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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. One of the things that was hinted at in the first film
was the Magneto/Professor X relationship being like Malcolm X
and Martin Luther King. I just wondered how important that was
to you in underpinning...
A: Abosutely, crucial. That was the pitch that Bryan Singer
gave me; he said this is about gay politics, Ian. You know, what
do you do, if society treats you as a mutant? Do you say, ‘well,
I'm sorry, but let me join in’, or do you say, ‘right,
I'm going to take you on’. I am different, and I'm proud
of it.
Any civil rights movement is about pride, and Xavier and Magneto
are constantly discussing, throughout the comics, and just as
much in the first film, how that pride should come into action...
there's less of it in this film, because it's assumed that people
now know the argument is there, but maybe in the third film, we'll
get more of it.
Q. Were you very happy with the way the sequel has been developed,
as it is one of the most worthy action movies out?
A: I have to say I found the plot impenetrable. But I think it
is a very clever ploy, because if you can't understand it, then,
presumably, you’re going to come back and see it a second
time.
Q. On the theme of relationships in the film, you mentioned
in one of the previous groups that you had a notion for some kind
of romantic development that could have happened for Magneto...
A: Well, Magneto in one of the comic versions, has a couple of
children. But, you know, if you've got Mystique as your girlfriend,
the fun you could have in bed... I just imagined that, perhaps,
the third film might open with me in bed with Patrick Stewart,
who morphs into Rebecca Romijn. So long as everyone is perfectly
clear that this was just a little pecadilo.
[To Hugh] But you have a scene in this film where she uses
you, doesn't she...
Hugh: Yeah, it was horrific. I was abused by her and it
was a horrific half-day of filming. But the poor girls, they all
had this kind of solidarity, and one by one they sat in the director's
chair, while the crew were putting up scorecards after each one.
Brutal.
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Q. You're finally now enjoying the glory of being a major
film star. How does that make you feel?
A. Well, that's very kind of you to put it in those terms.
I'm currently on Shaftesbury Avenue, in Dance of Death, which
I strongly recommend to you, and it's always been a sort of
fantasy that I would actually be playing on stage (didn't matter
whether it was Broadway or West End), on the day that a major
film that I was in also opened. It seemed the ultimate in glamour
that an actor could be allowed to do two things like that. [Aside]
Well, a third thing, because Lord of the Rings is still playing
in Leicester Square. So I'm one very, very happy actor.
Q. I think it would be a tragedy, if you didn't tell the
members of the press about your intention to tread the panto
board...
A: Well, I said on the Parkinson Show, that it was a dream
of mine to do a Dame, and I've had about four offers. The latest
came, oh dear, last night and it looks as though my local theatre
- I won't say which that is - needs a Dame, and it's Widow Twanky!
I could hardly do the show, I was so excited. There's a point
when I'm fast asleep in Dance of Death, and on cue I have to
wake up and join the play, and I was dreaming about what sort
of frock I should wear, or maybe I could wear Gandalf's hat.
He could be called Gandalfina, and there could be jokes about
me having a Fellowship of... I'm doing all this to myself and
suddenly I hear the cue, and finally I get a kick, and hear
'come on Ian, you've got a play to do...' I’m in character
already!
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