Nowadays, We couldn’t imagine The Lord of the Rings with any actor other than Ian McKellen playing Gandalf. However, this was not the idea that Peter Jackson had at first. In fact, at that time McKellen was not one of the most prestigious actors in Hollywood, so before trying him he tried many others.
Let it be known, Jackson tried to get him to play Gandalf Simon Russell Beale, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery, Patrick Stewart, Christopher Plummer, Sam Neill y Patrick McGoohan. Each one of them for a specific reason; scheduling problems, illnesses or simply, as in the case of Stewart, because the script did not convince him. But we can thank these denials that McKellen finally played this character, since he undoubtedly nailed the role. But what does he think about having been such a late option?
“I hope they feel like idiots.”
In an interview for Variety, the actor has been asked about this very thing; about whether or not he cared that he was one of the last choices to be Gandalf. However, McKellen finds this funny, and he takes the opportunity to send a message to those who rejected him:
“I don’t think you’ll ever be the first choice. I certainly wasn’t to Gandalf. Anthony Hopkins rejected it and Sean Connery did too. Now they are all coming out of nowhere and I hope they feel like idiots.”
Although Connery recently died, Hopkins went on to say that he regretted not having played the character, something he was unable to do due to his commitment to Hannibal. On the other hand, McKellen himself was on the verge of having to reject it since The filming of The Lord of the Rings coincided in dates with that of X-Men, where it was Magneto. However, she managed to quickly fix it by talking to the studio.
Cultural journalist specialized in cinema, series, comics, video games and everything that your parents tried to avoid in your childhood. Also a budding film director, screenwriter and professional hooker.
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2023-09-26 20:19:38
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