Ian McKellen was born in1939 in England. During his early childhood, his parents moved with Ian and his sister Jean to the mill town of Wigan. He soon developed a fascination with acting and the theater, which was encouraged by his parents. They went to Shakespeare plays once a week and often brought Ian. He was in many amateur plays during his school days and they helped his growing love of theater. He has loved it ever since. Later in life he began working on movies and TV shows but he would always be a theater lover.
McKellen's method is very interesting. He sees his role and thinks about what that character can and would have to do. Take Gandalf. Sir Ian thinks to him self, "How cool would it be to be a wizard. I wonder what I would be like." He figures out what he would do, how he would hold himself, how he would say things, how he would walk and he gives all that to his character. He thinks, "Well, I am in charge of a large party, so I think I will look around a lot to make sure that we have everybody. I am a wizard with a staff so even when I am not casting spells with it I would wave it around, gesture with it. Not too much though, that would look weird."
Ian does the a similar thing with Magneto. He thinks, "Well Magneto is a cold and calculating villain so I think that I would use my hands to gesture dramatically when I talk. I would also make no secret that I am the one I charge and everyone should bow down to me." He thinks about what he would do if he were in the place of that character and he had the same powers and abilities. Another thing he does is he dresses in dark colors like black roses and a red suit.
I think this could help everyone's acting and they can at least try this method. With my character I could think, "Well my character is a real business man so I think I should straighten my suit and glasses a lot." Or, "My character is dethroned so I think I should sulk around some." In the end I think that this is an face value take on method acting but I think it is nice to know that is how some successful people act.