Sir Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings series (woo ), was recently interviewed by the Guardian. In the interview he talks about not playing the role of Dumbledore and some other things.

I wonder if he has discussed how to play a wizard with his friend Michael Gambon, who does Dumbledore over in the Harry Potter franchise. “Funnily enough, we never have.” He grins.

Who’d win if it came to a ruck? McKellen puffs out his chest. “Gandalf. Of course. People say to me, don’t you wish you’d played Dumbledore? I say no! I played Gandalf! The original. There was a question as to whether I might take over from Richard Harris [Gambon’s predecessor in the Dumbledore role], but seeing as one of the last things he did publicly was say what a dreadful actor he thought I was, it would not have been appropriate for me to take over his part.” He smiles icily. “It would have been unfair.”