Christopher Plummer: ‘I hate what Sir Ian McKellen did to Gandalf’

Actor Christopher Plummer hates what fellow British thespian Sir Ian Mckellen did with The Lord Of The Rings wizard Gandalf The Grey onscreen – because he played the part better than The Sound of Music star would have. Plummer still has regrets about turning the role down, but admits McKellen found a warmth in the character he wouldn’t have.
The veteran says, “I thought maybe three or four years (shooting the films) in New Zealand… I thought, ‘There are other countries I’d like to visit before I croak (die)’… But it was a marvellous part. I loved The Lord of the Rings; I grew up on it, actually. It’s a great, great, great book and it became a great film.
“And then Ian… was absolutely marvellous in it and he couldn’t have been warmer, which I might not have brought to it (character); I might have been a little cold and imperious.”
And Plummer jokes he’ll forever despise his peer for being good: “I hate the son of a b**ch.”