Ian McKellen Stars In Teen’s LGBTQIA+ Film

Fourteen-year-old Jacob Franklin’s directorial debut has been made even more memorable with the addition of acting legend Ian McKellen . The film, Dragged Through Time , is created by Windsor-based Notice Productions , and focuses on 1000 years of LGBTQIA+ history, as well as what it means to be queer today. The youth-led drama collective uses film to explore “issues that are neglected, misunderstood or deemed too awkward to approach”.

Previous projects have addressed youth radicalisation, coercive control, and artifical intelligence. Speaking to PinkNews , Franklin said Sir Ian agreed to work on the film thanks to connections from the director of drama at Eton College, Scott Handy. “We weren’t really expecting a reply,” Franklin said.



“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!” McKellen’s character, great uncle Peter, is a partially closeted member of the protagonist’s family, and is inspired by LGBTQIA+ people from the 1970s and 80s. McKellen reflects on 14-year-old self The 86-year-old stage and screen giant said that the film was the “one thing that would get me back to Windsor”.

“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,” McKellen said in a behind-the-scenes video posted to Facebook. “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.

” The film is set to premiere at Windsor and Eton’s first-ever Pride in July. Franklin said the experience had been empowering and “quite overwhelming”. “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.” He hopes that the audience will leave the viewing with “mixed emotions, but overall, quite a happy feeling.” Sundaylicious Melbourne RnB: Easter Long Weekend Rainbow Votes Election Forum with Courtney Act Qtopia Sydney Unveils The Program For Pride Fest 2025 Trans Day of Visibility Forum and Ballroom Workshop Peter de Waal Book Signing Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

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