Subsequent franchise films have highlighted the complex bond between characters ideologically at odds over how to protect mutants.
On screen they fought, but off set they bonded.
“We have to thank ‘X-Men’ for really getting to know each other, because every day on an ‘X-Men’ movie, you spend a lot more time sitting in your trailer than you do on set doing some work – and those trailers are extremely luxurious. And we had adjacent ones, so we sat and talked and reminisced,” Stewart said during the 2014 panel. “And I found out a lot about this guy and him about me, and we discovered that there was a great deal of overlap in our careers and many areas in which we had little in common.”
The rest is history. The two shared a friendship beloved by fans, often seen greeting each other with an affectionate kiss on the lips, whether on TV shows or on the red carpet.
Stewart told the Guardian that McKellen is “very close” to his wife, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, and that it was she who suggested McKellen officiate their wedding. In 2013, he did just that.
Stewart was also a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and praised activists like McKellen, who is gay.
“I think that’s where theater is such an attractive world, because it embraces everything and always has. So there was never a time when I made an intellectual choice to support gay civil rights. It was always a natural, simple choice,” he told The Advocate in 2015. “Then later in life, when I got to know well-known activists like Ian McKellen, I was so happy to join campaigns, marches and support in any way possible because it always seemed to me that we were making too much noise.”
Both men built separate, successful legacies in film – McKellen as the beloved wizard Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” films and Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the long-running “Star Trek” franchise.
They were also both honored with knighthoods by Queen Elizabeth II – McKellen in 1991 and Stewart in 2010.
Through it all, they remained devoted to their first love of theater and performed in two highly acclaimed productions.
In Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot”, Stewart was the optimistic Vladimir and McKellen the weary Tarragon. Their performances – on London’s West End in 2009 and on Broadway in New York in 2013-2014 – were praised for their humor and comedy.
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