Sir Ian McKellen. Film Festival for Weekend. Supplied NZH 14Jul18 -
This first-person documentary, in which English actor Ian McKellen reflects on his life and career, begins by sharing his belief humans are always acting, constantly deciding which part of themselves to reveal.
This is how he's dealt with media interviews his whole life - by giving a performance. It makes
you wonder which McKellen you'll get.
Comfortably ensconced in a red armchair, McKellen talks through his childhood and teenage years in North West England, putting on plays as an outlet for his repressed emotions over the secret of his sexuality. At the end of his first year at Cambridge University, he made the decision to become a professional actor – which McKellen considers the last "crucial" decision he's made in life.
The interview format is simple, but director Joe Stephenson livens things up with re-enactments of McKellen 's stories. Actors play McKellen as a child and young man, but when they open their mouths McKellen's voice comes out. It's a clever idea and works well with the use of archive footage and photographs.
He talks of his incredible rise in the theatre world, first making a name for himself at university then, on a recommendation by Dame Maggie Smith, at The Old Vic, before moving to work on the independent stage with the likes of Dame Judi Dench.
