LONDON — Sir Ian McKellen says his upcoming role as King Lear in an upcoming London production may be his last major Shakespeare role but he has no plans on retiring, as long as his knees and memory hold out.
Playing the tormented ruler is one of two projects prompting reflection from the 79-year-old star of the “X-Men” and “Lord of the Rings” film series.
“I’ll keep going as long as the knees keep going. And the mind and the memory are still there. Any day now they can begin to fade and then I’ll perhaps regret that I didn’t do stuff I could have done while I was fit. So being fit, here I am and if I’m not acting, what the hell I going to do sit at home,” McKellan said.
McKellen is playing King Lear in a production at London’s Duke of York Theatre starting in July. He is reprising a role he played for the Royal Shakespeare Company a decade ago.
He says playing King Lear allows him to reflect on the journey of an old man, one that feels very personal to him.
“For me it’s worth re-exploring because nearly 80 myself, that’s King Lear’s age, I can concentrate in part on the fact that it’s an old man, it’s an old man’s journey, it’s a man who’s withdrawing from life. It’s a man whose mind is giving way, really and much else in his life is a confusion to him and I find that all too easy to relate to. So I take the part very personally.”
McKellen is also getting a career and life retrospective through a new documentary focused about him called “McKellan: Playing the Part.”
The documentary will be broadcast in the U.K. and Scandinavia on May 27 and will be in select U.S. theaters this summer.
– From news service reports
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