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Thread: Christopher Lee to return as Saruman


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[url=http://christopherleeweb.com/story/sir-christopher-returns-hobbit:1tdxbgeh]Via TORn[/url:1tdxbgeh]
Great! <img src='/images/smileys/smile.gif' border='0' alt='Smile Smilie' /> It'll be interesting to see how Saruman will be portrayed this time. Think I've mentioned this before, but I'd love to see some more "nice Saruman" scenes, I love the scene where he greets Gandalf in FotR <img src='/images/smileys/smile.gif' border='0' alt='Smile Smilie' />
Agreed this is good news. Does anyone know if he relented on his 'no New Zealand stance' or has PJ relented and agreed to shoot the WC stuff elsewhere?
Have you warmed to the White Council, Mr Tyrant?
No- I still think it will be an unholy mess- but it would have been even worse had they gone ahead with it with someone else as Saruman. And I know what a huge Tolkien fan Mr Lee is and have some small hope an actor of his reputation and calibre might be able to occasionally turn to PJ and say 'you need to change this its nonsense Tolkien would never have written that.'
Yay, Christopher Lee. :mrgreen: [b:1xbohvg8]GB[/b:1xbohvg8]
Just curious but is Lee confirmed or not? In the link Chris provides on the Frodo thread it says that; 'Orlando Bloom and Christopher Lee are currently in negotiations.' And that article is dated Jan 18th 2011.

It appears that filming of the great Mr Lee will be done in the UK as he is now unable to travel long distances.  Perhaps Mr Lee will film his role and then have his image digitally added in film.  I imagine his role in some cases will be quite physical as the White Council scenes will undoubtedly contain some tough action scenes knowing PJ...

As with the fight between Saruman and Gandalf in TFOTR film faces can effectively be added to body doubles in costume.

I wish Mr Lee good health and luck and love in his now fading years.  He is truely one of the greats of the last and this century!  Its astonishing that he was appearing at the same time in two of the biggest fantasy film serries ever made as two of the most dangerous and well played characters (Saruman and Dukoo) ((spelling))  This alone would be impressive enough he also played a fabulous series of villains including Dracula in his youth!

Sir Lee is the only suitable actor to play the part of Saruman, but as brego already said, the man's very old.

But I still know that he will do the most perfect acting.

By the way, since we're talking about Sir Lee here, let it be mentioned that he's a very good narrator and has worked with a power metal band, Rhapsody of Fire for a long while, shame that the band kind of broke up, but he managed to work with them throughout the most of their career. The most notable songs, where you can hear his magnificent voice, are: The Mystic Prophecy of The Demon Knight, Unholy Warcry (Epic Edition) and Magic of Wizard's Dream, among many others.

Enjoy.

Sir Lee is incredible and his background amazing. His father a lieutenant won honors in two wars, and his mother was a countessa, fabulously beautiful and painted by many great artists. Their family name on mama's side went back to first century a.d. and the family crest was allowed by the then pope to be carried into the holy land.

Christopher Lee was also one of few who, along with some friends actually went to the pub that our professor Tolkien frequented and one time he was there. He regaled one and all for quite a while and Lee much enjoyed listening. So he had a great sense of what Tolkien would have liked and how he thought on some things.

Oh goodness yes, Sir Lee, forgive me calling him a mister Smile Smilie I think he was also in the SAS at an early age, during WW2

Christopher Lee is also a cousin of Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond films; they were both in the wartime equivalent of the SAS; that is where Ian Fleming got the idea for James Bond.

Because Ian Fleming was his cousin, Christopher Lee always wanted to be in a Bond film; and he eventually got the chance as "Scaramanga" ....(was it ..."live & Let Die" ?)

How interesting, thanks for sharing this piece about Sir Christopher Alana and Leelee.  A very humble man indeed.

I was so happy for him when he got knighted! And I was also really happy when he got the Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA! He looked rather old at that ceremony, and it made me worry very much for his health, but I saw a little clip of him in one of the Hobbit Production videos and there he looks his usual sinister Saruman-self. I am glad he is back. 

