Im never warmer. I prefer cigar. Did you do the thing . That through an island southwest, that thing. That was an embellishment of dr. Watson. If i ever write a story myself, it will be to correct the millions of misconceptions created by his imagination. Murder. I did not know your stories. I decided to write one before i die. What are the odds you would know to men that worked on that . I didnt actually know him. We are about to start an investigation. How could you tell . It is usually about once right. The man changed yesterday. A drop will more than surprise you. I demand you produce it. Voila. Now we must find it. A convincing set of circumstances giving the given the intention to murder your husband. Charlie i am pleased to have ian mckellen back at this table. I have interviewed you for a number of years. You look fantastic. Whatever it is youre doing, continue to do it. If acting is the secret, continue to act. Ian we both work and we both like working. Charlie it is good for you, dont you think . Ian i think you can do too much. Just thinking about something new and getting excited about meeting new people. Even meeting old friends. Charlie like Sherlock Holmes . Ian bill tomlin, in particular. He is my favorite erector because gods and monsters did so well. I really didnt know much about it. There was a time i did not know who Sherlock Holmes was. I feel like i knew as much about him as everybody else. Did you know 130 actors have played Sherlock Holmes . Including the silent movies. Basil rathbone, and a multitude of others. Charlie what is it about Sherlock Holmes that makes actors want to play him . Ian probably because audiences cant get enough of him. I suppose he seems to be the first, yes, the first fictional detective. At the end of a Sherlock Holmes story, the puzzle is solved. And it is so unlike life. It never solves itself. That is why we like it so much. But the conceit of this film was that Sherlock Holmes was not a fictional character. The last puzzle he is trying to solve which has been lurking around in his brain for 30 years is one which concerns himself. The puzzle is himself and he discovers himself. Charlie is the film about aging . Ian its about a 93yearold man looking back on his life. He is lonely, he is a sociopath, really. He doesnt really get on with people very well. And he discovers that he passed love by and never really noticed it and regrets it. The background to that he cant remember, he cant remember. As anyone of our age knows about, that thing i cant remember. Its a big thing, in his case. Ian downey played homes. Benedict cumberbatch. Charlie they are all big actors. Ian does anyone need any more Sherlock Holmes . This is the real sure a lot so sherlock. Maybe we have an edge on the others. And it has been a huge success for an independent movie. Wonderfully so throughout the world. Sherlock is a big draw. Its about things they can actually relate to, its not just a puzzle to solve or a parody of a conan doyle story. Charlie this is you talking about memory. Here it is. What possible motive could the german woman have had . I search for something to jog my memory. And then what . The picture. A few years ago, i couldve told you everything. But that night, i could not remember any of it. Charlie who is your costar there . Ian that is milo playing roger. Charlie milo parker. Ian he had never been in front of a film camera before. Had no worries about that. Charlie is he a natural . Ian im afraid he is. Im a plodder. Ive had to learn how to act but he seems to be able to do it. With considerable help from the director, of course. Charlie can you imagine doing anything else . Ian i can imagine doing your job. I would love that. The first thing i wanted to do is be a journalist and interview people. Find out the truth. Charlie someone i really admire said to another friend of ours, i used to want to be a shortstop. Now what i think i would like to be is charlie rose. Not me, personally, but having that kind of life. Talking to people, figuring out what makes them tick and explore their world. Trying to somehow figure out how their work and their person and their love all comes converges. Ian i can see that in the questions you ask of me and other people. You are alive and kicking. Not trying to imagine the past. I would like to teach. Dont think i could teach. I like the idea of encouraging it. Just encouraging people to be nice to each other. Charlie there is a theme that has come up in commencement speeches. George saunders another the theme has been kindness. Both of those got enormous attention. Ian we can all relate to it. We would rather be treated kindly than not. You should be kind to other people. You can be kind and critical. But sympathetic is what its all about. We have not learned anything if we have learned anything from acting, dont judge. Discover. Try to understand. Not necessarily like. But dont just say, off with his head. Why, why, why. Charlie anything and acting that you wanted but did not get . Not necessarily a specific role, but ian i had always admired older actors longevity and their career. So Lawrence Olivier in looking back as i constantly do to see how they have changed and what they have done, to go on being successful as long as your body allows you to be. Regrets . No. There are two productions i wish i hadnt than in been in. Everything else i thoroughly enjoyed. Charlie unsuccessful productions . Ian i just wasnt doing very well. But Getting Better at the job. Charlie this is from the Guardian Peter bradshaw talking about holmes. He is as ancient as a galapagos tortoise and the physical impersonation of a very old man is tremendous. He relishes every glare, every resentment, then did smile, grimace, wrinkle, and liver spot exhibits disapproval. Even with the slightest muscular effort and