Now They Know of the Man Behind a Monster

With flawless timing, bolts of lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the distance as Sir Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser sat in McKellen’s Hollywood Hills home on a gray September morning, to summon the spirits of “Gods and Monsters.”

A hit at Sundance this year, the film, opening Wednesday, takes a fictionalized look at the final days of James Whale (McKellen), the real-life director who in 1931 created perhaps the most indelible icon of movie horror, “Frankenstein.”

In the first half of the 1930s, the British Whale helmed a series of classics at Universal Studios, including “Show Boat,” “Bride of Frankenstein” and “The Invisible Man.” All were infused with his painterly sense of composition--Whale was a skilled artist--and his caustic black humor. But in 1937, a change of regime at Universal initiated Whale’s swift downfall. Discouraged by flops and lack of creative control, he retired from Hollywood, a wealthy man, in the early 1940s.

“Gods and Monsters,” directed by Bill Condon (“Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh”) and co-produced by best-selling horror author Clive Barker, takes a speculative look at the days preceding Whale’s mysterious death in 1957--a death revealed decades later to be suicide.

In the film, the ailing Whale applies his directing skills to orchestrate his own demise. His unwitting accomplice is Clay Boone (Fraser), a handsome gardener who forms a friendship with Whale, despite his initial suspicion of the gay director.

The on-screen pairing of a much-honored Shakespearean actor (“Richard III”) and a Hollywood heartthrob (“George of the Jungle”) may seem equally unlikely, but the result has earned McKellen, 59, and Fraser, 29, some of the best notices of their careers. McKellen has also won praise from several of Whale’s colleagues, but as the actor told freelance writer Steven Smith, before making the film, “I wasn’t aware of Whale at all.” Nor was Fraser.

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McKellen to Fraser: Do you think you’d like to have worked for Whale?

Fraser: I certainly would like to have met him.

McKellen: Yes, it would have been nice to drop around at James Whale’s. You would’ve been particularly popular! [Laughter.] It’s funny talking to people who knew him. Some people said to me nobody liked James Whale, nobody wanted to work with him.

But Gloria Stuart [who appeared in Whale’s “The Old Dark House” and “The Invisible Man”] was full of compliments about him, the imaginative way in which he described what he wanted. There is an undercurrent of feeling that Whale somehow rocked the boat, he didn’t quite fit into the mold.

Question: Evidently, Christopher Bram had you in mind for the film from the time he wrote his novel about Whale, “Father of Frankenstein.” There are many parallels between you and Whale; you’re both British actor-directors, gay, successful careers on the West End stage, then Hollywood.

McKellen: I’ve started reading James Curtis’ new biography of Whale. From that, I discovered that the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith is where Whale first acted in London. It’s where I first acted. The Savoy Theatre in London is where he had his first production; it’s where I directed for the first time. In London he lived at 410 Kings Road, I lived at 306A. And when he moved to Hollywood he lived just up the road.

Q: The film draws parallels between Brendan’s character, Clay, and the Frankenstein monster in Whale’s film. They’re both hulking, inarticulate, misunderstood.

Fraser: Clay’s a guy who decides that it’s easier to appear unintelligent, when in fact he is highly articulate. He just lacks that resonating board that allows him to articulate himself, much in the same way Mary Shelley’s creature that Dr. Frankenstein created was an intelligent man, but he had a few strikes against him. He couldn’t kill the man who created him, as much as he wanted to. He was doomed to walk the earth searching for love, [wanting] a father.

I’m not saying Clay is all those things, but in the world of the film, he’s depicted as a silhouette of that man. . . . There’s a redemption to [Clay] as a result of him having that relationship with Whale. He learns that it’s possible to love.

McKellen: I didn’t anticipate while making it how moving it was going to be. The film asks, do people come into our lives for a purpose? And the answer in this case must be yes, absolutely. I think what Bram is saying is look, don’t let a little problem of sexuality get in the way with getting to know each other. And in the end it doesn’t.

Q: How factually accurate is the film?

McKellen: I don’t think that anyone should rely on this as being the authoritative biography of even this little section of his life. It is an imaginative recreation. Clay Boone never existed, Hannah [Whale’s loyal housekeeper, played by Lynn Redgrave] never existed. But it is an exploration into why someone would do that most extraordinary of things, drown himself.

Q: The film was made for just $3.5 million, in four weeks. But it conveys a vivid sense of place and time, especially in the flashbacks of 1930s Hollywood.

McKellen: I liked the flashbacks, it gave me a chance to show that I wasn’t really as decrepit as the elder Whale! [Laughter.] As a matter of fact, I could’ve played Clay if I wanted to!

Fraser: Get out of here.

Q: Brendan, after “George of the Jungle,” did anyone say to you, don’t do this film?

Fraser: No. Because I think it is the best thing to do, to work with a Shakespearean actor, and an inspiration for me. I love Ian. That’s why I wanted to be in it.

Q: Had you met before?

Fraser: Briefly. He did [the one-man show] “A Knight Out” in L.A. We met at a cocktail party after the show. I’d seen “Acting Shakespeare” [another one-man McKellen show] when I was in training in school.

McKellen: Oh, my! But that’s not a good reason to do a movie, or a play. It can be absolutely disastrous.

Q: For example?

McKellen: I worked with an actress once . . . anyway, go on! [Fraser laughs.] It was very good that Brendan and I got on, of course. The respect that he sweetly talked about was returned from me. . . . It seems when Brendan’s acting in front of the camera, he’s almost entirely the character, which allows a whole variety of things to go on in the face which no one could plan.

Like when Whale says, “Have you ever sat for a portrait?” You can see Clay considering the idea, thinking, “That’s a funny thing to do. I don’t know if I like that.” There’s a lot going on, he just thought it in the moment, and it’s riveting. That’s a very good lesson for me.

Fraser: It was wonderful to see the way you treated the crew, and the way they reciprocated.

McKellen: I think I get far more respect than I deserve in Hollywood, because of the Sir. They think, “Oh my God, who is this guy? Is he related to the queen?”

Q: What do you think James Whale would think of the film?

Fraser: I think he’d be flattered. He had a very dark sense of humor, as you can tell from “Bride of Frankenstein.” And I think he’d be pleased to see one of his original paintings used in the film!

McKellen: He would have to be pleased that some very serious filmmakers spent time speculating about him, and honoring him. And perhaps as a result of “Gods and Monsters” people will want to see his movies. His light comedies are very interesting. And some of the performances are . . . [laughs] a very, very particular sort of style, which he seemed to encourage. He seemed to have encouraged his actors to overact! And the films seem able to contain these huge performances.

Even [“Bride of Frankenstein’s” Cockney comic relief] Una O’Connor. I would’ve said, “Una, please, please, a little less, or I’m going to take the camera right away from you!” [Laughter.]

You know, I saw an old performance of mine recently . . . and I’m awfully glad the tape of it is unique, and locked up in my cellar. My “Richard II,” which sort of established me as a posh actor. It’s a disgrace!

Q: Since you enjoyed working together, any plans for an encore?

McKellen: Somebody should write something for us. It would have to have comedy in it, but not exclusively.

Fraser: What about a cop movie?

McKellen: [Gleefully] A cop movie! What would I be? Oh, I’d be the man left behind the desk, while you went off . . .

Fraser: No, you ride shotgun!