Tom Hanks has said that he was offered William Shatner's once-in-a-lifetime space flight — but that he refused to fork out the $28 million that was required to do so.
Shatner — who is best known for playing the seminal role of Captain Kirk in the 1966 Star Trek series — fulfilled his dream after being blasted into space by Jeff Bezos' aerospace company, Blue Origin, on October 13. It was a truly historical moment, as the trip resulted in Shatner becoming the oldest person ever to reach space.
But it apparently was too costly for Hanks.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live on November 2, the host asked Hanks whether Amazon Boss, Bezos, had really offered him the flight — which would have catapulted him 66 miles above Earth — before Shatner.
"Well, yeah, provided I pay," the actor replied. "And, you know, it cost 28million bucks or something like that. I’m doing good, Jimmy, I’m doing good. But I ain’t paying 28 [million] bucks."
This comes after the director of the United Nations' World Food Programme, David Beasley, called out Bezos and Elon Musk as being two individuals who could help solve world hunger by using just a tiny fraction of their net worth.
In an interview with CNN, Beasley urged Bezos and Elon Musk to "step up now, on a one-time basis", adding that "$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don't reach them. It's not complicated."
While Bezos has yet to reply to Beasley, Musk wrote in a tweet: "If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it," he wrote.
Now, Beasley has asked Musk to meet in person, after the Tesla boss asserted: "Please publish your current & proposed spending in detail so people can see exactly where money goes. Sunlight is a wonderful thing."
"Instead of tweets, allow me to show you. We can meet anywhere—Earth or space—but I suggest in the field where you can see @WFP’s people, processes and yes, technology, at work. I will bring the plan, and open books," Beasley replied.
Fingers crossed that these two come together!