Very few actors can say they’ve had a career as storied as Sir Ian McKellen‘s. While he’s best known for his roles as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Magneto in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films, McKellen has also appeared in dramas like The Critic and even had a guest role in one of Family Guy‘s best episodes. One of his best performances, though, came in Apt Pupilwhich adapts Stephen King‘s novella of the same name. Apt Pupil is available to stream on Tubiso fans of McKellen’s work now have easy access to this cult classic.
Apt Pupil features an extremely dark premise: high school student Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) learns that his next-door neighbor, Albert Denker (McKellen), isn’t actually who he says he is. Denker is Kurt Dussander, an infamous Nazi war criminal. Todd ends up asking Dussander to tell him about his experience in the concentration camps, threatening to expose him if he doesn’t. Apt Pupil is arguably one of the darkest stories King has ever writtenand in the wrong hands, it could have fallen apart. McKellen proves to be up to the challenge of portraying Dussander, resulting in a truly compelling story.
‘Apt Pupil’ Wouldn’t Work Without Ian McKellen or Brad Renfro
A large part of what makes Apt Pupil work in both movie and book form is the back-and-forth between Todd and Dussander, and McKellen & Renfro bring that dynamic to life. It isn’t long before Dussander turns the tables on Todd because of the younger man’s failing grades, threatening to tell his parents if he doesn’t apply himself in school. He even pretends to be Todd’s grandfather in a scene that’s ripe with tension, given that the audience knows the truth is far more sinister. McKellen brings his signature gravitas to every scene in Apt Pupilpainting Dussander as someone who has tried to escape the gravity of his atrocities until Todd pulls him back in.
Probably the most disturbing scene in Apt Pupil features Todd forcing Dussander to wear a replica of his old SS uniform, and barking orders at him to march. Dussander hesitantly obeys, but as the march continues, he grows more and more passionate, even when Todd tells him to stop. It’s a scene that’s made all the more uncomfortable by the stone-cold look on McKellen’s face, not to mention the frightened one on Renfro’s, and according to director Bryan Singer, that was the point — this scene is meant to showcase how truly warped Todd is becoming.
“It is creepy. But it’s also an intriguing premise: A boy plays with a monster and gets eaten. It is a true horror story. There haven’t been a lot of them.”
Singer may have sought to make “a true horror story”, yet the film version of Apt Pupil is far less dark than the novella it’s based on. Todd is a truly despicable character in the novella, resorting to murder and disturbing fantasies once he’s come into contact with Dussander. King had a gift for depicting evil in all its forms, and in Apt Pupil, he shows how fascism can easily be reignitedespecially among young men.
Controversy Plagued ‘Apt Pupil’
Bryan Singer wasn’t the first person to try to adapt Apt Pupil; back when Stephen King first wrote the novella, a producer optioned the rights. Following a string of setbacksSinger eventually impressed King with an early cut of The Usual Suspects and secured the rights to Apt Pupil. An infamous shower scene also led to Singer being sued by an extraopening the floodgates to a lengthy legal showdown. After Singer’s misconduct on the set of Bohemian Rhapsodythe Apt Pupil case was revisited amid new revelations which effectively hampered his career.
28 years after its release, Apt Pupil remains a phenomenal showcase for Ian McKellen. It’s proof that he can play an outright monster in addition to a kindly wizard and a master of magnetism, and it provides a look into the dangerous gravity of fascism. With adaptations of Stephen King’s work remaining a major drawand given the current state of the world, there’s never been a better time to check out Apt Pupil.
