Ian McKellen, 86, Backs Out of Toronto Premiere on Medical Advice

Ian McKellen is prioritizing his health.

Fans of the actor, 86, noticed that he missed the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival premiere of his latest movie The Christophers, and as he said in a video introduction to the film, per Variety, his absence was on the orders of his “medical advisers.”

“Better safe than sorry,” McKellen said, according to the outlet, as he addressed the audience at the Princess of Wales Theatre in his pre-recorded message on Sunday, Sept. 7.

“If you enjoy it, will you tell your friends?” he added of the Steven Soderbergh-directed film, in which he costars alongside Michaela Coel, James Corden and Jessica Gunning. “That’s partly what festivals are about, isn’t it?”

McKellen didn’t go into detail about his health. The Lord of the Rings actor was previously hospitalized for three days in June 2024, after he fell off stage during a performance of his play Player Kings at London’s Noël Coward theater.

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Two months later, McKellen told Saga Magazine that he was afraid to leave the house after his accident, but admitted his injuries could’ve been a lot worse: The “fat suit” he wore for his role “saved my ribs and other joints, so I consider myself lucky.”

“My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet healed. I avoid going out because I’m nervous someone might bump into me, and I’ve been dealing with agonizing pain in my shoulders due to the jolt my body took,” the actor said at the time.

Despite calling it a “lucky escape,” McKellen told the outlet that he has to keep telling himself that he’s not too old to act. “It was just a bloody accident,” he said. “I didn’t lose consciousness, I hadn’t been dizzy. But I’ve not been able to return to the stage, and they’ve continued without me.”

A synopsis for The Christophers reads, “Having all but given up her own art practice, thirtysomething Lori (Coel, 37) divides her time between freelance art restoration and working the window of a food truck. Her fortunes promise to change, however, when she’s approached by the estranged heirs (Gunning, 39, and Corden, 47) of renowned painter Julian Sklar (McKellen) with a tantalizing proposition: Lori is to apprehend a series of long-abandoned paintings from Sklar’s London home, complete the paintings using her masterful imitation skills, and receive a third of the profits from the sale of the paintings following the old man’s imminent death.”

“Lori accepts the gig, infiltrating Sklar’s home under the pretense of becoming his new assistant, but the ruse quickly goes awry in a series of titillating twists and shifting allegiances,” the synopsis adds.

While inside the PEOPLE/EW and Shutterstock studio during the festival on Sunday, Gunning called McKellen “such a lovely guy” while Coel added, “He’s just a total babe.”

“I love cuddling him and playing with his fingers and kissing him — like, every morning [on set], we’d just go, ‘Muah, good morning, baby,’ ” Coel added. “I want to squeeze him. And he’s got really soft hands. Ian is just a babe.”

“What a dreamboat,” agreed Gunning.

Asked if there was anything they picked up from watching McKellen work, Baby Reindeer star Gunning said, “Oh, God, so many things. He doesn’t take things seriously, but then he completely does, as well. There’s that mix of taking the work so seriously, but then he also has fun, throws it away. He’s not serious, but he takes the work seriously.”

I May Destroy You star Coel added, “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.’ So he points out everything, and then the script is better for it.”