The opportunity of starring alongside Hollywood’s biggest star Tom Cruise is a dream come true for many actors, including actor Jon Hamm, who was enthralled to work alongside Cruise in Top Gun 2. However, it wasn’t the case for Sir Ian McKellen, who was once considered to star alongside the Tropic Thunder star in one of the biggest action franchises of all time.
Considering that Cruise has been at the top realms of the industry for the last several decades. It’s obvious why several actors desire to work alongside the Top Gun: Maverick star. But to Sir Ian McKellen, the only thing that matters is the script.
Sir Ian McKellen didn’t have any problem rejecting the offer to star alongside Tom Cruise
Following the success of the first Mission: Impossible, which would go on to spawn an enormous franchise, Sir Ian McKellen was initially considered for the role of Dr. Nekhorvich in the sequel. Although McKellen’s agent at the time would try to convince him to take the role and star alongside Tom Cruise. The X-Men actor explained that he wasn’t able to connect with the script and had no problems rejecting the enormous offer. He said,
“Well, I couldn’t judge from reading just those scenes (my scenes) what the script was like. So I said no. And my agent said, ‘You can’t say no to working with Tom Cruise!‘ and I said, ‘I think I will”
However, it didn’t stop Sir Ian McKellen from garnering humungous success in the industry, as the actor was soon offered to play the role of Gandalf in the LOTR trilogy and Magneto in Fox’s X-Men universe. Even though it has been years since the actor last portrayed the character of Magneto onscreen, it seems that we might soon witness him in the iconic role again.
Sir Ian McKellen is reportedly planning to return as Magneto in the MCU
Following the appearance of Patrick Stewart’s Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, fans were hoping that Sir Ian McKellen would make a cameo too. But even though it wasn’t the case, it seems that the Magneto actor isn’t done with the role yet. During one of his interviews, Patrick Stewart went on to shed some light on his onscreen frenemy’s future as Magneto and claimed that McKellen has got some plans for his role. He said,
“Actually, it went very well. He did say something like [‘Hey, I would’ve done this!’], yes that’s true. But we’re not done, Sir Ian and myself. We’re… we got plans.”
Even though the Mission: Impossible franchise did go on to become an enormous entity in the industry. Sir McKellen’s career didn’t have much of an impact from rejecting the movie, as he is now cherished by thousands for his other iconic roles.
Mission: Impossible 2 is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: People
