Ian McKellen stars as a drama critic in 1930s London who has much higher standards for the theater than for his own professional ethics.

Ian McKellen stars as a drama critic in 1930s London who has much higher standards for the theater than for his own professional ethics.

In the new film “The Critic,” he plays the titular acid-tongued reviewer in 1930s Britain, who is terrified of being outed as gay.

In the new film “The Critic,” he plays the titular acid-tongued reviewer in 1930s Britain, who is terrified of being outed as gay.

Ian McKellen plays a theatre reviewer in the 1930s in the new film adapted from Anthony Quinn’s novel Curtain Call – but how accurate is it?

The actor has made a string of public digs at the royal family.

The actor has made a string of public digs at the royal family.

The arts rarely have anything good to say about critics. That they're not generally the hero of many stories is, at the very least, understandable....

The arts rarely have anything good to say about critics. That they're not generally the hero of many stories is, at the very least, understandable....

The veteran actor chipped his vertebrae and fractured his wrist in the fall.