Ian McKellen has revealed he “offered to resign” from his role as Gandalf in the first film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The fantasy adventure films, directed by Peter Jackson, were based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by British author J.R.R. Tolkien. McKellen starred in all three installments, which are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
In an interview for the U.K. newspaper The Times, McKellen, who a few months ago took a tumble off a theater stage in London in June, revealed that when he first played the wizard, he was reduced to tears.
“Because it was highly technical filmmaking, I had to pretend to talk to these faces on sticks representing the hobbits,” the screen legend said in the article published on Friday.
“And so I said into my mic, not realizing it was on, ‘This isn’t why I became an actor,’ and that evening I wrote to Peter [Jackson, the director] and offered to resign. Next day I found my tent was carpeted and full of baskets of fruit and chocolates with a note, ‘Don’t worry—we’ll find another way.'”
Newsweek emailed spokespeople for McKellen and Jackson for comment on Friday
Ian McKellen attends the Opening Night of “My Fair Lady” at the London Coliseum on May 18, 2022, in London, England. He has revealed that when he first played Gandalf, he was reduced to tears.
David M. Benett/Getty Images
While McKellen has played Gandalf in multiple movies, including in The Hobbit trilogy, and was cast in roles such as Magneto in X-Men and Cogsworth in the live-action Beauty and the Beast, he doesn’t consider himself a part of the Hollywood elite.
“No, I’m not a Hollywood star. I am rather a tourist in Hollywood. It’s nice to see how it all works, but I feel I’m not doing my job unless I’m on a stage,” he said
Elsewhere in The Times interview, McKellen described how he thought he might die when he fell off the stage, fracturing his vertebrae and wrist during a performance of his West End show, Player Kings.
The actor was rushed to the hospital after falling while playing the role of John Falstaff in a condensed version of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts I and II.
“As I began gliding, I thought, this is the end. I didn’t know what it was the end of—certainly that night’s performance—but as I progressed I was ready to accept that I might be about to die,” he told the newspaper.
McKellen explained that since the incident, he had been reviewing his will, wondering who was going inherit his belongings. The actor revealed he also thinks “about death every day” but not because he was worried. He was simply thinking about it as a matter of reality.
McKellen previously credited the fat suit he wore during the performance for helping to break his fall.
“But I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints. So I’ve had a lucky escape really,” he told Saga Magazine in August. “I thought it [the fall] was the end of something. It was very upsetting… I have to keep assuring myself that I’m not too old to act and it was just a b***** accident.”
The actor added: “I feel such shame. I was hoping to be able to rejoin the play on the tour, but I couldn’t.”
