The only item left on Ian McKellen’s acting bucket list: “I’m available but incompetent”
From battling Sauron to fighting for Mutant recognition to giving one of the greatest acting tutorials of all time in Extras, Ian McKellen really has done it all.
The Knight of the Realm made his stage debut in 1961 and has barely taken a break since. He has conquered every realm he has set foot in, while also finding the time to advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ people as a co-founder of Stonewall, one of the leading queer lobby groups in the world.
Even as he approaches his 90th birthday, McKellen is full of surprises. His recent performance in Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers has been labelled one of his best ever by many critics. When a performer reaches a certain age, however, people start to question what they have left to give. He’s played every great part in Shakespeare’s catalogue, conquered Hollywood, and won over the hearts of the British public. What else is there left for Sir Ian to do?
According to the man himself, there is one thing left on his list. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, McKellen admitted that he “doesn’t have much to prove anymore”, but also said he would love to try his hand at a musical.
“I can hold a tune, but I’m not a proper singer,” he confessed. “I’m available but incompetent… I don’t feel I have much to prove in my career anymore, so why not just do the things I enjoy doing, like getting in front of an audience and entertaining them.”
Technically, McKellen has already been in a few musicals, although it’s not surprising that he wants to forget about one of them – in 2017, he lent his voice to Cogsworth, a butler transformed into a clock, in Disney’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast… He doesn’t get his own song, but does contribute the odd line of talk-singing every now and then.
Two years later, he was one of many big names to have their reputations tarnished by appearing in Tom Hooper’s doomed adaptation of Cats. He plays Gus the Theatre Cat, who has his own self-titled musical number. The movie was infamously bad, with even creator Andrew Lloyd Webber speaking out against it.
You might think that not being able to sing would be a barrier to entry when it comes to musicals, but you’d be surprised. Theatrical history is full of examples of actors being shoehorned into singing parts just to get their names on the poster. Hooper famously took a lot of flak for casting Russell Crowe as Javert in his version of Les Misérables, although I found his performance to be a lot more bearable than Hugh Jackman’s strained crowing.
As he’s shown time and time again, McKellen can do anything he puts his mind to. With an insatiable appetite for performing and the energy of a man a third of his age, don’t be surprised to see this legend busting out a few showtunes before his time’s up.
