'Just Friends:' Patrick Stewart Locks Lips With Ian McKellen

Best buds and fellow Britons Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart did more than just shake hands when they found each other outside the premiere for McKellen's new film, Mr. Holmes: They shared a kiss.

And not just a brotherly peck, but a full-on lip lock, captured by a photographer and plastered on the pages of Entertainment Weekly.

Stewart and his wife, Sunny Ozell, were there to support McKellen in his role as Sherlock Holmes.

The pair are so close, EW notes, that McKellen officiated at the Stewart and Ozell's wedding, and the pair have posed for touristy photos and held hands on a top-trending tour of New York City, teamed up on Broadway, and faced off on-screen as Professor X and Magneto in out director Bryan Singer's X-Men movies.

The close friendship of Stewart, who is straight, and McKellen, who is gay, has led to inaccurate assumptions about the Star Trek icon's sexuality on more than one occasion, includingan articlepublished byThe Guardianin 2014 that misidentified the actor as a gay man after he congratulated anotherX-Mencostar, Ellen Page, for coming out.

"Quite frankly, I was utterly flattered by that assumption," he told The Advocate in January. "And indeed the first contact I had was from Ian McKellen, who sent me an email saying, 'Congratulations!' And I accepted the congratulations and said, 'I think this is a very distinctive honor that I've been awarded.'"

Stewart, who made headlines recently for his support of an antigay bakery in Northern Ireland, has said he and McKellen would love to star in a buddy comedy together.