‘I wasn’t really the first choice for Gandalf’: Two movie legends turned down a role in The Lord of the Rings.

Today, it’s hard to imagine any other actor than Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings saga. And yet, the British actor was not the production’s first choice to interpret this iconic character on screen as imagined by JRR Tolkien!

When Variety asked Ian McKellen if he was too upset to be the second choice for The Critic (which originally went to Simon Russell Beale), the actor didn’t seem upset at all. “I don’t think you’re ever really first choice.”he declares Specialized site microphone.

Ian McKellen then takes the opportunity to recall that he himself was far from top of the list to play Gandalf on the big screen.

“I wasn’t really the first choice to play the character. Anthony Hopkins He refused the role. Sean Connery also. They’re coming out of the woods now and I hope they feel stupid.”The one who ironically turned down the iconic franchise cheerfully concludes.

It was Sean Connery who was actually Peter Jackson’s first choice to play Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings saga. But the actor, despite the astronomical offer, refused for a very clear reason.

Ian McKellen who played Gandalf The Lord of the Rings Trilogy But also in The Hobbit, soon to appear critic, which sees him slip into the face of a London drama critic. Gemma Arterton and Mark Strong also appear in the credits for this feature film, which does not yet have a French release date.

It’s not time to retire for 84-year-old Ian McKellen. “Retirement? What to do?”– he asks incredulously, still at Variety’s microphone.

“I have never experienced unemployment, but I know that at any moment something could happen to me and prevent me from working again. But as long as my knees buckle and my memory remains intact, why not continue?”

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