McKellen delights in showing Richard's humor and arrogance as he dances off at the end of this scene to the jazz music of the first. What Is Worth Dying For... Is Worth Killing For.Kristin Scott Thomas ... Lady Annefrom an interview with Sir Ian McKellen:---You're not suggesting that the audience should have sympathy for him?---I'm not suggesting that they do anything, but if they don't I'd be very disappointed. He's very engaging. I think they will catch their breath, hopefully, at his bravado. I hope at times that they will be so convinced by his acting that they will forget what he's up to, which is why he has to keep reminding the audience. "You know what I've just done..." I hope they're going to see not just one person all the way through. They're going to see the different facets of this man's ability and his potential which he channels to absolutely the wrong purposes; but he is undoubtedly an attractive figure and that's why Lady Anne is momentarily seduced by him. ---Yes. I find that rather hard to believe.---You find it hard to believe on the stage but you won't when you see it on the screen. The reasons are many, but one is Richard's overwhelming force; the other is her own heightened emotion, she's at a very vulnerable state emotionally. She's exhausted with grief. She cannot keep it up even faced with a man who legitimately killed her husband in battle. She is totally destitute at the point when she was about to become First Lady, Queen of England. She has no family support, apparently. Where is she going to live now? Who's interested in her? Overnight that happens and along comes a very powerful man who is old enough to be her father and says: "Marry me and you can have it all back." Now in her state of confusion, who's to say that Lady Anne is a totally innocent child? She may be, probably is, considering her social class and her upbringing, extremely ambitious on her own behalf and she's fooled, not realising that Richard's wife is never going to get a look in and she regrets it for the rest of her life, of course. Basically, she believes him when she says he loves her -- at a moment when she is bereft of love.---You mentioned his sense of humour. Would you elaborate on that?---His sense of humour comes from the same place as his conscience. He knows what he's doing. It's irony; but he's observing himself and he's pleased with himself, admires himself and asks the audience to admire what he's done, along with him. So he's extremely arrogant; but he just hopefully wins the audience into wanting him to succeed. The audience are accomplices in this journey to power. I hope, when the film is over, they will remember how much they wanted Richard to succeed in becoming king and how like many people in the story they got seduced by the excitement of it. In other words, I hope they're not just going to sit back and watch this story. I hope they're leaning forward and that humour is one of the ways that they're drawn in. It wouldn't be right to say it's a comedy! In fact, it's interesting that Shakespeare calls the play The Tragedy of King Richard III.
