Ian McKellen announces he is taking the rest of the year off from acting following onstage fall

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Sir Ian McKellen has said he is taking the rest of the year off from acting after he sustained wrist and neck injuries in a dramatic fall while performing onstage.

The two-time Oscar nominee, 85, lost his footing during a play’s fight scene in June at the Noel Coward Theatre and has since been dealing with a chipped vertebrae and a fractured wrist.

In a new interview, the actor, best known for playing the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, said he had been left feeling “physically weak” from the fall.

He explained: “Of course, it’s emotional. We all trip all our lives, it’s just when you get to my age you can’t always get up again.”

The Burnley-born actor suggested he is concerned that the fall could have been the result of him getting old.

“I’m just trying to convince myself it was an accident,” he said.

McKellen said he was planning on taking the rest of the year off from working, but insisted it wasn’t because he needed to in terms of his health.

“I’m usually working or preparing to work, I’ve been doing a little bit of that, wondering what might be the best plan. I’m going to take the rest of the year off. Not because I need to, just because I want to,” he said.

McKellen said in a statement that his exit was decided with the “greatest reluctance” due to doctor’s advice.

Despite his disappointment, McKellen went to watch his understudy act in the final performance of Player Kings, a version of the Henry IV part one and two plays, in Newcastle at the end of June.

“On the day of the 101st and final performance of Player Kings – without me – I celebrated by removing Falstaff’s hair, which has been growing for nine months,” he said. “I will be in the audience for the matinee in Newcastle”

It has already been reported a new instalment of The Lord Of The Rings films is in the works with Andy Serkis directing and starring in the first instalment, called the The Hunt for Gollum.

McKellen seemed keen about the prospect of reprising his role as the wizard Gandalf, the character he played in the first three films and The Hobbit trilogy, all directed by New Zealand film-maker Peter Jackson.

“Enthusiasm for The Lord of the Rings shows no sign of abating,” he told Big Issue. “I may even be going back to play Gandalf again.”

He added: “I can’t tell you any more than that. I’ve just been told there are going to be more films and Gandalf will be involved, and they hope that I’ll be playing him.

“When? I don’t know. What the script is? It’s not written yet. So, they better be quick.”

Read the full interview with Sir Ian in this week’s Big Issue, out now.

With additional reporting from PA.