Bromance alert From screen foes to real life friends, Patrick StewartAnd Ian McKellen’s friendship is one for the books.
The British actors, who have known each other for more than 40 years, only became close two decades ago when they costarred in 2000’s X-Men. Stewart plays Professor Charles Xavier (or Professor X), while McKellen plays Erik Lehnsherr, a.k.a. Magneto.
The two became fast friends in between takes.
“On those kind of movies, you spend more time sitting in your trailer than you do in front of the camera,” the Star TrekStar revealed Wired’s “Web’s Most Searched Questions” YouTube series in February 2020. “So, Ian and I hung out together, drinking tea — and maybe in the afternoon, something a little stronger — and we got to know one another.”
Despite having worked together for years, Tom Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favor at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977, the pair didn’t cement their bond until X-Men.
The friends, who were once rivals in the sci fi film, have reprised their roles in many movies in the franchise. X2, X-Men – The Last Stand, The WolverineAnd X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Professionally, the men are also teaming up on stage.
The long-time friends star in the Reply with Two Plays, a combination of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Gadot Beginning in 2013. They promoted the dual shows’ premiere in New York City by adventuring all over town and documenting it on social media. They stopped at iconic food spots, took photos at Coney Island, and posed with a miniature Statue of Liberty.
Stewart continued to portray JeanLuc Picard in The Between Their Joint Ventures Star Trek franchise, his latest being in 2020’s Star Trek: Picard series. McKellen has been seen in Lord of the RingsAnd The Hobbit films as Gandalf and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast.
The knights were given to both actors Queen Elizabeth II, have also been a big part of each other’s personal lives. When Stewart married Sunny OzellMcKellen was the officiant in 2013.
“Happy 80th birthday wishes to @IanMcKellen,” Stewart wrote via Instagram in May 2019, celebrating his pal’s birthday. “Sunny and I are grateful for all the love over the years, whether as a dear friend, minister at our wedding, or colleague on screen and stage.”
Scroll down to relive McKellen and Stewart’s bromance over the years.