clearly agony. Wearing gloriously oldfashioned pajamas, its like a mini disasters spectacular of the sort James Cameron could have choreographed. Its wellwritten, isnt it . Ian critics can write. Charlie does he have a point . Ian the point i recognize in that is that it started on the stage and remained a stage actor despite i am aware of the whole body. In the cinema, the faces what we are mostly interested in. We very rarely see feet. On stage, the first thing you see is a pair of shoes and then they go up to the face. Acting with the whole body is the only way i can do it. Moving as the character would move and speak as the character does. Walking differently from the way i walked in the previous it is all part of the fun. Charlie any shakespearean part you wanted to play that you didnt play . Any role . Ian i still hold out hopes for mercutio, romeos best friend. Hes down on romeo when he falls in love with a girl. I want to play him as an old queen, frankly. But hes gotten there before me. Damn his eyes. Antonio, the merchant of venice. But he is so sad because his boyfriend just told him hes going to get married and he wants to borrow money to woo the bridetobe. I may be not too old to play that one. But im certainly not going to play falstaff. Dont understand it. Never have. Charlie looking back as your life on your life as a gay man, do you wish you had made it public earlier or did you think the timing was right based on when you chose . Ian i wish i felt able to come out earlier. Charlie able . Ian everything in society was against people of my generation coming out. Every time you have sex, you are reminded you are a criminal. Its not something you necessarily want to talk about unless you are a strong bread person. My life was not really talking about it. Most people dont have to. When youre in the public eye, there comes a time when it is appropriate. A law disadvantaged gay people and that is when i came out. It was the right time for me. 49. I was confident. As an actor, as a person. I could organize a sentence and make a case and feel passionate about it. There was a part for me to play. And then i felt a better person all the way around. Charlie here is something they handed me when i came in here to talk to you. Out magazine ian mckellen tops russian maxim list in a vile attempt that actors, authors, and historic figures are respected despite their sexual orientation. It has been far too long before something offensively antigay came out of russia. They released a list titled gays we respect. Heavily implying that if you do not entertain the masses, you are not a person. Guess who is on the list, you, alan turing, Neil Patrick Harris ian oscar wilde. Charlie for sure. What you think of all this . Ian context for all that. Two years ago, it was throughout russia that it would be illegal to talk positively about homosexuality in the hearing of anyone under the age of 18. Anyone growing up gay or knowing people who were gay or wondering about it could not discuss it with anybody. You could not promote homosexuality. It was the law that got me out of the closet on something with the same phrasing. I dont read russian, of the russian version of this magazine it could be that this is a parody that they are trying to criticize their own government by saying here are the ones we respect. There must be millions more. The regular magazine has denounced it for being taken at face value. I met poor beleaguered gay actors in russia. Young men and women. They cant communicate with each other. They can have meetings. They cant tackle this law or criticize it. They cant be themselves except in secrecy. The fact of the matter over there, gays were secondclass citizens. I was at a gay Film Festival and they said, we cant protect you if you are going to be yourself. You will be breaking the law. It is a horrible situation. What do you do . I try to help these activists. Is the show seen in russia . Charlie yes then, weve done some good. I should go to russia and wave the flag and make a fuss, but you cant really do that unless youve talked to the people on the ground. Will it be more foreign interference in Russian Affairs . Charlie does it make your life easier or harder . Ian its a wicked world. Charlie weve come a long way in this country. Ian a long way. Charlie its hard to imagine when you seen the movie the imitation game. In the 50s, what happened to alan turing. Ian the school he went to. A private school. The teacher called me up one day and said could you help me . Six or seven years ago. I went down. He had never had any gay students at his school. He didnt know theyve had gay members of staff. I talked to the boys in question that said it was a wretched school to be at. As soon as they were leaving, they would make public their disapproval. When i left, the head teacher said, any suggestions . I said, one thing, alan turing was at your school. When you put a statue up and say you are proud and say you are sorry, i dont think they like that. He is on stamps, i think. Charlie alan turing was the man that saved his country. He was a gay man that, during the war, broke the german code. In doing that against all odds and certainly helped defeat the nazis. And then, because he was a gay man, was coerced into taking chemicals. Chemical castration killed him. Ian and some people think that they take a bite out of the apple, and it was a reference. Charlie steve jobs has said no, although he recognized what a great man he was. But we have made significant progress. You saw it happen right before your eyes in terms of the american political statebystate and the historic ian it is so much more difficult in your continent to make it happen. In the u. K. , probably 100 people whose opinion had to change. They would be running newspapers, and they all live in london. They