Napster's Sean Parker offered Ian McKellen $1.5 million to officiate his wedding dressed as Gandalf
Napster billionaire Sean Parker pulled out all the stops for his reportedly $4.5 million Lord of the Rings-themed wedding in Big Sur, California, in 2013. Guests were clothed by Academy Award-winning costume designer Ngila Dickson, there was a 9-foot-tall wedding cake, a feast laid out on a white fur, and a pony.
But there was no Ian McKellen.
McKellen, who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, turned down Parker's offer to officiate the wedding in costume. "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. So I said, 'I am sorry, Gandalf doesn't do weddings,'" McKellen told The Daily Mail.
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A source told the paper that the offer to McKellen was made through a mutual friend of his and Parker's; McKellen claimed he was never directly approached.
"He was a very rich man, that's all I know," McKellen said.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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