Ian McKellen says he shouted 'Mar-a-Lago' during Avengers shoot

Sir Ian McKellen screened advance footage of his appearance in the superhero film Avengers: Doomsday to about 2,000 people at an open-air cinema in Rome. The film, due in December, brings the X-Men played by McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It is the MCU’s 39th feature, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and intended as a sequel to their 2019 film Avengers: Endgame, which made $2.8bn and is the second highest-grossing film of all time. Speaking about shooting the movie, McKellen said that at one point 'they got me at one point to destroy New Jersey'.

He rose from his seat to re-enact the scene, recalling that the Russos 'told me to look more furious: make it look as if you hate what you’re destroying.' Then he said he stood there and shouted: 'Mar-a-Lago!' McKellen, 87, introduced Jacques Tati’s 1953 comedy Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday and remembered watching it at 14 with 'more than a friend, really'.

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