sort of all know each other. I could get into those circles. They pass the law and that is the end of that. But here, goodness me. Statebystate, the Supreme Court i have great sympathy that it has taken a little bit longer. The time that is coming in or going out, whichever metaphor you choose. But it happens by degrees and because of individuals and groups. Charlie if you are sir ian mckellen, you cant serve in the house of lords . Ian you can, but it would take precedence charlie they cant call you lord something. Ian you drop the sir. But that is not something i look for. The other reason for me to relish being sir was in the midst of this gay rights stuff, having already talked about it. It meant that they were accepting of the sort of person. It was a nice irony. I wasnt the first. I was the second openly gay person. The first was sir angus wilson. Many have followed me. Charlie i have asked you this before and i am fascinated by. There is something fascinating about england and actors. Can you define it . Ian the english, perhaps more than the british, the english do seem to like a show. Very good public shows. Charlie i thought you might say they like language. Ian some of the shows dont involve language. Marching soldiers to the streets. We do it terribly well. When it comes to the theater and acting, language would be crucial. The language of shakespeare, of course. Whenever you do a checkov play, like damn it, why dont i speak russian . Charlie i want to show one more scene, you end your housekeeper played by the great laura linney. Sir. Roger has been help to you. Hes been a good boy. Hes always been clever. We were not the sort to know the things that roger takes interest in. Exceptional children are often the product of unremarkable parents. Ive got a sister that lives in portsmouth. A couple of her acquittance is opened a hotel there. They wanted to take roger and me on. You have a sister . Charlie how good is she . Laura linney . Ian meryl streep, cate blanchett, judi dench, and the youngest, laura linney. Total pro. Arrived knowing everything she needs to know. Charlie do you . Ian i try, yes. I admire her that she is happy to let it all go and live absolutely in the moment. Which you have to do. Wonderfully secure for the other actors. Notice the woman in front of you who you are going to respond to and if you respond a way that she is not expecting, she will not be phased. And she is a wonderful friend. Charlie she is . Ian now, yes. She had a baby at age 49, 3 months before. She brought the baby. In between takes, she is breastfeeding her baby. And the effect on the set that we had a little life to 10 to and to tend to and care about. Every movie should have a baby. Every office should have a baby in the corner. Charlie do you wish you had a larger family . Ian i watched my family getting older and dying off. It never occured to me that it was a possibility and i think early on, it was the only good thing about being gay was that you did not have the have children. It is very touching and a lot of gandalfs fans are very young. Eight and nine. They want to come over and give you a hug. Charlie it introduced you to a whole new audience. Ian absolutely. Its been wonderful. Charlie this is what you said to the shakespearean quarterly in 1982. As an actor, what i admire most is not the characters but the way they are presented on the page. I now appreciate shakespeare more as a writer than a humanitarian. I appreciate him as a craftsman rather than just a man of the world. It is the theater i respond to. The person that wrote his words down and understood that words themselves are not enough and that you need actors to present them. Ian very good, ian. Well done. I still agree with that. Charlie impressed with the way i read that . Ian i did a whole show about this. I am convinced he was himself. It would be all about how to help the actor deliver it. Shakespeare beyond 100 years ago is telling how to speak and make it all work. Charlie we will be right back. Stay with us. The only way to get better is to challenge yourself, and thats what were doing at xfinity. We are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. And this includes our commitment to being on time. Every time. Thats why if were ever late for an appointment, well credit your account 20. Its our promise to you. Were doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. Because we should fit into your life. Not the other way around. Charlie Jonathan Groff is here and plays king george the third in the hit musical hamilton. The performance is the jilted king of england, delicious. He previously starred in the hbo series looking to wrap up the acclaimed comedy drama. Im pleased to have him at this table for the first time. Jonathan i love this table. Charlie the table loves having you here. Let me turn to hamilton. Why . It has such a hold on all of us. Everybody i know wants to go. I did a piece that the genius is all there. But what is it for you . That makes it so magical . Jonathan it is unlike anything i have ever been part of or ever seen before. I got to see the show before i joined the cast off broadway. I said yes to the show before i had seen it. The actor that was playing king george off broadway to leave to fulfill another commitment. I stepped in. I am friends with lin. Lin is the most energetic, positive, intoxicating human being. We met years before. He asked me to come in and step in for this actor playing king george offbroadway. I said yes without having seen or heard anything because of lin. Hes a person you say yes to. I sat in the audience of the Public Theater, and you could feel the energy in the theater before the showing even began. The show began and i just wept from start to finish. I was moved by the ingenuity of the writing. The freshness and