Hobbes?

Sir Ian: I worked with Bill Hobbes years back when I played Hamlet onstage -- dagger and rapier.

I have never had any general fight training, so each time I have to wield a weapon I start from scratch. In Lord of the Rings I trained with Gandalf's staff and Glamdring, which he carries once the Fellowship is en route for Mordor.

Fighting is easier onscreen than onstage. The camera rarely sees the full figure, whose silhouette is crucial to convince a theatre audience. Hence the use of doubles who save the actors' time and bloodied knuckles. You can be pretty sure that when you can't see the characters' faces during a film fight, that doubles are being used.

Q: Are you concerned that if LOTR is a huge hit, you might become stereotyped as a "wizard"?

Sir Ian: I have always prided myself on being a protean actor, capable of successful disguise as I deliberately look for variety in my work.

What critics or audiences think of me doesn't worry me overmuch, as long as I am still offered new challenges in the theatre as well as cinema.

There are worse fates than to be permanently associated with a great literary icon, should that come about.

In the meantime I am beginning to wonder what my next job will be -- certainly something of contrast. My only worry would be if prospective employers began to think of me as a one-part actor. Were that to happen, I could always direct them to the longish curriculum vitae at www.mckellen.com

Q: Can you separate your film characters from your personal life?

Sir Ian: During the weeks of rehearsing a play, I tend to become absorbed by the character as I look for him during private study and with the other actors.

I try out walks and accents and gestures of face and body. I sometimes learn my lines on public transport muttering them out loud to myself. This must look odd to fellow passengers. But I am always myself of course, as I search for the character's feelings within my own experience.

Once the play is on, there is a clear distinction between work onstage and life outside the theatre.

The same is true of filming. After a long day on the set I was only too happy to revert to normality. Gandalf was always with me, inside me I suppose: but when I was out of make-up and costume I had no problems setting aside Lord of the Rings consciously.

The subconscious is another matter and perhaps I was more possessed by the experiences of Middle Earth than I realised.

Q: Do you think it is a big risk to make all three films at once? What if the first one bombs?

Sir Ian: I am sure this question puzzled the financiers of Lord of the Rings, as the success of part two may well depend on part one's reception: and part three -- well who can predict?

As it is, a bold decision was made to assume that the trilogy will be gripping enough to retain its audience over a couple of years. It is of course commonsensical to film all three at one go -- gathering together the cast for separate shoots would be impractical.

It will eventually be possible to see all the films in one marathon sitting -- I look forward to that.

Q: Gandalf is often seen riding Shadowfax. How did you train for scenes on horseback?

Sir Ian: I like riding and first learnt for a film about the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. Mick Jagger was eventually cast in my role.

I was on horseback as D H Lawrence in Priest of Love and as Roger the Bandit in Alfred the Great. As Lawrence of Arabia in Ross, I got to ride a camel.

Q: Gandalf the Grey is a much more down to earth being, while Gandalf the White shows the Wizard exhibiting much more power and strength. Are you going to show this distinction dramatically or do you think you will make it more subtle?

Sir Ian: There will be changes to costume and general appearance and awareness that Gandalf the White is younger-looking than his earlier incarnation. Otherwise we shall both have to wait and see.

Q: Have you read The Lord of the Rings?

Sir Ian: Yes.

Q: What is the one question you are most tired of being asked?

Sir Ian: "Have you read Lord of the Rings?"