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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Guess the Number: January 2026Puzzles The daily number puzzle from The Week
-
The Week’s big New Year’s Day quiz 2026Quiz of the Year How much do you remember about 2025’s headlines? Put yourself to the test with our bumper quiz of the year
-
Is tanking ruining sports?Today's Big Question The NBA and the NFL want teams to compete to win. What happens if they decide not to?
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
