Ian McKellen up for The Academy

Ian McKellen is going all Ricky Gervais - no, he's not relaunching The Office, he's starring in a half-hour mockumentary TV series called The Academy.

It'll focus on the efforts of his (fictional) brother Murray McKellen to get new funding for his rundown drama school, the Clapham Academy Of Creative Arts.

Part one of his plan? Allowing a documentary team to make a film about the place.

According to Variety, McKellen has been closely involved in the show's development as well as taking the lead role, with Peter Hinton (who worked with McKellen in King Lear on stage) writing, directing and acting alongside him.

No UK or US channel has bought it yet, but production company DLT Entertainment seem confident it'll snag a sponsor soon...

[Source: Variety ]

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James White is a freelance journalist who has been covering film and TV for over two decades. In that time, James has written for a wide variety of publications including Total Film and SFX. He has also worked for BAFTA and on ODEON's in-cinema magazine.