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Like most people, (unless you are a mega fan of this wonderful man, or an avid theatre goer) the wonder that is Ian McKellen has only emerged to me over the last few years. I had obviously seen him on various things in the past, and his face was easily recogniseable, but it wasnt until his 1998 film Gods and Monsters that the true magnificence of this man became known to me. As his portrayel of classic horror director James Wale i was totally amazed by him. And now, his popularity is growing more and more with his role as Magneto in X-men and X2, and his legendary staus as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Last night, me and fellow MOFO Sisboombah went and saw Sir Ian in Pantomine at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo, London. Its a classic theatre where if your anybody in the acting Biz, The Old Vic is the place where you must perform on stage. The likes of Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton, Lawrence Olivier, Oliver Reed, Kevin Spacey and Anthony Hopkins have all performed there many times in the past. Unless you're a local, you may be unaware of what Panto is. Its basically an interactive stage show for children, although with the amount of innuendo's that normally pop up its also more than suitable for adults. The stories are normally for children and over the performance the weird and eccentric characters that dance about on stage intereact with the audience by running around, throwing sweets and slime over everyone and getting us all to sing along with them and shout things like "Its Behind you!" at the stage. Its great fun that i would highly reccomemend to anyone. The panto we saw was Alladin, and it was produced by McKellen and Kevin Spacey. McKellen played the infamous part of Widow Twanky, Alladins mother. Unfortunatly Spacey wasn't in this one but we are going to see him in The Philadelphia Story which he is also producing and starring in at the Old Vic. McKellen was genius as Twanky, camping it up big style in the ginormous dresses he had to wear, loving every moment of it and making the audienece laugh till we peed. The show also starred Maureen Lipman. Shes a big star over here in the UK for stage and screen, but has not been in many major release films. Her biggest role is as Adrian Brodeys mother in The Pianist.
Anyway, the highlight of the evening came when after the show, me and Sis went out back to the stage door to try and catch a glimpse of any of the cast, and lo and behold after 20 minutes, Sir Ian walked down the stairs. As he poked his head through the stage door and invited us all inside for a chat i nearly lost control of my bowels i was so excited. He was so friendly and very funny, absoloutly lovely guy. after a small wait me and Sis had our moment with him, i was a bit of a wobbling reck and probably made myself look like a fool, but he seemed flattered by our excitement and chatted with us about the panto then happily signed our programmes and had a piccy with us. This is a piccy that i will cherish, ive attached it at the bottom, if you look closely my eyes are in fact glased over and i think if i was touching him any longer i would have slipped into a coma of sorts.
Sorry if this is all a bit boring, and im sure many of you have met your idols at times in your lives, but this was my first and i was so excited.
Now lets enjoy things all things McKellen!
My top five fave McKellen films -
1. Gods and Monsters
2. X2
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
4. Apt. Pupil
5. Richard III
I also loved his cameo as Death in Last Action hero. Legend!
EDIT: It wouldnt let me attach the whole photo as it was too big, if ANYONE knows how to make the picture file smaller can you let me know and ill post the whole piccy so you can see Sis's beautiful face as well as mine and some other pics as McKellen in drag as Twanky, cheers.
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Pumpkins scream in the DEAD of night!
Pumpkins scream in the DEAD of night!
