THE INTERPRETATION
McKellen first played Hamlet during a European tour of the play in 1971, when he was in his early thirties. It was understandable, then, that the actor was taken aback when he was approached by director Sean Holmes some 50 years later to reprise the role (McKellen is now 84). “Although I thought it was a crazy idea, I thought, ‘But I haven’t quite finished with Hamlet,’” he tells Empire. When Covid struck and theatres were closed to the public, a version of the play was filmed. McKellen believes that performing to the camera helped him to define the role. “I think the older Hamlet is less of a performance; it’s more internal,” he explains. “With the camera close, you can be much more intimate. And that’s what I hoped to do: make the spirit of Hamlet credible. Even though he wasn’t quite in the right body.”