Sir Ian McKellen Reveals the One Thing He Can't Do When It Comes To Acting
Sir Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton star in new film The Critic, and have been speaking to Melissa Nathoo about the worst reviews that stuck with them and what the one thing McKellen can't do when it comes to acting. Report by Nathoom. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00It is lovely to see you both and especially you considering you had your fall not that long ago.
00:06I'm very happy to see you here sitting and smiling.
00:08I'm very much better, thank you very much.
00:10Good. Gemma, you are sitting next to a living legend of the stage and this
00:16whole film being about stage and critics and stuff.
00:20First of all, just what is it like getting to act with Ian McKellen?
00:24I mean, a dream, an absolute dream.
00:27But because of who he is as a person and then, you know, on top of that, there's the incredible
00:35talent. I mean, that's undeniable and everybody knows about that.
00:41But it's just a complete joy to work with you. I mean, we had so much fun.
00:46It was just like from day one, wasn't it? Access.
00:49It was very… I was worried I'd be a little nervous and starstruck because I'd grown up
00:55watching Ian and being… I mean, he isn't an icon.
01:00That's enough of all that.
01:02Yes, I can never quite believe that I'm in the film, that everyone's cast me.
01:08I'm so thrilled to be there. But I suspect you're a little bit the same.
01:12Yeah, you never lose that.
01:13It was a slight surprise. We were making a movie.
01:18We became friendly. But actors are quite good at getting friendly very quickly.
01:24Because you have to relate to people.
01:27Yes, absolutely.
01:28Immediately on screen and you've got to be ready for that.
01:33No, it was a lovely relationship.
01:34So it can be very intense making a film, intense
01:39friendships, which hopefully don't fade away and just vanish when the film is over.
01:44Well, you're holding hands.
01:46And it looks like it's a genuine friendship.
01:50I do remember actually coming to see your one-man show back… what was it?
01:54Five years ago at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
01:56And I imagine doing something like that on your own is a lot of pressure as well,
02:01because the reviews are all just going to be about you.
02:06And I'm curious if you remember what you felt like at that time having all eyes on you.
02:12This is how I like it to be.
02:15Probably what I thought.
02:17Is there a feeling like there is?
02:18One thing about a one-person show is, yes, it is entirely up to you.
02:22Yes, it is entirely your fault.
02:25But then you don't have anyone else getting in the way.
02:29And what I can tell you is, it's not a strict poll that we can rely on,
02:36but people in Orkney and the Isle of Wight and Belfast and London all laugh at the same things.
02:46We're predictable.
02:47The audience were the same everywhere we went.
02:51But we were only there for one night,
02:53so what you're getting there is a particular sort of audience who
02:56were interested in me or what I had to say and do.
03:00So they were likely to have the same mindset.
03:03But wasn't that interesting?
03:06Is there anything for both of you that you've heard
03:09in reviews that has really stuck with you over the years?
03:13Because I know even just from like, you know,
03:15we put these things on YouTube and you get comments and I get,
03:18you know, I always get comments about my eyes being like bug eyes and things like that.
03:21You know, there's stuff that sticks with you.
03:23And I'm curious from reviews that you've had,
03:26are there things that really stick with you?
03:29You've had nothing but wonderful reviews, I'm sure.
03:32Is that the problem?
03:34No, no, no, no, no.
03:36Do you know one thing that did stick with me was,
03:39I'm actually from like quite working class stock.
03:43My mum and dad have got real like, you know, East End accents.
03:48And I had an East End accent until I went to drama school.
03:50It's coming out a bit there.
03:51And they knocked it out of me.
03:52And then I did this play where I was playing a cockney
03:55and they said, oh, her hammy cockney accent.
03:58And I thought, I'm doing my own accent.
04:00But maybe it was because I, you know, I was maybe trying too hard.
04:03Like if you had to do Bolton again, like really go and do it,
04:06would you overdo it or would you be all right?
04:09It's one of the shameful things of my professional life is that I don't do accents.
04:15Why?
04:15I can't.
04:16You can.
04:17I know, I've never put the work into it.
04:20I never play American, for example.
04:22There'll be lots of offers.
04:25No.
04:26One of the worst reviews I ever had was from Howard Hobson,
04:31who was the major critic of the Sunday Times,
04:34which is virtually the character I'm playing that has that job.
04:40The best part of Ian McKellen's Hamlet is his curtain call.
04:44That is damning if you're playing Hamlet.
04:45And, you know, I looked that up the other day and he didn't write that.
04:50So had you fabricated it?
04:52No.
04:53I think I've wrote my own bad review.
04:55Wow.
04:56Was he?
04:58He wasn't. No, he didn't like it.
05:00Well, we are all our worst critics.
05:01He said it was a Woolfitt production without Woolfitt.
05:03Woolfitt was a great barnstorming actor who was renowned for not
05:08employing very good company around him.
05:11To make him look better.
05:13A Woolfitt production without the Woolfitt.
05:14But this other line about the best part of Ian McKellen's Hamlet was his curtain call.
05:18It was apparently my own bad review that I'd done.
05:21Mind you, do you want to see the curtain call it was made?
05:24I bet it was. I bet it was.
05:26Something to behold.
05:28Listen, I hope this friendship lasts because it's adorable.
05:31Even just sitting here and watching you two talk together.
05:33It's so lovely.
05:35Good luck with the film.
05:36Thank you so much.
05:36Good critic, yes.
05:37September the 13th, I believe.
05:39Yes, there we go.
05:41Thank you so much.
05:42Bye.
05:44And you have beautiful eyes.
05:46You do.
05:46Beautiful.