Christopher Lee cut from LOTR ROTK Theatrical Release

Lurch_Kimded
writes, Just in case any of you are not aware, there is a report
that Peter Jackson has cut Christopher Lee (aka Saruman) from
the theatrical release of Return of the King. This has annoyed a
few people and a petition has been started (which you can sign
here
if you are interested). Personally I’m a bit miffed because from
what I have been told (for I am sinner I have not read the
hallowed tome’s that is Lord of the Rings) it is kind of pivotal
section and needed, or is it?
The unconfirmed allusion at
the end of the article about Lee’s scenes showing up on the
extended four disk DVD have been confirmed by Peter Jackson.
It seems Lee’s scenes were all placed at the start of the movie,
and it felt more like a wrap-up of The Two Towers
than a kickoff of Return of the King. (Remember, the
movies don’t have time for the Scouring.)

16 replies on “Christopher Lee cut from LOTR ROTK Theatrical Release”

  1. Baaah
    We NEEEEDDD the gandalf teaching Saruman a lesson… this is going to suck mightily without that :{

    • Re: Baaah

      See, now we’re all going to have to wait for the Special Edition of the third movie, which they’re only going to make available for sale once the sales of the first DVD die down, to see this stuff.

      • Re: Baaah

        See, now we’re all going to have to wait for the Special Edition of
        the third movie, which they’re only going to make available for sale
        once the sales of the first DVD die down, to see this stuff.

        The special extended edition of ROTK should be out in November
        2004. The first two films had the two and four disk sets announced
        simlutaneously; the retailers didn’t tell consumers a better version was
        coming, but we sure
        did
        .

    • Re: Baaah

      We NEEEEDDD the gandalf teaching Saruman a lesson… this is going to suck mightily without that :{

      Agreed! That scene rocked! Gandalf kicks out Saruman from the World Wizarding Federation and breaks his staff. That establishes that Gandalf is wayyy more powerful now than before he died. We also have Wormtongue tossing out the palantir, to be picked up by our heroes. Pippin looks into and gets scared shit when he sees Sauron in there. Aragorn later uses it to call Sauron and give him the finger. So many cool plot elements…

      • Hold on a sec…
        Well, they just said Christopher Lee is cut, they did not mention anything about cutting Wormtounge from tossing the Palantir.

        • Re: Hold on a sec…

          Well, they just said Christopher Lee is cut, they did not mention anything about cutting Wormtounge from tossing the Palantir.

          That would make no sense without Saruman, since it occurs in Saruman’s tower with Saruman’s palantir (which we’ve already seen) during Saruman’s final taunting at the hands of Gandalf!

          • Re: Hold on a sec…
            Sure it would. From a heartless, souless producer kind of way. Who needs Saruman, just show Wormtongue throwing the Palantir out of the window, then have Christopher Lee scream off screen. The hilarity of it all!

  2. I won’t be buying the 2 DVD set of ROTK
    I’ll go see the movie in the theater, but for home viewing I’ll save my money for the 4 DVD set.

    Although I didn’t expect to see the scouring of the Shire, Gandalf being elevated to white is meaningless if it’s not to cast down Saruman and take control of his order (Gandalf the Grey could do some neat party tricks too.) Yah, Saruman the White smeared Gandalf the Grey all over the inside walls of Orthanc like a toad under a car tire, but it was to delay Gandalf’s return to the Shire, and Saruman was a Bad Wizard, so lets forget about him and move along, nothing to see here. I guess Gandalf exorcizing Théoden is as much resolution as we need for Saruman and Gríma.

    BTW, has anyone heard whether or not Christopher Tolkein as Radagast the Brown will be making an appearance? I know it was discussed. I am *hopeful* this ended up on the cutting room floor if it wasn’t crossed out of the script. I hope we don’t get Radagast instead of Saruman, that would really frost my cookies. :/

    -Joe G.

    • Re: I won’t be buying the 2 DVD set of ROTK
      “BTW, has anyone heard whether or not Christopher Tolkein as Radagast the Brown will be making an appearance? I know it was discussed. I am *hopeful* this ended up on the cutting room floor if it wasn’t crossed out of the script. I hope we don’t get Radagast instead of Saruman, that would really frost my cookies.”

      I would truly not worry about that happening. CHristopher tolkien is disgusted that the movies are even being made.

  3. Bah! who needs him?
    Sorry, but I think that the Saruman’s humiliation is sort of an afterthought in terms of the overall story. As long as it’s established that he didn’t escape the entish smackdown in the last movie, there’s no need to spend several minutes of precious [ahem] screentime on him. Just IMHO. Now the Special Edition is a different matter…

  4. ducks in a row
    We understand there is no time for the shire. But that doesnt’ mean there never will be a shire movie. I mean come on, we’ve been luckey enough to have 3 years of LOTR next year theres gonna be a very large ent sized hole in our christmas season and likely the one after that. Lets see theres the shire, and the hobbet, and how many tails in the samilirion (sp?) I think we could have Tolken until my 80th birthday without too many problems. Maybe i’m just greedy…. infact I know I am… but who cares!?

    • Re: ducks in a row

      In some ways, I’m more disappointed about the absence of the Scouring of the Shire, even though I can see why it wouldn’t be included. That portion is important because it reminds us that war is not over just because the shooting stops– something few works of fantasy really address.

    • Re: ducks in a row
      Agreed. The Hobbit, after Ring movies, and several dealing with the Silmarillion would be excellent. True fans want these movies to be made and they should be.

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