Sir Ian McKellen has proved that money cannot buy you everything.
The veteran actor claims he turned down a lucrative offer to officiate a wedding dressed as his beloved Lord of the Rings character Gandalf because "Gandolf doesn't do weddings".
“I was offered one-and-a-half million dollars to marry a very famous couple in California, which I would perhaps have considered doing but I had to go dressed as Gandalf,” he told the Mail on Sunday. “So I said, ‘I am sorry, Gandalf doesn’t do weddings’.”
Sir Ian said he knew the man behind the offer was a “very rich man” but was unsure of his identity as he was never approached directly.
The paper claims the “very rich man” was Silicon Valley’s Sean Parker who has an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion. Parker, who was depicted by Justin Timberlake in the 2010 film The Social Network, co-founded the music streaming service Napster, later joined Facebook as its founding president and currently sits on the board of Spotify. He married his singer/songwriter wife Alexandra Lenas in 2013.
The couple married at a ceremony in the sunshine state which was rumoured to cost $10million (approximately £7.5 million). The Lord of the Rings costume designer was hired by the couple and guests – which included actresses Emma Watson and Olivia Munn and the founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey – were given Tolkien costumes to wear throughout the nuptials.
While the suggestion of Gandalf officiating the ceremony may have been outlandish, the same cannot be said for the idea of Sir Ian stepping up to the role. The 77-year-old previously married his good friend Sir Patrick Stewart and his singer wife Sunny Ozell in 2013 and before that a same-sex male couple.
A representative for Parker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
