saruman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Christopher Lee attended the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this week, and our friends from RushBlogg, Karsten and Eirik, were on hand to talk to him. Of all the attendees, Meinich was the only one who asked Lee about his involvement in The Hobbit. Lee's answer came as quite a surprise -- first, he's adamant that he won't be appearing in The Hobbit, because as we all know, Saruman isn't in the book. This comes as no surprise -- Lee is a Tolkien purist (thank goodness!) and he won't allow himself to be shoehorned in, even if Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro were interested in doing so.

But what about the much discussed second film, which would likely deal with the Council of Wizards? That's a location problem. Lee isn't interested in filming in New Zealand again because it is simply too far away, for too long of a time. You can hear the tiredness in his voice -- and perhaps a bit of regret too.

That doesn't mean Lee isn't interested in being in The Hobbit at all, however! He'll appear in the film as long as he can stay in London, and there's a character he's quite keen to play. Or rather, voice. Someone very large, with a penchant for gold...

Head on over to RushBlogg and watch their video of Lee. It's a fantastic clip, and listening to him talk about Saruman, Return of the King, the Council of Wizards, and much more. It's like story-time. I could listen to him talk about Middle Earth for hours.

[Thanks Karsten!]

Once Guillermo del Toro signed on for The Hobbit, all the rest of the buzz began. It sounded great when the filmmaker said he wanted to bring The Lord of the Rings cast back, and when word came that some of them had begun talks. But what about the folks who were in the Rings, but not The Hobbit? Like, say, Christopher Lee's Saruman?

Empire talked with the 86-year-old actor recently, and he said: "I'd be interested in seeing how that transition from good to evil occurred and, yes, of course I would return to the role if I was asked." Well, he said a little more than that. See, Lee is a pretty big fan of the books and says that he's read them many times. He discussed the intricacies of the wizards, and how "When it all started, Saruman was the noblest, the finest, the bravest, the most dependable and reliable of them all, he was number one. But somewhere, somehow..."

This all brings up an interesting point: Adding characters to other works can be questionable, especially prequels they aren't mentioned in, but what if the character has a back story/mystery that is perfect for the big screen? Is it okay for filmmakers to explore this territory, or should works be adapted only with the characters between the covers?