PLUME: During the mid-to-late 60’s, you started transitioning into TV and film roles… What brought about that shift?
McKELLEN: Because I got offered work, I think, and I felt fairly confident about the way my theater career was going…
PLUME: So it was important to you to make sure you’re theater career was solidified before moving into these other venues?
McKELLEN: Yes, but I hadn’t really thought about TV and film, and when they began to turn up, I think I probably said to myself, “Oh, it would be good to become a successful film actor, because that would somehow augment my theater career.” I didn’t think of it as striking out in a new direction, particularly. Of late – much later than the period you’re talking about – I’ve played some leading parts in films with some good directors and learned how to do it. I’ve had a long period of learning how to do film, over the last 10-12 years. Now, I’m absolutely fascinated by it and want to do more.
PLUME: You mentioned learning how to do film… What were the challenges for you?
McKELLEN: I was frightened of the camera… Most people are. You just think of yourself having your photograph taken – it’s not a pleasant experience. You’re worried about what you look like. You suddenly become unnatural… You want to comb your hair, you want to take your glasses off, you want to say, “Please take another one, I wasn’t ready.” That’s what it feels like when you’re not secure in front of a film camera, but a hundred times worse, of course, because you’re doing it for a living… You’re going to be judged. And the film is moving through the camera the whole time. Before I did the film of Richard III, I deliberately took time off from theater – I didn’t do any theater – I only did film… Anything on screen… Anything. I played some very small parts, and visited other people’s movies – as it were – and learned the job. By the time I came to Richard III, I’d gotten used to film. I was much more relaxed about it. I knew a few of the tricks of filming – the techniques – and I learned not to be frightened of the camera… Nor, indeed, of the scores of people standing behind it, looking at me. I used to think that they were all – the director, the cinematographer, and everybody else – standing behind the camera and judging me and saying that I was no good. Then one day, relatively recently – I don’t know when it was – I suddenly thought, “No, no, no… They’re not there judging me, they’re helping me. The director wants me to be good, the cameraman is making sure I’m properly lit, the costume people are making sure that the costume looks right… Everybody’s there to make sure this shot is good, and I’m the lucky one who’s in the shot and I’m working on their behalf.” Suddenly, instead of just being the focus of everyone’s criticism, I became the focus of their collective work.
PLUME: In that regard, do you think the level of feedback is greater in the filming process than it is on stage?
McKELLEN: No, because the people I’ve just been talking about are the only audience, and they’re not objective – they’re part of the process. In the theater, you have people who don’t know how it’s done and are not particularly interested in how it’s done – they just want to receive it. It’s those people who you don’t have with you when you’re filming, but the audience you do have are colleagues and peers and great experts in their own fields – all there willing you to be good. Once I’d accepted that, then filming became a much more relaxing process. Then I did Richard III, and I was very pleased with that work. I thought, “Oh, I see… I can act in films.” I then decided to try and do more of it.
PLUME: So you basically wanted to have a comfort level with the medium before you tackled Richard III…
McKELLEN: Yes. I’d played leading parts in movies before Richard III… It’s just that you never saw the films, or they weren’t very good, or they didn’t succeed – partly, probably, because I wasn’t ready to be playing leading parts. The most important attribute any actor can have in whatever medium they’re working in is self-confidence. A willingness to risk and to dare and to explore and to do something that they didn’t know they could do. Not to be safe, not to repeat, not to always be the same, not to be typecast – I’m talking personally, but I’m sure that’s true about the self-confidence you need. Some people are born with self-confidence – some one like Peter O’Toole or Kenneth Branagh – you know they were just born with it. They don’t have to think about it, they’re just out there doing it. Their ego is nicely developed and God-given, but people like me are sloggers. I’m not a born actor – I’ve learned how to do it. It’s been a trade. I’ve had to learn the craft, and after all these years of being a carpenter in the theater, suddenly I’ve turned myself into an electrician – as a film actor… You see what I mean? It’s another related crafty that I’ve had to learn.
