Sir Ian McKellen too Old for the Magneto Movie?

Sir Ian McKellen too Old for the Magneto Movie?

Sir Ian McKellen talks about the Magneto movie and Patrick Stewart's cameo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine!

News
By bsprecher - Oct 14, 2009 10:10 AM EST
Filed Under: X-Men Origins: Magneto
Source: Empire




There's been all sort of rumors about the proposed X-Men Origins: Magneto movie, but according to Sir Ian McKellen, he's not going to be in it:

"There's meant to be a Magneto script floating around, but I've not read it, so I suspect it wouldn't involve me. I think it would be about the younger Magneto, and the most I could hope for would be to top and tail that. They can't have someone whose face is as lined as mine any longer!

McKellen also commented on a "young" Patrick Stewart appearing as Prof. Xavier in X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

"Ooh, he was very pleased with himself that he was going in to be in Wolverine. It was only an hour's work!"
Related:

Magneto Movie Cancelled!
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Magneto Solo Movie Put on the Back Burner

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Mercenary
Mercenary - 10/14/2009, 10:13 AM
Well he still looks pretty good for someone who's supposed to be playing a Holocaust survivor.
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 10/14/2009, 10:25 AM
tooo bad. He was great as Mags
Bijous
Bijous - 10/14/2009, 10:29 AM
I hope he comes back, even just to cameo. He's a great actor!

@Merc: In the comics, all mutants (according to Chris Claremont) are more "durable" than standard humans, no matter what their powers are. They are stronger and have greater stamina. Perhaps that slows down the aging process?
ThisFan
ThisFan - 10/14/2009, 10:31 AM
He was Magneto
No one else can pull it off as well as he did
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 10/14/2009, 10:36 AM
eh... @ Multi: they had this very seasoned old actor to play Magneto, and the chracter he was playing was in fact a Nazi death camp survivor. So I guess my question is "huh"?

I think they did pretty well considering. What else should they have done? Have his origin take place in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge?
Bijous
Bijous - 10/14/2009, 10:40 AM
Maybe Mags fell into the Atlantic after WWII, froze and was thawed out by Namor...
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 10/14/2009, 10:41 AM
lol @ Bijous
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 10/14/2009, 10:48 AM
IAN shouldnt be in MAGNETO ORIGINS!!

Its a [frick]ing ORIGIN ffs!! ; D

CLIVE OWEN is the man for the role!!

By the way, JMAN @ (If your reading), What was the results of your MAGNETO POLL man??? It disappeared?!
Mercenary
Mercenary - 10/14/2009, 10:51 AM
@Bijous
Eh, Claremont has an answer for everything.
Spock
Spock - 10/14/2009, 10:54 AM
He is a great actor none the less, but physicaly inadequate!
Shaman
Shaman - 10/14/2009, 10:55 AM
To old you say??? For an origin film, of course!!! Clive Owen would be ideal. And then bring in Ed Harris for Magneto as Xavier's headmaster in "First CLass"!!!

CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 10/14/2009, 11:01 AM
it depends on how far back they go. they made xavier look younger in X3, but didn't need a new actor. but if they're doing an origin story for the mags movie, then this is kind of a no brainer. of course he's too old.
Shaman
Shaman - 10/14/2009, 11:01 AM
Mulit- Actually , i haven't :( I might eventually, when i find a good Jensen Ackles pic that i want to draw ;P

Can't wait to see your costume though :))
Bijous
Bijous - 10/14/2009, 11:02 AM
@CornDog: Dude, that doesn't count. Prof. X was in the movie for, like, 8 seconds...and it still looked like a wax dummy. No CGI-McKellen for Magneto!

@Multi: Impressive history knowledge you've got there. I think Bosnia would be a perfect fit for a more modern Magneto origin. They did it with Iron Man; why not with Magneto?

@Shaman: lol...you've got one for every article, don't you?
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 10/14/2009, 11:02 AM
@ multi

thats a very good point. but at the same time, these x-films haven't really been following any kind of timeline, lol. if so, then gambit is in his mid forties when he finally joins the xmen.
Mercenary
Mercenary - 10/14/2009, 11:04 AM
@multi: You bring up a lot of good scenarios, however I can still understand why they would choose to stick with the WW2 scenario. It is more known, at least by the American public (WW2 that is). Even though it would have been a great opportunity to create a dialouge about those conflicts, it would have taken more screen time to make the audience connect with it than just to say "hey, you guys know Hitler, right? Well then you know he sucks."

Its just so much more iconic and easy to roll with. Plus think of at least the initial fan back-lash if they would have changed it.

I'm pulled both ways, as a logic fan it annoys the hell out of me that magneto is still healthy as a horse with a six pack that no matter how hard I try I could never attain, but as a comic fan I am glad they haven't altered his origin.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 10/14/2009, 11:04 AM
But Poni, aren't you the guy thats all about sticking to the comics? In the comics he was a child in Nazi Germany! So McKellen looked a bit sprightly for a man that age, he is a mutant like Bjious pointed out, It would make sense if they were more durable than us norms.