the direction. The choreography in the cast. The whole idea was just so incredible. Let alone the story itself. It is such an emotional, moving, inspiring piece. I got to go into it offbroadway and join the cast for broadway. It has just been one of the most extraordinary things. Charlie you never saw brian do it. Jonathan i totally saw him do it. I flew into new york on friday, i saw the show over the weekend five times in a row. Charlie five times in a row . Jonathan five times in a row. I feel like im going to need therapy because if i see this show one more time and weep for three hours, im going to have a mental breakdown. Charlie you seem to have shaped it in your own way. It was it written that way or did you shape it . Jonathan i have this theory. When i did spring awakening and a lot of actors came in to replace when people come into a show and try to make it theres right away, i find it really annoying. You go in and respect what has been there before and try not to mess anybody up when you first go in. Stand in and do the thing. Thats what i did. I did what brian did. As time wore on and i became more familiar with the part and the company in the audience, the piece, the show, i started to shape it and make it my own. I decided to do a british accent. It started as an rp standard thing and morphed into a character accent. The offbroadway run was a few months of a rehearsal in front of an audience. It was amazing and exploratory and i learned a lot from it. Charlie how many appearances did you make during the 2. 5 hours of the production . Jonathan i have three numbers. Charlie what do you do in between . Jonathan nine minutes of stage time. When we were offbroadway, i watched the show every day. The way the Public Theater is set up, you can enter from the audience. I can stand and perfectly watch the stage. Every night when we were offbroadway, i would leave it. I would leave the stage and go stand and watch. It was amazing offbroadway because the show was still evolving and finding its power. The performers were still discovering big things. Its almost like from when it opened i watch that number become the production number. Because suddenly, the performances get bigger. By the end of the theater run, this show wanted to explode out of the theater. Between the audiences anticipation and the actors on stage filling the space, i couldnt not watch it. It had this explosive energy with the public. Charlie but what happens when you come out . Its like king george says to the colonies or the revolution, we have a love affair. It youve got to come back. If you dont come back, i will have to kill you and your family. Its what he says. But the way you say it is a showstopper. You know that. Jonathan its such a brilliant piece of writing. In the show, its the first song that isnt really rapped. Its the first character from history that we see walk out that is completely recognizable. Im 30 years old so its a little different than we are used to seeing. But the costume and the way the minute king george walks out, Everybody Knows who this person is. Everybody knows his perspective. They are projecting the minute he walks out, his feelings. Is this brilliant moment that everything tommy is the amazing director. It is so full of movement. Its a revolving stage. And the show itself stops and king george walks out. The audience knows who it is. This is a moment about stillness. It is a moment of stillness. Whatever that means to you, embrace it how you may. But being as still as possible is the most powerful thing in this moment. Charlie what are your first words . Jonathan you say the price of my love is a price you are not willing to pay. You cry in your tea which you hurl in the sea when you see me go by. Why so sad . So brilliantly written. It is delicious writing. I love seeing it every night. I knew that it was nine minutes of showtime. I thought it would be fun and i heard so many great things about the show. I have not gotten sick. Ive done it over 100 times. It is so naughty. [laughter] and wonderful. And the audience is always so receptive to it for the reasons we described. It is like a drug coming out there every night. Its so amazing to be breathing in the air of the hamilton experience. That alone is incredibly special and something i will never forget. Charlie has broadway seen anything like this for a while . Jonathan no. What was really interesting is that we were doing interviews. The album had not come out yet. The 60 minutes piece had not come out yet. They had not released clips from the show. And so, for about 2. 5 months, we were sold out. No one would know anything about the show and the lights would go down. People would start screaming like they knew what was going to happen. It was like rent in the 10th year when people have the words memorized. This was the lights going down with people excited about a show. An original piece of theater with no celebrities. Even a historical celebrity charlie all kinds of people. Hispanics, blacks, all playing the founding fathers. Jonathan Thomas Jefferson and lafayette its brilliant. And that people are embracing it. When president obama came to see it for the first time, he saw the sixth preview. He came backstage at intermission to meet everyone. He could not come back after because they closed down the street. Les mis, everyone across the street. Everyone was locked until president obama left. It was really meaningful what he said. People make great things, and often times it never gets recognized or it takes a long time for it to get recognized. And you guys really just taken and enjoy the fact you have created something great and from the beginning, it has been embraced the way it should be. Charlie george lucas saw it and said it was shakespeare. Beyonce saw it. Goes backstage and says, i want to