Ian McKellen shouted 'Mar-a-Lago!' while filming “Avengers: Doomsday” Magneto scene when asked to imagine a thing he hates

Kathleen PerriconeTue, June 16, 2026 at 5:09 AM UTC

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Ian McKellen on April 21 in London; Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., in 2025Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage; Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via GettyKey Points -

Ian McKellen said he imagined Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago while filming a destructive scene in Avengers: Doomsday.

"Make it look as if you hate what you're destroying," the actor, a vocal critic of Trump, said the directors told him.

Avengers: Doomsday, set to hit theaters on Dec. 18, unites characters from multiple Marvel universes in the fight against Doctor Doom.

Ian McKellen took method acting to a whole new level while making Avengers: Doomsday.

The 87-year-old actor revives his X-Men franchise mutant, Magneto, in the 39th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that unites characters from three separate universes in the fight against Doctor Doom.

Ian McKellen in 'Avengers: Doomsday' as MagnetoCredit: Marvel

One scene in the upcoming film calls for Magneto to wreak havoc on New Jersey using his superpower to manipulate magnetic fields.

As cameras rolled, Avengers: Doomsday directors, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, instructed McKellen to "look more furious," he revealed at the Cinema in Piazza film festival in Rome, where 2,000 Marvel fans got to see a sneak peek at footage.

They told him to "make it look as if you hate what you're destroying," recalled McKellen, according to The Guardian. "So I stood there and I shouted: 'Mar-a-Lago!'"

Mar-a-Lago, located in Palm Beach, FlaCredit: Saul Martinez/Getty

Mar-a-Lago is the Palm Beach property owned by Donald Trump, where the president famously wines and dines influential and moneyed friends, family, and investors. The English actor has been a vocal critical of Trump since his first term, when he rolled back several LGBTQ+ executive orders and refused to recognize Pride Month.

"It's appalling and quite unnecessary and very un-American," McKellen, who came out as gay in 1988, told Variety. "The gay rights movement began in America. It began in San Francisco, it began in Stonewall, the city where Donald Trump was born and thrived."

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"I can't follow Mr. Trump," he continued. "I don't always understand what he says and when I do, I have to admit later that I got it wrong because he changed his mind or changed his mind about what he said. He's a very bad communicator, at least to me. Get more straightforward, Donald. And then we can take you seriously."

Avengers: Doomsday picks up where 2019's Avengers: Endgame left off and stars an ensemble cast representing the Avengers, The New Avengers, Wakandans, X-Men, and Fantastic Four. A familiar face also returns in a new role: Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. as mega villain Victor von Doom.

"We're not talking too much about story, but I think people know that the story of Doomsday is inspired by a very famous comic run in which universes are colliding and earths encounter one another and different timelines encounter one another," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige told Entertainment Weekly at CinemaCon. "And in movie-speak, what that allows us to do is get different casts from different franchises."

Avengers: Doomsday premieres on Dec. 18, 2026Credit: Marvel Studios

In addition to McKellen, the confirmed X-Men-related cast members include Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, and Channing Tatum as Gambit.

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Also confirmed to reprise their MCU roles in Doomsday are Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Pedro Pascal, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Florence Pugh, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tom Hiddleston, Joseph Quinn, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Letitia Wright, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Alex Livinalli, Mabel Cadena, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, and Kathryn Newton.

Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on Dec. 18, 2026.

on Entertainment Weekly

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