THIS is the amazing moment that a man dressed as Lord of the Rings wizard Gandalf for his birthday bar crawl ran into the character’s actor – the legendary Sir Ian McKellen – by chance.
Ben Coyles was out on the town in Bristol last Thursday to celebrate his 22nd birthday with friends on a lengthy pub crawl.
As part of the planned celebrations Ben and his friends all opted to dress as characters from J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series as they hit the town, with Ben dressed as Gandalf the Grey.
In a moment of pure fate though, Ben then bumped into the man behind the legendary character’s on-screen portrayal whilst on his way to the next pub.
The video shows music student Ben walking along the street whilst holding hands and in conversation with the 83-year-old McKellen, who portrayed the wizard in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations.
Ben is clad in Gandalf’s iconic grey wizard’s hat and cloak, with his own custom-made wizard staff, whilst McKellen is wearing a flatcap and brown coat.
The pair then stop for a photo as Ben hilariously looks around at his friends with his jaw dropped, seemingly for confirmation that he isn’t dreaming.
McKellen lets out a laugh at Ben’s amazement whilst the on-screen caption reads: “POV: For your mate’s 22nd he dressed as Gandalf and bumped into THE Sir Ian McKellen.”
The video was uploaded to social media by Ben’s friend Scarlet Learmonth yesterday.
Since then, the video has received more than 700,000 likes and over 2,000 comments from users left in disbelief at the incredible coincidence.
One user joked: “A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”
Another commented in amazement: “Are you holding hands with Sir Ian McKellen?”
A third said: “I would pass away.”
Another wrote: “The universe working its magic in the best possible way.”
A fifth replied: “I would start crying immediately.”
Speaking today, Ben said: “It was incredible. It took a second to recognise that it was him.
“We were on a pub crawl at the time but it was an amazing coincidence like the universe giving me a birthday present, I was pretty speechless for the rest of the evening, and starstruck.
“We were walking from The Gryphon to Brewdog in the city centre. We’d previously been to WG Grace and then to The White Bear so we’d all had a few.
“We heard someone behind me say ‘Does your Gandalf want to meet the real Gandalf’ and then he walks up to me and greets me.
“He asked me how old I was, then he wished me a happy birthday, shook my hand and took a photo with me and then walked off into the night as quickly as he appeared – what a legend of a man.
“I think he approved of the outfit, he didn’t say anything in particular that I recall but his smile said everything, he looked very jolly.
“All of my mates had gone as tree ents, orcs, elves etc, that interaction just heightened the good vibes tenfold.”
BAFTA-nominated McKellen portrayed Gandalf the Grey and White in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy from 2001-2003 and reprised the role in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy from 2012-2014.
The actor is now synonymous with both the role and iconic lines that came with it, such as “A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to” as well as “You shall not pass”.
