Sir Ian McKellen Says Goodbye to Gandalf

Last year, a handful of journalists gathered together under a giant tent on a fiercely cold and windy day in Wellington, New Zealand, to collectively say goodbye to Gandalf with Sir Ian McKellen.

We were at Peter Jackson’s Stone Street Studios in the suburb of Miramar, where Jackson and his team were filming pick ups for The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. It was fortuitous to have caught McKellen on this particular day: his second-to-last ever as Gandalf.

At first, McKellen is quite practical about the whole affair. Nothing’s really final with these things, of course.

“Well, I'm going straight to another job and my focus, I suppose, will just — as I get on the plane will switch to that and there may be a delayed reaction. As I say, there are premieres, there's AD art to be done, adding the voices. It isn't "never see you again" sort of thing, it's not saying goodbye. It's not the break-up of a relationship.”

But as we chat, the actor grows introspective while remembering his time in Gandalf’s robes, which he has worn intermittently for nearly 14 years now. Looking back, he is most impressed with how far the Lord of the Rings movie franchise has come, recalling how risky the venture was in the first place, back in 1999.

“It was with some trepidation that a group of people started to make a film of the world's most favorite novel. A lot of people were very doubtful that the film should be made. And the airwaves... they were letting their worries be known. Was the casting of Gandalf quite right? Some people thought it was inappropriate for a gay man to play this heroic character. Was Peter Jackson up to the job? Nobody knew. Everyone was very nervous. Now, Peter started talking to those people and trying to reassure them, and I did, too.

“Once the first film had come out, we came back here to do pickups for the other two films, knowing that we'd made a film that millions enjoyed, therefore we were now making films that millions were expecting, looking forward to. And that was, for me, a huge change. Very, very rare that you do a job knowing that the audience is desperate for you to do that job. Most films you make don't get released, is the fact.”

Naturally, the series’ rabid fandom made going back to Middle Earth in 2011 an easier prospect.

“When we came back to do The Hobbit, it was a little bit of, 'Ooh, should we be trespassing on this kids book that so many of us have enjoyed?' 'Yes, we probably should.' 'And would millions be waiting to see it?' 'Yes, they would.' So, there was a lightness of spirit here that these were films that we wanted to make and that others wanted us to make and that's a very unusual position”.

But playing Gandalf was a slightly different proposition this time around. After all, the character spends most of his time in Tolkien's Hobbit away from the action, conducting important, but nonetheless unseen, business. Coupled with a busy schedule, did the actor ever consider turning down the offer to return?

“It was just a sense that I'd done it and at my age, each job might be your last. Did I want to be knocked out by an Orc forever more, when I could've been doing a play somewhere? In the end, there was no choice. He had to come back. I don't think anybody refused. I was the beneficiary of dividing the plays into three, onto two because much of Gandalf's story was well on its way to completion at the end of the original first film. There wasn't much for him to do in part two. Now it's all been split up, in the way it has, Gandalf's shared over the three films in a way that is appropriate, I think, because he's a major force.

You can say that they've put in some new stuff. All the stuff that Gandalf has in this film was originated by Tolkien, in the appendices and elsewhere. So he knew where Gandalf had gone off to. He just didn't put it into The Hobbit. But, by the time he'd done Lord of the Rings, it looks pretty clear that it is the same Gandalf, it is the same character, and to link the two films thematically through him and others is appropriate.”

The conversation turns to McKellen as pop culture god, a dual wielder of two of the most iconic figures in fantasy and science fiction: Gandalf and Magneto.

“There are some fantastic parts for older actors. And if you're still game and you're still in the business and you're still hale and hearty, then you may be lucky enough to land them. But the way you get parts is — Everyone assumes you get a good manager, get a good agent, you'll be fine. Well, maybe. But perhaps when you're starting out that would be a big bonus. I still don't know why I got Gandalf. In fact, I'll ask Peter tomorrow, on our last day. Because the rumor was that other actors had been offered it and turned it down. That would be likely, wouldn't it?

(At this point, a journalist mentions that Sean Connory was offered the role, to which McKellen replies “I could see it”).

“But before Peter Jackson asked me to play Gandalf, Bryan Singer asked me to play Magneto. That came first. And when the X-Men dates changed, I had to call Peter up and say, "I'm sorry, I can't play Gandalf because my initial commitment has changed its dates." And it's only because Bryan Singer is a gentleman and talked to Peter Jackson and they agreed quite unofficially, nothing in writing, that Singer would get me out of X-Men in time to do Fellowship of the Ring that I was able to do both parts.

“It's just a fluke and it tickles me, really. And some places I go, they think it's Gandalf walking in, and some think it's Magneto. And it's interesting that sometimes those audiences don't cross. The X-Men audience doesn't always know about The Lord of the Rings. It's funny, isn't it? But, there we go. And I don't mind that one little bit, being thought of as either of those.”

It would be remiss of us not to ask, in McKellen’s final hours wearing the beard: Will he cry when he says goodbye?

“I don't — When we finished the other trilogy, it was a big day, the day you finished, for the principal actors. We'd finished shooting and they said this is the last day for whoever, everyone went away, the actor got changed, and everyone came back. People didn't go home. They waited. And I remember my last day was out here in the car park, the battlements of something or other, Minas Tirith. And Peter, Barrie Osborne, the producer, stood up there and they showed a film all about me. Five, six, seven minute film, full of fun, jokes, moments you wanted to remember. And then you were called up and you were given your sword. Which I still have at home, of course. And there was torch light. You couldn't help being moved by that. We'll see if anything similar happens tomorrow. I suspect it will just be b'bye. 'Bye-bye, Hobbit, bye-bye.' I don't know. But yes, I should be very sad to say goodbye to some friends. But I sense that why won't we be meeting up again in a few years' time? We probably will. It's possible, isn't it?”

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies hits theaters in North America December 17, December 26 in Australia, and December 12 in the UK.

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on Twitter.