As for the solo movie, well, if they do an origin then obviously Sir McKellen's presence would have to be limited to a cameo at the end or something, but what they could do is follow the Joseph storyline from the comics when Magneto was made a much younger man and lost his memory..that would also be a great way to refresh the X movies. Never happen i Know!
Bijous
Bijous - 10/14/2009, 11:07 AM
@Ror: Yes, I would also like him to appear, at least in cameo. It would give it a sort of "legitimacy," in my mind and tie it to the X-Men films.
Velox
Velox - 10/14/2009, 11:07 AM
Well, Patrick Stewart's not exactly a spring chicken, and they were supposed to be old friends. Plus the holocaust survivor parallel was the most obvious choice for emotional impact. Yeah, there are other scenarios they might have used, but they went with the one that needed the least exposition for the audience to understand.

I love McKellen, but they were pushing it with his advanced age in the first movie. If they did a solo film now I'd spend the whole two hours worried that he was gonna fall and break a hip.
Spock
Spock - 10/14/2009, 11:09 AM
Great points, but I want to see a lot more PHYSICAL action from Magneto, Not a lot of standing & sitting around or pointing his hands @ stuff leviateing it.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 10/14/2009, 11:10 AM
SHAMAN @ Hell Yeah, or even ED HARRIS for X4 as well!!!!!

Very cool!
Velox
Velox - 10/14/2009, 11:13 AM
@Spock: Maybe it was just me, but I thought McKellen looked really silly in that scene in X3 where he was walking down the road and hand-waving all those trucks out of the way. Ian seems like a regal sort of guy, and the slight movements to control his powers seemed to have much more impact. Like the escape scene in X2. I mean really, which of those two scenes were better?
Shaman
Shaman - 10/14/2009, 11:15 AM
Bijous- LOL, it's what i aim at! Eventually, i will have a drawing for every topic LOL :P

LEEE- Good point, and X-4 is looooooong over due!!!
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 10/14/2009, 11:15 AM
@ Multi: yeah something like that would have worked out just fine if they had wanted to go with a younger Magneto. I wouldn't have minded that except that I just really dig McKellen.

No doubt they could have found another genocide like conflict in which to set Magneto's origin. Bosnia in particular is a good idea. It certianly COULD have been just as good if they had went that way.

But with Singer's X Men movies, he handled that side of htings just fine IMO and I was quite satisfied. But of course that leads us inexorably back to square one and the problem of an actor that's too old to play the role again and some mighty big shoes to fill by whoever they get.

Honestly though... Personally I just don't even think they should go there. I don't think there should be a magneto Origins movie at all.
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 10/14/2009, 11:19 AM
@ Merc: Your points are valid indeed.

@ Shaman: I agree with MPP... would you please consider doing a 1940's Cap? Pleeez? That would ROCK!
Bijous
Bijous - 10/14/2009, 11:20 AM
Worrying about the ages of the actors and shifting timelines for the movies is actually kind of pointless when you consider the fact that Peter Parker has been in his mid-20's for over 40 years in the comics and that hasn't bothered anyone! Why should it be different for the movies to muck with the timelines?
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 10/14/2009, 11:20 AM
OWEN for ORIGINS!!



SHAMAN @ It is man, way overdue!!

Imagine ED HARRIS having a one on one with MICHAEL BIEHN as CABLE!!!
Velox
Velox - 10/14/2009, 11:22 AM
@Poni: Actually Stark would be closer to eighty! Likewise, Peter Parker would be 62 years old at least, given that the book debuted in 1962.

That's why I'd love to see a CBM done as a period piece. For me, The story of the Fantastic Four is so closely tied to the 1960's space program that it would have been an ideal candidate. Likewise I'd love to see a Superman film set in late 30's early 40's - drawing inspiration from the Max Fleischer cartoons. Of course, I'd probably be alone in enjoying those, but it doesn't make me want to see them any less.
Bijous
Bijous - 10/14/2009, 11:24 AM
Wasn't Tony Stark's original origin actually in Korea, not Vietnam? Does anyone know?
Denn1s
Denn1s - 10/14/2009, 11:25 AM
he was pretty cool as erik but not menacing enough. not very muscular and too old
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 10/14/2009, 11:27 AM
Poni..Well, thats a good argument. I don't really know how that sort of thing should be approached. They got away with it in X Men though. Obviously in a few years they wont be able to. In saying that, maybe its better to just set the movies when the stories were written like Watchmen did. Either way I'm cool with it as long as the themes of the stories stay in tact..like Iron Man did.
Velox
Velox - 10/14/2009, 11:29 AM
@Bijous: It was Vietnam. That was 1963, I believe, and America was involved to an extent even then.
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