Questions for Ian McKellen on Why There Are No Childish Roles

Q: What’s the difference between preparing for a fantasy role like Gandalf and preparing for a serious and adult role, like Edgar in Strindberg’s ”Dance of Death,” which you’re currently playing on Broadway?

Well, Gandalf is five or seven thousand years old. He has been sent down by the higher powers to help Middle Earth. How on earth do you act those inhuman qualities? What you go with is the intense humanity of the character, the old man tramping around the countryside and complaining about his aching bones. It’s like if you were playing Jesus Christ — never of course would I recommend this to an actor, because everybody who plays Jesus Christ ends their career with that performance — but what you do when you play the Son of God is you forget the God part and get on with being the son.

NY Times Magazine