Fan pays $1.5 million to go into space with Leonardo DiCaprio

A bidder in a charity auction has paid $1.5 million (£993,000) to go into space with Leonardo DiCaprio.

The auction, which was set up by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, offered the prize which will be aboard a flight on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, the entrepreneur's 'space tourism' venture.

“We're going to get someone to bid on a seat next to him,” said Weinstein prior to the auction, which was raising money for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS charity.

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It's not yet known who stumped up the money for the journey.

In the auction booklet, the prize was listed as 'a once-in-a-lifetime trip to space with a mystery guest', the guest seemingly being the Hollywood A-lister.

During the auction, the controversial producer added that some would like to see he himself on the voyage into orbit, 'but only on a one-way ticket'.

The auction was part of a fundraising dinner at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc as part of the Cannes Film Festival.

Ticket prices for a seat on the Virgin Galactic flights cost around $200,000 (£129,000).