A 14-year-old boy asked Ian McKellen to star in his LGBTQ+ film – he didn’t expect him to say yes

LGBTQ+ acting legend Sir Ian McKellen is set to appear in a 14-year-old boy’s directorial debut.Jacob Franklin’s Dragged Through Time explores 1,000 years of LGBTQ+ history as well as looking at what it is like to queer in today’s world.Created by Notice Productions, a youth-led drama collective, the film will premiere at the first Windsor and Eton Pride, in July.

McKellen plays great uncle Peter, a semi-closeted older member of the protagonist’s family who “everybody thinks is gay, but it’s just rumours circulating, nothing confirmed.” The character is inspired by LGBTQ+ people from the 70s and 80s.Speaking to PinkNews about the film and what it was like to work with a giant of the stage and screen, Jacob, who is from Windsor, in Berkshire, said McKellen’s involvement came about thanks to Eton College’s director of drama, Scott Handy, who had a connection to the actor.



“We weren’t really expecting a reply but then he texts us back and says in his words, not mine, that he’s ‘really inspired by this and would love to come and do this’. And I’m like, yes, absolutely!”Ian McKellen shoots his scenes with Jacob. (Brad Day)Jacob described working with the Lord of the Rings and X-Men star as very relaxing.

“It didn’t feel like a professional actor was sitting in the room with me,” he said.Creating the film was a “whirlwind of emotions” because Notice Productions had “never made a film as ambitious or on this scale”, he added.“We’re bringing a lot of skills together.

We’re making our own music, we’re mostly making our own costume and designing it all. My best friend’s working on the music, and Nic, who’s on the Pride committee, is our dress-maker.“It’s been empowering but also shocking experience, quite overwhelming.

”It was exciting to be a part of the first Windsor and Eton Pride “because people who don’t have as much love and support can come here and feel a sense of community”, Jacob went on to say.“It means a lot that Pride is coming here this year because it’s a really exciting event and a space where people can be accepted for who they are. It means so much that my film is going to be premiering there.

”Jacob is making his directorial debut at the age of 14. (Brad Day)Jacob hopes people will come away with a sense of “happiness and joy” alongside “messages of sadness and grief” because of the many negative parts of queer history, such as Section 28.“Mixed emotions, but overall, quite a happy feeling,” he said.

The film is also important because “whilst history can go forward, it can also go back”.In a clip shared by Windsor and Eton Pride, filmed on the day McKellen shot his scenes with Jacob, the veteran actor , who turns 86 next month, said the film was the “one thing that would get me back to Windsor”, adding: “What’s great is that [Jacob] is interested in all aspects of filming. I often look back to myself at his age and regret I wasn’t close enough to my parents to talk to them about what I knew about myself.

“I never told either of my parents that their only son was gay. The idea that at 14 I could have plucked up the courage to have a conversation with them about something so personal..

. to see [Jacob] in this situation makes me think perhaps I could have done this if I had been a bit braver or if the world had been a bit different.”In the video, Jacob tells McKellen the importance of him being in the film was not so much about him being a famous actor, but the fact he campaigned for LGBTQ+ rights in the 80s and 90s.

McKellen plays the role of great uncle Peter alongside Jacob. (Brad Day)Dragged Through Time will be screened at Alexandra Gardens, in Windsor, on 26 July.If you are interested in showing the film, email brad@windsorpride.

co.uk or follow on Notice Productions on YouTube.Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.

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