Ian McKellen Gets Critical
Ian McKellen. Michelle Yeoh. James Cromwell.
Ian McKellen gets Critical. In his upcoming film The Critic, he plays a curmudgeonly old-critic who eviscerates every theatrical production at the town’s top newspaper.
The Critic is directed by Hilary and Jackie director Anand Tucker and written by Academy Award nominee Patrick Marber (Closer). It is based on Anthony Quinn’s 2015 novel Curtain Call.
Here is the Official Synopsis:
Jimmy Erskine (McKellen) is the most feared theatre critic of the age. He lives as flamboyantly as he writes and takes pleasure in savagely taking down any actor who fails to meet his standards. When the owner of the Daily Chronicle newspaper dies, and his son David Brooke takes over, Jimmy quickly finds himself at odds with his new boss and his position under threat.
Beautifully rendered in the trailer.
Sir Ian McKellen is most widely known for his portrayal of THE wizard Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (“You Shall Not Pass” scene) and his role as Marvel superhero Magneto in yet another successful fantasy franchise: James Mangold’s The Wolverine (2013) and Bryan Singer’s X: Men Days of Future Past (2014).
Despite his immeasurable success in film, McKellen has spent most of his career on the stage.
Most recently, he appeared as Falstaff in London’s West End production Players King, which combined both parts of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Unfortunately, his run on the show was cut short due to an accident on stage during a performance.
Shortly after, the famed theater actor luckily announced he was making a speedy recovery and can be seen next in his return to film in The Critic, premiering in select theaters on September 13th.
“That’ll Do Pig, that’ll Do.” James Cromwell of Babe fame will play a man who hates animals in the forthcoming film adaptation of playwright Eugene O’Neill’s 1922 expressionist play, The Hairy Ape.
The film adaptation is titled Brute’s Revenge. Its director, Janek Ambros, who produced Sundance Jury Prize Winner In the Summers, is also writing the script.
Here’s the official synopsis:
An illiterate ocean liner worker named Yank who is branded a “filthy animal” by a powerful industrialist’s son. Yank seeks revenge against this elite family and tries to find his place in society.
It’s a wild play with one line in particular that has always jumped out at me: