There's a certain artful ridiculousness to Mission: Impossible II. Maybe it's the ballet-nodding motorcycle sequences or the scattered presence of white doves, but the film's lack of self-awareness actually serves M:I 2 (remember severely stylized movie titles?) quite well — making it still worth a rewatch 15 years after its release. Now imagine the film with the addition of Sir Ian McKellen, a surefire knockout for virtually any conceivable motion picture. While you're at it, imagine a world with no McKellenized Magneto from the X-Men franchise or Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings.
"I got offered a part in Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise," McKellen reveals to People in a recent interview, "but they wouldn’t let me see the whole script because I might have spilled the beans. I only got my scenes." McKellen adds that he couldn't accurately assess the quality of the film from reading those selected scenes, ultimately inspiring him to reject the offer. "My agent said 'You cant say no to working with Tom Cruise!' and I said 'I think I will.'"
The very next day, director Bryan Singer offered McKellen the role of Magneto — followed swiftly by Peter Jackson's request for his expertise in bringing Gandalf to life with masterful precision. As this world is a cruel and unusual place, fate simply wouldn't let us have both a McKellenized Mission: Impossible entry and a pair of career-defining franchise roles.
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