Nobody Beats the Wiz

Image credit: Lord of the Rings: Pierre Vinet

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Ian McKellen

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The 15-month, effects-laden shoot throughout New Zealand was novel for McKellen, who's spent much of his four decades as an actor amassing awards for treading the boards -- in fact, the last time he worked at the Broadhurst, in 1980, he won a Tony as Salieri in ''Amadeus.'' Despite screen work since the late '60s (as a gay activist in ''And the Band Played On'' and a doomsaying preacher in ''Cold Comfort Farm,'' among others), it was, suitably, his 1995 adaptation of Shakespeare's ''Richard III'' -- in which he played the king as a Hitlerian despot -- that marched McKellen into Hollywood. ''If it hadn't been for Kenneth Branagh's cheek in making his own ''Henry V'' when we all know Olivier's version did it all...'' he says. ''It made me think, as much as I admired Olivier's ''Richard III,'' maybe there's room for another version.''

Meaty films followed, including ''Apt Pupil,'' with McKellen as an aged Nazi secreted in small-town America, and ''Gods and Monsters,'' in which he played ''Frankenstein'' director James Whale. His Oscar-nominated portrayal of the gay artist had resonance: McKellen came out publicly in 1988 -- ''It's the only thing of importance I've ever done in my life,'' he notes -- and wrote about it in his one-man show, ''A Knight Out'' (the director of ''Dance of Death,'' Sean Mathias, is an ex). ''I felt I'd thrown off a great weight on my heart that I didn't realize had been there for...49 years,'' he says. ''Some people say my acting's improved, and I wouldn't be surprised because everything in my life's improved. You're not censoring your emotions in any way -- I find it easier to cry and easier to be happy.''

Next for McKellen (Sir Ian to you since 1991): a reunion with ''Apt Pupil'' director Bryan Singer for an ''X-Men'' sequel, due to start filming this year (the next two movies in the ''Lord of the Rings'' series, due in December 2002 and 2003, have been shot already). He also has to feed the beast -- his ardent fans -- with regular postings on his website. ''With an autobiography, you finish it, stop writing, go on with your life, but this is always there,'' he says. ''I imagine one day I'll be dying and say to the doctor: I just need to post this e-mail, to let the fans know I'm dying!''

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