Ian McKellen did not attend the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of his new film, The Christophers, after his medical advisers told him he should not fly, the actor said in a pre-recorded introduction shown at the screening.
The 86-year-old, best known for roles in The Lord of the Rings and the X-Men franchise, offered no further detail about his health beyond the remark "better safe than sorry" and a request that those who enjoyed the film "tell your friends," Variety reported. McKellen’s absence extended to the post-screening question-and-answer session at the Princess of Wales Theatre.
Festival organizers and filmmakers proceeded with the premiere on Sunday without McKellen. The Christophers, directed by Steven Soderbergh, stars McKellen as Julian Sklar, a famous painter whose estranged children, played by Jessica Gunning and James Corden, enlist an art forger, played by Michaela Coel, to steal and finish some of his paintings in hopes of securing a larger inheritance.
McKellen’s absence was notable because the actor has faced public health setbacks in recent years. In June 2024 he suffered a fall onstage during a performance of Player Kings at London’s Noël Coward Theatre that hospitalized him for three days. He later told Saga Magazine that he was still coping with a chipped vertebra and a fractured wrist, and that he had avoided going out because of pain and nervousness about further injury.
Although McKellen did not elaborate on whether his current medical advice was connected to the 2024 fall, his public remarks at the time acknowledged ongoing recovery: "My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet healed," he told Saga. He described persistent pain in his shoulders resulting from the fall and said the incident had led him to be cautious.
Despite McKellen’s absence, cast members at the TIFF premiere spoke warmly about their experience working with him. Coel, 37, described McKellen as affectionate and playful on set, saying, "He’s just a total babe... I love cuddling him and playing with his fingers and kissing him — like, every morning, we’d just go, ‘Muah, good morning, baby.'" She added that McKellen’s perspective improved scripts during production: "I learned from him to question. I treat every script like it’s Shakespeare. And Ian’s done enough Shakespeare to know, ‘Well, this ain’t Shakespeare.'"
Gunning, 39, said she absorbed lessons from watching McKellen perform, noting a balance between levity and seriousness: "He doesn’t take things seriously, but then he completely does, as well... He’s not serious, but he takes the work seriously."
The premiere drew the film’s creative team, including Soderbergh, and producers to the festival. While McKellen’s representatives did not provide an immediate public statement at the screening, a request for comment from The Post was noted.
McKellen, a two-time Oscar nominee and veteran of stage and screen, has continued to work into his eighties. The Christophers is among several recent projects that have brought attention to the actor’s enduring career. Festival screenings often serve as an early public gauge for films ahead of wider releases; whether McKellen will attend future promotional events for The Christophers was not disclosed at the festival.
Representatives for the film and the actor did not immediately provide further details regarding his health or travel plans following the TIFF premiere.