The third installment in our X3 special centers on the british stage and film actor Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Eric Lensherr (Magneto) in Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3: The Last Stand which opens in cinemas today. McKellen has twice been nominated for an Academy Award and is best known for his role as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He has had an illustrous career with a versatile portfolio, having appeared in films like Last Action Hero, Six Degrees Of Separation, Richard III, Apt Pupil, Gods And Monsters and, more recently, The Da Vinci Code.

Ian McKellen (Eric Lensherr/Magneto)

…on the conflict between Magneto and Xavier
It’s the old argument between him and Professor X, his best friend in years gone by, in which they argue how do people who are on the fringes of society relate to society as a whole and Magneto of course is fairly positive that people should stick up for their own individuality and not just try and fit in and conform but to say ‘no, I’m different and proud to be different.’ ‘Glad to be gay’ would be something that someone like me might well say which Magneto might well say of his own mutancy - ‘glad to be a mutant.’

…on the good and the bad
I think one of the enjoyable things about X-Men is that villains and heroes are not quite the words to use - good and bad, I mean who is good and bad? You know, even the politicians in this story are doing their best - they’re not wittingly setting out to upset people, to make the world a more uncomfortable place, although that’s what happens. So I think perhaps there isn’t an easy sort of James Bond villain knocking around. It’s a bit more sophisticated than that and there’s good and ill behaviour in all of us.

…on the passion in the film
I think number three of the movies is pretty consistent with the other two and in my view it’s the most exciting story. It’s the one that’s got most passion to it and I think there’s perhaps a little bit more opportunity for the actors to play out scenes in their relationships with each other in a way that in the first movies wasn’t possible perhaps.

…on Magneto’s power
Magneto is being marked out as being different from everybody else. He has a specialty - he has a quality that nobody else, nobody else has. He can control the magnetic field surrounding metal. To have that gift is as bewildering as it’s exciting, I expect, but for Magneto as for the other mutants it’s been in a sense, his disadvantage.

…on his role
Whether you think that Magneto has been badly treated by the world at large because of his own behaviour or because of his innate qualities of mutancy, is part of the fun of watching the story unfold. But when you realise, as anyone who saw the first movie does, that Magneto’s early life was spent in one of the labour camps of the Third Reich - where people were imprisoned for their innate qualities or belonging to a particular race or having particular political views or religious views, it doesn’t really make any difference - it’s another aspect of how a majority can be cruel to a minority within society.

…on the story
The movie as usual, like the comics, is settled on the moral division between those like Professor X who think that mutants should integrate with society and those like my character, Magneto, who think that mutants should be proud of their difference and celebrate it and fight for their superiority over the rest of society.

…on the cure
I think it’s distasteful to most of us if we think about it - to cure somebody because they’re different - it’s a horrible concept, really. Particularly when mutants have so much to offer and so many amazing and apparently super-human qualities and perhaps we should all be wishing that we had them rather than trying to destroy them.

Be sure to check back daily to find out what the likes of Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ben Foster (Angel), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), James Marsden (Cyclops), Patrick Stewart (Professor X) and director Brett Ratner have to share about X-Men 3.

Official film synopsis: In X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, the final chapter in the “X-Men” motion picture trilogy, a “cure” for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier, who preaches tolerance, and Magneto, who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test - triggering the war to end all wars.

Posted by Tai in Commentary, Movies • Add to del.icio.us Add to Digg