McKellen regales Shanghai audience with his lines

It has a video featuring McKellen reciting Shakespeare's plays with the dialogues shown at the bottom. When it comes to a difficult word, you can click it and a dictionary window will jump out to explain it.

"You are the first person in China that I've shown that. It's exclusive," he says. He reveals the app was an idea from Richard Loncraine, the director of Richard III.

The internet is no mystery for McKellen, in spite of the fact that most celebrities his age may be not so familiar with the digital world.

McKellen has always been an innovator when it comes to the internet, with one of the earliest official sites for an actor, Mckellen.com, launched on Sept 1, 1997.

In 1999, he began publishing a series of journal entries, during the filming of The Lord of Rings. The entries evolved into one of the earliest non-technical blogs.

His following on social media numbers nearly 9 million.

His role as Gandalf in The Lord of Rings franchise has obtained for him a huge following.

In China, fans are also familiar with his character Magneto in the X-Men movies.

"It's a privilege. When you travel across the world, the people there you don't know already know you."

But how does one balance a career between Hollywood blockbusters and art-house films, such as his Shakespeare titles?

McKellen's answer is similar to most A-list actors, who earn money from big-budget productions and receive much less for starring in indie movies.

He says it is "for love".

He says that Richard III, which also features him as scriptwriter, ran out of money at the end, and he gave back his salary to complete the film.

"Films are expensive to make. I have been paid a lot of money for some movies. I can do some for free. That's the difference for me between art-house films and big-budget blockbusters."

Related:

Bard's plays continue in China

Shakespeare's Four Folios fetches £2.5m at Christie's auction