PLUME: In furthering your analogy, at what point did you feel you turned from a craftsman into an artist?
McKELLEN: I don’t call myself an artist. Actors are the last people to join the process – it begins with the script and the people who nurture the script, then gradually they take on board supporters, directors, designers, producers – and rather late in the day, they say, “Ooop! We’ve got to get some actors.” You can see this is true, because some actors who spend their lives often being very good and very successful, say, “I can’t be an actor… I’ve got to be a producer or a director – I’ve got to be a mover.” And so Kevin Costner starts directing, and all the big Hollywood stars are all their own producers – Tom Cruise… He’s in charge. The actor is never in charge if you’re just the actor. So, to call myself an artist… No… I’ve never had an original thought in my mind. I just do what’s there.
PLUME: Don’t you have to bring your own personal interpretation which, to some extent, is a form of artistry?
McKELLEN: Compare it with being a teacher…
PLUME: Well, there are good teachers and bad teachers…
McKELLEN: You could take tickets on the subway and be an artist in the way you’re describing, because you do it as yourself with your personality. Yes, I use my own personality, but an artist… Michaelangelo was an artist… Anton Chekov was an artist… I’m just an actor.
PLUME: But there are good actors and there are bad actors…
McKELLEN: Oh yes, certainly.
PLUME: So there must be some measure of investment that’s made or talent that’s there that differentiates the good actors from the bad…
McKELLEN: Yes, there is, but you’re not likely to be good unless the script is good. You look at who wins the Oscars, and it’s usually people who have the best parts. Five actors get nominated each year, and it’s because they were lucky enough to get one of the five best parts going that year… But they didn’t write them.
PLUME: Although you can have a part that is excellently written but poorly performed…
McKELLEN: That is true, but what is good about your performance is going to be based on what is good about the script. That is my point. Give a good actor a bad part, and they’re usually at sea. We’re talking about whether actors are artists and – on the whole – I think we aren’t. We may be in the arts, but we are not the artists. We are the actors.
PLUME: What kind of fulfillment do you get, personally, from acting?
McKELLEN: Always the group that I’m working with. I move from job to job, from family to family, from group of friends to group of friends – sometimes they’re old friends, but often they’re new ones. For the time of working, the experience is so intense – it’s like you’re all climbing Everest together, or going on a trek or a journey. You’re all interdependent… You’ve all got your different jobs – some more crucial than others, maybe – but you’re all needed. It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing for a human being, because that’s living life as it’s meant to be. You’re in your own village. Some people may enjoy being the leader of the village… That’s not really my style. I just like being there, and in it. That’s the satisfaction that I get. On top of that, of course, I want the audience to enjoy the work that we create, because that’s why we’re doing it. We’re always thinking about, “Will people like it? Will people understand it? Will people be moved by it?” To get high-fallutin’, “Are their lives be altered by it?” That’s the focus of your attention. And on top of that, personally, I say to myself, “Can I do this? Is this something I can do?” I’m always taking parts that I don’t think I can play, and that – for me – is the trick. Don’t play a part that you know you can do… It’s likely to be boring and you’re likely to repeat yourself and you may get into bad habits… but if it’s something you don’t know you can do, you’re going to be asking questions about it, you’re going to be worrying about it, puzzling about it, thinking about it, working hard at it, asking advice. The achievement – if you’ve managed to pull it off to your own satisfaction, or the director’s, or the audiences, or the critics… Well, that’s why it’s the best job in the world for me
PLUME: It sounds similar to mountain climbing, to some extent – you hope you never run across Everest, because after you climb Everest, what do you do after that?
McKELLEN: Well, you get to the top of one mountain, and often, “Oh bugger me, there’s another one!” You haven’t got to the top. You never finish… You only finish when your boots wear out and you think, “Oh god, I’m going back to first base… No, in fact I’m not, I’m going home.” I’m not going home just yet.
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