Posted on 11/13/2003 8:56:00 AM PST by Starbug
Miffed star boycotts Rings premiere
14 November 2003
By TOM CARDY
Veteran British actor Christopher Lee is boycotting The Return of the King world premiere in Wellington after learning all his scenes as the evil wizard Saruman have been cut.
Lee, 81, said he had expected to appear in seven minutes' worth of climactic scenes in the final Lord of the Rings film. "Of course I'm very shocked, that's all I can say," he told Britain's ITV television channel. Asked if he would attend the premiere, Lee said: "No, what's the point of going?"
Most of the film's main stars, including Sir Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin and Liv Tyler, are to attend. Lee said he could not say more because he had signed a confidentiality agreement. "I still don't really know why."
Lee was a friend of author JRR Tolkien and reads the book at least once a year. A Lord of the Rings spokeswoman in Wellington said Lee had been invited to the premiere, but was not expected to attend because of his age.
Details of the cuts were revealed on the Internet last week in e-mail correspondence between director Peter Jackson and American Harry Knowles, who runs a film news website. Jackson said he had planned to open The Return of the King with a scene involving Lee and the character Wormtongue, played by American Brad Dourif.
"The trouble is, when we viewed various Return of the King cuts over the last few weeks, it feels like the first scenes are wrapping last year's movie . . . We felt it got Return of the King off to an uncertain beginning."
Nuts.
Leading Question: Mr. Lee, were you disappointed at he cutting of your scene.
Lee: Of course I'm disappointed!
I also like the part about the 81 year old man not going to the premiere is a "boycott".
Good reason to read the book, might be a very good provocation.
I am however disappointed in his not attending the opening: you would think that his love of LotR would be enough to get him there.
Don't know how this is going to work. How are they going to explain the presence of the palantir? Did he tack that on to the TTT EE, and he's assuming we'll have seen that before we see RoTK?
The title is misleading. He's not boycotting, he just ain't going.
Lee is right: why go if you're not in the film?
"Thank God for DVD, since it does mean that a version of the movie, which has different pacing requirements, can be released later. The Saruman sequence will definately be a highlight of the Extended ROTK DVD."
ITV and the BBC have retracted comments which were attributed wrongly to Mr. Lee and which he never made. The original source of these comments was the Press Association and we would like to make very clear that neither ITV nor the BBC can be faulted. A lot of websites and newspapers published the same statement, some word for word, while others exaggerated it even more. There cannot be any doubts on what he really said, since it was during a live TV show.
The original fabrication said:"He now plans to boycott the film's première in December this year". ITV has changed it to:"Lee has however denied reports that he would be boycotting the film's premiere in December, as previously carried in this story". While the BBC simply just took that comment out completely.
From the Official Chris Lee Website.
Theatrical releases are for "the masses?" It's wonder they don't call them extended pay-per-view trailers! This is one movie fan who wishes the wholly fabricated Dream Sequence were left to the Two Towers Extended DVD and the Saruman Sequence left in the Theatrical Release!
I agree. For the crowd unfamiliar with the books and not yet desirous of the extended DVD, the Ents will come across in retrospect as an extremely convenient movie tool for checking Saruman. Lucky for Middle-Earth Merry and Pippin were able to convince them to attack Isengard!
Peter may cut out any scenes involving the Isengard/Orthanc Palantir. Or he may do some fancing editing to make it look he's using the one in "Minas Anor" ;-) at the appropriate time instead.
Still, I think it is a very dissappointing way to treat Saruman, who's been built up as a villain with tremendous presence in two films and projected into the third.
Not always. Often the producers have the final word. Sometimes even the stars have a say on what gets left in or out.
Neither are director's infallible. I'm sure I would rather have seen Jackson's Saruman Sequence in The Two Towers. The Dream Sequence could have been saved for the Extended DVD.
I don't doubt it. Fortunately, we don't have much longer to wait before we see how things are resolved-- for the Theatrical Release!
One way is to leave him on the cutting room floor. How do ya like them apples? ;-)
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