Ian McKellen: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

1. James Whale - Gods And Monsters (1998)

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor In A Leading Role €“ somehow losing out to Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful, inexplicably €“ Sir Ian was very much deserving of such an honour for his turn as troubled film director James Whale, in a biopic centred on the man who brought Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy alive for Universal back in the thirties, films which were informed by his experiences in the First World War. Named for a line from The Bride Of Frankenstein, which he also directed, Gods And Monsters is a loosely fictionalised account of Whale's final days, as he reminisces over his sexual history, his time at the top of the Hollywood food chain, and a burgeoning, chaste romance with gardener and former Marine Clayton Boone (played by Brendan Fraser) (yes, that Brendan Fraser) (yes, George Of The Jungle) (yes, he's actually quite good in it). But not quite as good as McKellen which, really, there's no competition, is there? Especially when he's as on top of his game as he is in Gods And Monsters, ably up to the challenge of inhabiting not only a real-world figure but one who had lived quite such a life. It's a pretty straight-down-the-middle film, but you can't take your eyes of McKellen's complex, complicated performance as Whale. Robbed he was. Bill Condon's next film, Mr. Holmes, is out this week. Fingers crossed it boasts another awesome performance from its star and not another one that sucked...