Ian McKellen

What a good read still reading it,it gives an intersesting insight into his live. It looks at both his private life and career with some funny anecdotes.

Great read

The book does have its strengths,its doesn't just skip over his childhood like some biographies.Its mostly written well describing his upbringing and family relationships as well as can be expected for someone who had no help from the man himself.He then goes on in great detail to cover the acting career of sir Ian,with explanations for his choices ,interviews and statements from friends he knew at the time and how the project was received and of course the authors opinion.(which probably wont track with yours).There's a great deal on Ian's style of rehearsal ,getting to the core of the character ,finding the truth about them and using modern comparisons to help him realise to the person on the page.and of course Shakespeare..Those those not buying into the myth that Shakespeare was some kind of genius may falter at this point.In this book it is taken "as read" that the plays are quite simply the greatest works in the english language and the man from Stratford is beyond compare.If your one of the silent majority that don't believe in this mass delusion of Shakespeare's greatness then the middle of the book can get incredibly dull.History is littered with great men that detested the bard.Mr McKellan however aint one of em.It covers the major film roles he is most famous for at breath taking speed unlike his finely detailed passages on his theatre work.And again the author inserts his unwelcome opinions and high handed put downs of some of his roles .Its clear he knows little of the source material ,surprising given how well versed he seems to be in other area of mckellen's life.He dismisses the lord of the rings sequels for there cockney orcs not knowing or caring that tolkien himself wrote their dialogue in phonetic cockney.All that said it is as comprehensive as someone with no access to the subject can be .If you can stand all the Shakespeare and the author's grand pronouncements on the success or failure of various projects presented as facts then this is a interesting book.If you want a deeper insight into the actor then you'll have to wait until he writes one himself.

I enjoyed reading about Sir Ian's early life and the various productions he's been involved in - especially the ones I've seen as the book gave some interesting background on them. Unlike other reviewers who have complained about such detailing, I found it interesting.