Women are partly to blame for showbiz sex scandal, says Sir Ian McKellen: Star claims some actresses tell directors they will sleep with them to win roles

By Sebastian Shakespeare for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:17 EST, 18 December 2017 | Updated: 05:21 EST, 19 December 2017

Stage and screen star Sir Ian McKellen has spoken out about the sex scandal in film and theatre,claiming women are partly responsible because some tell directors they'll sleep with them to win roles.

'People must be called out and it's sometimes very difficult for victims to do that,' the Lord Of The Rings star said in a talk at the Oxford Union recently.

'I hope we're going through a period that will help to eradicate it altogether. But from my own experience, when I was starting acting in the early Sixties, the director of the theatre I was working at showed me some photographs he got from women who were wanting jobs. . . some of them had at the bottom of their photograph 'DRR' — directors' rights respected. In other words, if you give me a job, you can have sex with me.

Stage and screen star Sir Ian McKellen (pictured with Kevin Spacey in 2009) has spoken out about the sex scandal in film and theatre

Stage and screen star Sir Ian McKellen (pictured with Kevin Spacey in 2009) has spoken out about the sex scandal in film and theatre

'That was commonplace from people who proposed that they should be a victim. Madness. People have taken advantage of that and encouraged it and it absolutely will not do.'

Despite his support for victims coming forward, the six-time Olivier Award-winner, 78, admitted he's worried about the impact of wrongful accusations, adding: 'I assume nothing but good will come out of these revelations, even though some people get wrongly accused — there's that side of it as well.'

Sir Ian (pictured) came out in 1988 to lobby for gay rights in the UK and said Spacey's timing was not ideal 

Sir Ian (pictured) came out in 1988 to lobby for gay rights in the UK and said Spacey's timing was not ideal 

Having worked briefly with disgraced House Of Cards actor Kevin Spacey in 2004, when Spacey was artistic director at the Old Vic in London, Sir Ian, who came out in 1988 to lobby for gay rights in the UK, added the timing of Spacey's own coming out was not ideal.

'The circumstances in which he chose to do it are reprehensible because it linked alleged underage sex with a declaration of sexuality.'

 

U.S. President Donald Trump should not expect a warm welcome from Sir Vince Cable if he visits the UK next year.

'I wouldn't want to meet Trump if he came here. There is an issue of when you should and shouldn't meet somebody who has caused enormous offence,' the Lib Dem leader tells me. 

'It would have been completely wrong to get him here on a State visit with the Queen. If he's just coming here to do business, then what else do you do? I've met worse. 

The former president of Nigeria, dictators. . . But that was before I became an MP.'

U.S. President Donald Trump (pictured) should not expect a warm welcome from Sir Vince Cable

U.S. President Donald Trump (pictured) should not expect a warm welcome from Sir Vince Cable

 

BBC's chilly bad omen  

A new BBC series starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen has sparked outrage on set after 150 extras were forced to wear summer clothes while filming in freezing conditions.

The six-part adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 cult comedy novel Good Omens, jointly produced by Amazon, was being filmed at Bovingdon Airfield in Hertfordshire last week, where extras were told by the BBC to wear summer dress.

A new BBC series starring David Tennant (pictured) and Michael Sheen has sparked outrage on set

A new BBC series starring David Tennant (pictured) and Michael Sheen has sparked outrage on set

'People were blue with cold, close to hypothermia,' says a witness, who adds the extras — several of whom were in their 60s and 70s — were required to arrive at 7am and stand still for up to 30 minutes at a time without jackets.

'There wasn't a person who wasn't shivering violently and complaining like hell. There was a paramedic going round. It was absolutely f****** ridiculous. Lots of people will now have gone to bed with flu and colds.'

A BBC spokesman insists: 'Despite the adverse weather and challenging filming conditions, we received no official complaints.'

 

Comments 1877

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

What's This?

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.