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The most iconic character in the saga of Lord of the Rings has a deep and calm voice, sometimes reassuring, sometimes worrying. To find Gandalf’s unique timbre, actor Ian McKellen found his inspiration directly at the source: in Tolkien.
Lord of the Rings would be very dull without the presence of the ultimate magician: Gandalf the Grey. Thanks to Peter Jackson’s films, this character took on an even more imposing dimension in the guise of British actor Ian McKellen, the only member of the cast to have been nominated for an Oscar. During an interview with American media Entertainment Weekly, the actor revealed his secret to finding Gandalf’s voice.
Gandalf or Tolkien?
In order to give the perfect tone to his character, Ian McKellen summoned the Lord of the Rings supreme: JRR Tolkien, himself. According to Entertainment Weekly, the actor therefore based his performance on the dark voice of the writer, who died in 1973, and on his way of expressing himself in general: “We found a recording of Tolkien reading an extract from The Hobbit. It was really very useful for me to hear his foggy, very English, rather professorial voice. It must be said that he was actually a university teacher! »
For the adaptation of Lord of the Rings on the big screen, Ian McKellen absolutely wanted to respect the original intention of the author: “It was very encouraging for me to hear these recordings, since even though Tolkien was not particularly good at playing these excerpts, he was still attracted to the idea that they could be heard by as many people as possible. . There is ultimately only one step between audio readings and making a film. Moreover, he sold the rights to Lord of the Rings, so that it could be adapted for the cinema. »
In any case, even by invoking Tolkien through his interpretation, the interpreter of Gandalf did not expect such enthusiasm around his person: “I just did my job, and suddenly everyone knew me. The level of attention I could get was honestly unusual, but I’m very lucky. I’m a rather shy person, but now if I walk into a room full of strangers, there’s bound to be at least one person who wants to talk to Gandalf.”
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