take that walk. Your walk. Jonathan i love it. Beyonce is making me blush. Im obsessed with beyonce as so many of us are around the globe. She came to this show and we were all freaking out afterwards. Only two times, its a big cast. Famous people and politicians and everybody comes on stage and it feels like a party. Everyone is talking. There are times the entire company has been on stage surrounding someone and you can hear up and drop. It was president obama, beyonce and jayz. Just waiting to hear what they were going to say. They were so generous and kind to everyone. Charlie the songs in the lyrics, looks out to an audience and sees todays leaders. The Vice President , the president , dick cheney. There is George Washington and Thomas Jefferson engaged in a war of words with alexander hamilton. If you told someone this was going to happen, they would say, show me. How did it change you . Personally and professionally. Jonathan the great thing about theater, i think, you do it eight times a week. It is almost a religious experience because you are repeating the same words every night. And you are listening to the same words every night. It cant help but have an indelible print on your soul after you are done. As an actor, i try to kick my theater pieces carefully because of that very thing. You end up getting infected by whatever sort of message the show is. You sing it every night. Its a must like a prayer. Almost like a prayer. It becomes a part of you. Lin and i share a dressing room space. We tell people we shared a studio apartment in midtown. We share a bathroom and its hilarious. He is such an inspirational human being that being surrounded by him, you want to take in that air. Charlie he said i will know its great when kids are learning it in high school. Thatll be the real test. Jonathan wont it be great . Imagining High School Kids performing hamilton is a big dream for him and what he is trying to expedite so it doesnt take as long to get to schools. The usually have to wait for the whole broadway run. Charlie and young people come into the production. High schools and things like that. Jonathan a whole thing happening this spring, schools coming in with lots of student matinees. Charlie were you sad to see it go on hbo . Jonathan we cried. We did this wrapup film. I think i cried every day. We got to do the film and it was great. It was like a beautiful goodbye. The characters are really personal to all of us. A lot of people worked on it as well. Its incredibly moving. San francisco is such a special city. I rode my bike everywhere. Being embraced by the city sometimes we have to walk. Charlie what did you do in frozen . Jonathan i was the voice of kristof. Charlie how did you get a role like that . Jonathan they had already cast kristen bell. You read some lines and record it. I got down to the final three. They do this big blind audition with groups of people. Whose voice sounds best with kristen bell . I got the job because i sounded good with kristen. Charlie where do you go from here . Its like the best of times. Broadway, movies, television. When a window closes, another opens. All of that. Jonathan i think, for me, i love theater. I loved doing the animated thing with frozen. That what i love more than the median is working with people who are inspired. It has been the case with looking. Going to the theater eight times a week and feeling change. Charlie lin was sick for a little bit. People dont complain. They are so caught up. I dont think they do. I dont hear about it. They had a standin for lin. It just carries whoever is there. The whole thing has such it comes together. If one person steps away for a moment, there is someone that can come in. It is so strong and powerful that it doesnt miss a step. Jonathan i feel like that is the true testament of a great piece of theater. When you think of hamlet, i dont think of it related to any one particular actor. Or gypsy. These are shows that are phenomenally written that you want to see it again and again. The true test is for a piece of theater, when you do it in high school and it still moves people. And you do it with people who are not professional actors who do not know how to sell a moment. You can just sit down around a table and sing to these songs and read this material and it can wreck everyone. Inspire everyone. Or scream and applaud. That is the testament of a great theater piece. Hamilton is that and i think it will run forever. Past everyone that is in his current cast. Charlie opening night, when lin came out. He just stood there. Jonathan lin is a genius. A certified genius. And yet, he is so celebratory of everybody. Opening night, he came on stage. You were there. It felt like a High School Pep rally. It did not feel like a fancy highbrow new york i am a genius and welcome to my piece. Theres nothing sophisticated about him. Theres everything sophisticated about the writing. It speaks for itself. He called everyone out and everyone was like [table drumming] charlie something actors dont like to do. I will fight the fight and win the war for your love, for your praise. I will love you until my dying days. Jonathan when youre gone, i will go mad. So dont throw away this thing we had. Because when push comes to shove, i will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love. Da da da charlie i wanted that for the close. Thank you. Jonathan so great to be here. Thanks for having me. Charlie go see hamilton if you can. It is new and in hong kong, i am angie lau. Asian stocks expecting a global rally, shares from the lowest with the hang seng snapping its longest losing streak since 1984. Traders are pricing a 76 odds that the fed will raise rates. Soaring more than 50 say the james packer is in talks to take the crown casino off the market. They have been speaking to privat