Gods and Monsters

Sir Ian McKellen stars as director James Whale. It is 1957, and Whale is living in semiseclusion in Southern California with his scrutinizing maid, Hannah (Lynn Redgrave). His health is failing, and he is able to do little but lounge around and contemplate his younger days--his many male loves, his days in WWI, and the film world that has forsaken him. When Whale first gazes upon his musclebound gardener, Clay (Brendan Fraser), however, it is the beginning of an unusual (and platonic) friendship. (official distributor synopsis)