So after seeing The Hobbit 1 I have to say that it was wonderful to see Saruman again in all his sarcastic, megolamaniac greatness. I thought that he was wonderful. Thank you Sir Christopher Lee. You are a true great!

I hope Mr. Lee will stay in a good health as long as possible. Such a good actor. And devoted Tolkien fan from what I read.

He has this amazing, charismatic voice, and a presence that lets you know he's a very important character in the story.

Even in his fading years, Christopher Lee is a fantastic actor.  Perhaps he really IS Saruman... he doesn't look a day older than he did in the Dracula Movies.

He doesn't look a day older because jackson appears to have used cgi on his face. He look's considerably younger than in the lord of the rings movies. It's a decision I dont understand if you are 1000s of years old the sixty year gap between the hobbt and lotr's should make that difference. Jackson seemed to get a bit carried away with cgi imo. It is great to have lee back but the white council scene was the weakest in the film and added very little for me.
Cliff, Sir Lee has aged considerably in 12 years and is actually quiet unwell. I saw an interview with him filmed last year on his birthday, he was looking and sounding very unwell. I think PJ had to digitally touch him up for the role to ensure continuity. He is a great Man and I believe that he hoped that he would live long enough to reprise his role. I for one am glad that he indeed returned to ME and for me he will always be Saruman.
During the commentaries on the LOTR dvd he said that he would love to go back to middle earth but not to New Zealand because it was too far. He played the role of Saurumon perfectly in the first trilogy. I thought he was out of character in the Hobbit. His entrance during the White council was good but film makers made Lee portrayed Saurumon poorly. Saurumon had a charamastic and hypnotic voice that can sway his listoners his way. Even Gandalf had a little fear in him when talking to Saurumon in Isengard after his defeat. Even a powererless Saurumon was still dangerous because of his tongue. The scene in the Hobbit made him tried so hard to convince the others that the Necromancer was a mere man.
Well that's probably because he did that in the books too. Whether he believed it or not. Saruman had his own agenda long before The Hobbit takes place. He put off driving out the Necromancer and them Sauron to stall for time while he had his own forces looking for The Ring.
I know he tried to convinced the council about the necromancer, its how he said it.
I didn't have a problem with what he said. He simply tried to make Gandalf and Radagast look like fools and tried to diswade them from taking the Necro seriously. I reckon we will be seeing more of Saruman in the next couple of films. After all Gandalf disappears for a fair amount of time after the meeting with Beorn. Hoping for another more lengthy White Council scene. Maybe even in Lorien. Would that be nice?

Most likely we will see the white council discussing about attacking dol guldur.

Yes and hopefully the defencive strike itself. I don't have a clear vision in my mind on how this would have happened. How many Elves with which Wizards etc. it will be interesting to see how PJ imagines it.

I like how Saruman always criticized Gandalf for his love of the Half-ling’s weed but when he finally tried it he liked it and began to secretly smoke it until he had to stop for fear of being caught by Gandalf and embarrassed(from the unfinished tales). Seemed like they touched on that in the Hobbit Movie during the council but I cannot remember if it was in the book or just an ad on.  

Nope, in the Hobbit movie it was about Radagast eating mushrooms. In LOTR Saruman talked about Gandalf and the halfings leaf

True re the mushrooms. But I loved it when Radagast smokes Gandalfs weed to calm him down. Hilarious!

I was thinking about it the other day and I realized that it's such a great thing that sir Christopher Lee agreed to do another three movies for The Hobbit, despite his health condition and his age of course. I have so much respect for this man. I truly believe he feel privileged to be a part of Middle Earth somehow - he's an avid fan of Tolkien's works. I've heard in some interview that he has a tradition of reading "Lord of the Rings" once a year. For me it would be amazing to see his views on the topics we're discussing.

So true Indis. Also he actually met the great Man as well! Can you imagine!!