Patrick Stewart wedding: Ian McKellan says he'll perform the ceremony
“The Hobbit” actor Ian McKellan recently announced that he will be officiating at the wedding of his “X-Men” co-star Patrick Stewart.
McKellan discussed the plan while appearing on the British TV show “The Jonathan Ross Program” over the weekend.
“I'm going to marry Patrick," the actor said at first, then added, "I am going to officiate at his wedding.”
Stewart is engaged to jazz singer Sunny Ozell.
Ross asked McKellan how he has the qualifications to perform the ceremony, and the “Hobbit” star said he wasn’t sure of the exact details.
“I don’t know,” he said. "But in Massachusetts, in the middle of America somewhere, you get a friend along, and I read out the words, and Sunny and Patrick will then be married.”
McKellan said he’d married a couple before.
“I’ve done it once before with two guys having a civil partnership," the actor said. "I was crying my eyes out.”
When asked about his sartorial plans for Stewart’s wedding, McKellan said merely, “You mustn’t upstage the bride.”
While it’s unknown whether the actor’s comments mean that Stewart’s wedding will be taking place in Massachusetts, the state does have a policy that, if a person provides a character reference and $25, they are allowed to perform a wedding ceremony for a family member or friend. Hopeful officiants apply to do s and hear back from the state in four to six weeks.
Stewart and McKellan co-starred together in the first three “X-Men” films as best friends-turned-enemies Professor Charles Xavier and the villain Magneto, respectively. Stewart’s character Xavier was a wheelchair-bound head of a school for “mutants,” or those with special powers, who himself had the power to access the minds of others. Magneto, or Eric Lensherr (renamed Erik Lehnsherr in future films), had the power to manipulate metal and believed those with powers were better than un-gifted humans.
Actors James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender won praise for playing younger versions of the two men in the 2011 film prequel “X-Men: First Class.” Reports have conflicted on whether Stewart and McKellan will return to play the older versions of the characters alongside McAvoy and Fassbender for the new “X-Men” film, “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” with director Bryan Singer saying the two would be involved but Stewart and McKellan denying they knew anything about the project. However, Stewart and McKellan have both seemed game in interviews, with Stewart telling Entertainment Weekly, "I know nothing about this project. And I’m hoping that might change in the future," while McKellan told MTV that he was not officially involved in the project but that "when [director] Bryan Singer calls, on the whole, I follow."
It was also announced in January that the two actors will co-star in productions of "Waiting for Godot" and "No Man's Land" on Broadway this fall. The two had already starred in a "Godot" production in London's West End in 2009.
