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It was in Swakopmund where McKellen found a tailor who, furnishing Two's signature white suit, helped him get into character. That costume, says McKellen, "became my favorite," but he cautions that the suit's on-screen spiffiness is oddly missing off-camera. "In life, if you saw it, you wouldn't want to wear it." Now, as he speaks with a reporter in a New York hotel suite, McKellen is fashionably rumpled in a dark striped jacket, vest, open-collar shirt and jeans. On his feet are a pair of rubber Calzuro clogs, a version of which he was issued with his prison costume as Magneto in "X-Men" and has worn ever since. Charming and witty, he slouches back on the couch in thought when asked how performing any other part (Magneto? Gandalf? Two?) can possibly compare to a Shakespearean role. "That's what Jude Law said to me," says McKellen, who has just seen Law on Broadway. "'What am I going to do after Hamlet? Everything is going to seem third-rate.' Well, it's true
-- it is," McKellen sums up with a laugh. "Because Shakespeare is FIRST-rate." But then, referring to every other dramatist, he adds, "You can look for the good intentions, I suppose, with the understanding that even halfway up a mountain, the view can be pretty good." Regular ascents to the summit with Shakespeare have certified McKellen's lofty stature. But he suggests his reputation is somewhat by default.
"If you're associated with great pieces, some of that luster rubs off on you. Besides, there are not that many great actors around. Olivier, Gielgud, Scofield, Guinness"
-- now all passed from the scene -- "are major, major performers, and you can tell I sort of modeled my career on them, because I like the sort of things that they liked. "But that's not to say I'm up there with them." Whereupon, with perfect timing, his voice drops to a stage whisper: "But don't tell anybody." ___ AMC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation. ___ On the Net:
[Associated
Press;
Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at
fmoore@ap.org
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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