Loved Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Magneto? Don't thank Tom Cruise

Sir Ian McKellen's name is synonymous with two of the most iconic fantasy/sci-fi characters of today: Lord of the Ring's Gandalf and X-Men's Magneto. But he almost didn't get to play either of them -- that is, if Tom Cruise had gotten his way.

Back in the days before his fantasy movie fame,  McKellen was offered a part in Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise (probably as another evil British villain). But because he wasn't given the whole script, McKellen was hesitant about accepting the part. He told People Magazine:
Well, I couldn't judge from reading just those scenes what the script was like. So I said no. And my agent said, "You cant say no to working with Tom Cruise!" and I said, "I think I will."
We can thank Tom or the casting director for not sending that full script to McKellen, because the next day, McKellen got offered both roles of Magneto and Gandalf by Bryan Singer and Peter Jackson, respectively.

But even his two lucky strikes were plagued by scheduling difficulties -- when X-Men production ran behind schedule, McKellen was worried he wouldn't be able to gear up for Lord of the Rings in time. But Singer insisted to McKellen, “Well, you must do Gandalf. I’ll make sure you get out in time.” And thankfully, as history tells us, he did.

But did he ever regret passing on Mission: Impossible 2? McKellen's fine with it, he told People:
Meanwhile, 'Mission Impossible' was put off, put off, put off. And if I had decided to do that, I wouldn’t have been in 'X-Men' and I wouldn't have been in 'Lord of the Rings.'