Sir Ian McKellen has opened up about his recovery after a fall forced him to pull out of a touring production earlier in the summer.
The 85-year-old six-time Olivier winner sustained several injuries when he fell from the stage while performing in London’s West End back in June.
“I’m left feeling weak physically, which I’m doing exercises for,” Sir Ian told The Big Issue. “And, of course, it’s emotional.”
“We all trip all our lives,” he continued. “It’s just when you get to my age you can’t always get up again.
“I’m just trying to convince myself it was an accident.”
And while he’s planning to take “the rest of the year off” (“not because I need to, just because I want to”), Sir Ian also added that he’s been approached about playing Gandalf once again in new films based on Tolkien’s classic Middle Earth stories.
“I’ve just been told there are going to be more films and Gandalf will be involved and they hope that I’ll be playing him,” he explained. “When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So they better be quick!”
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with Radio 4, the Shakespearean star said that while he’s now recovered from his physical injuries, “it’s emotionally that I’ve got some residue that I’ve got to deal with”.
“I think there’s something inside me that has to be calmed down. But I’m feeling fine,” he said.
Last month, Sir Ian credited the fat suit he was wearing while performing in Player Kings with saving him from more serious injuries in his fall.
“I’ve been dealing with agonising pain in my shoulders due to the jolt my body took. But the fat suit I wore for Falstaff saved my ribs and other joints, so I consider myself lucky,” he shared.
Read Sir Ian McKellen’s full interview in the new edition of The Big Issue, on sale now.