Christopher Lee discusses Gandalf, Saruman and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I tell ya'll, Sir Christopher Lee was well within the most talented and gifted artists - if not men at all - ever to have lived!

This dude knew black speech from top of the dome. RIP Christopher Lee

So delighted he got the role that seems to mean so much to him. God bless Christopher.

I would happily listen to old Christopher Lee interviews for hours on end, especially when he's delving into Tolkien material.
Such a wise man with a wonderful voice.

I had to assume that whenever Christopher Lee killed someone during the war it was such a pleasant experience for the guy getting killed.
I imagine Christopher Lee saying something like "well, laddie, I'm terribly sorry for stabbing you, but I'm on a mission and I'm a very dutiful man, however, don't worry, I'll carry this moment with me for the rest of my life so that I can teach others the weight of talking a life and the responsibility that implies.
Now, if you are the religious type, I do hope you go to whatever heaven you believe in. Rest in peace my fellow soldier"

Reminds me of Joe Biden

How can you not love this man , legend

Revelation 21:8,

The way Lee just throws down both of the two Blue Wizards’ actual names off the top of his head is just mind boggling.
The absolute Legend new his material.

I think he was saying he was happy to portray the noble era of Saruman.

What an amazing man Christopher was.

this is like watching saroman in modern times, trimmed shaved, now over 10,000 years old, talking about his life, and sometimes truggling to remember things, as it was several thousand years ago! XD

Christopher Lee would have made a brilliant Gandalf. Too bad he wasn't given the chance for the 1978 Ralph Baski movie or the radio series in 1981.

Christopher Lee was the only actor in those damn movies who actually READ Tolkien's, "Lord of the Rings".

i would have loved to have christopher lee teach me the entire lore of Lord of the Rings

When Sir Chrisopher Lee spoke everyone listened. That is just the respect fans have for this amazing man

one of my most favorite villains (Saruman and Dooku) of my childhood and youth. R.I.P. Legend.

one of the most amazing things the man brought to the acting process was humility. of course, he had this all-encompassing knowledge of the text, and the innate gravitas that we all know - but he remained so humble in a role that will stand the test of time hopefully for long after i am gone. rest in peace you fantastic bloke

A long and distinguished life, even outside of his acting career. A very big inspiration to me as a man and as a human being. You have earned your rest Sir.

There is hope for us all.

12 years later, I doubt anybody will read this comment, but the progression of Saruman's "evilness" is quite interesting.

How Saruman slowly got corrupted and eventually lost the battle of wills against Sauron via tha Palantír:
Jealousy of Gandalf: Saruman volunteered to go to Middle-Earth and was sort of the leader of the gang, but Gandalf was asked with a quote "not the third" implying Gandalf is at least equal to Saruman. Once they arrived in the havens (Middle-Earth), Cirdan the shipwright welcomed them normally, but when Gandalf arrived a bit later: Cirdan recognized that Gandalf was meant for greatness and even gave him his elven ring of power. When the Wise as group was established by Galadriel (Saruman, Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, Cirdan, Celeborn), Galadriel wanted Gandalf to lead the group instead of Saruman.
Saruman was proud, but proud and being humiliated are not opposites; everytime that the wise people recognized Gandalf over Saruman, it was a blow to him. So Saruman needed to be greater, in parts he even started to imitating Gandalf, first mockingly with the pipeweed. In the search of becoming greater, he studied Sauron's weapons. Envy got the best of him, he started to see Sauron not as an enemy but as an adversary he needed to be stronger than. He wanted to find the ring for himself (he is not evil yet). At some point after defeating Sauron in Dol Goldur, he faced the will of Sauron via the Palantír. He lost and became ensnared, yet he is not truely Sauron's servant.

So to summarize: jealousy, leads to lust to become better, leads to lust for power, leads to mindbattle lost against Sauron.

Saruman was “turned” by using the Palantir, he fell under the Spell of Sauron

I just wanna listen to this man talk. About anything really. It’s not just his voice but the way he speaks and explains. It’s seemingly a practiced cadence that just invites you to pay attention and relish each word.

tolkien did not directly explain how saruman became evil, but it is inferred that the palantir in his possession corrupted him, thus showing just how powerful and dangerous sauron really was compared too even the most powerful of the wizards.

What a distinguished gentleman. Such a marvelous voice and captivating on screen presence. Such an amazing life. Peace to him.

We could only ever guess what Tolkien would have thought of Jackson’s movies but I would like to think he would have approved of Christopher Lee as Saruman.

He does explain why he goes down that dark path. I forget were but I think its in the Silmarillion. When Galadriel first formed the council of Wizards she wanted Gandalf to lead it. However Gandalf didn't want the position. Gandalf loved being apart of the world and traveling and talking with people and helping people. People loved Gandalf and respected his wisdom and Saruman was jealous of this. As time went on his jealousy turned to paranoid and he feared Gandalf would try and take his place the leader of the council of wizards.

Now Wizard in middle earth take up a specialty they study. For Gandalf it was halflings and the various races in the world. Saruman specialty was rings of power. At first he wanted to find the one ring to keep it out of the wrong hands. However as time went along and as he become more and more paranoid of Gandalf he started seeking the one ring for him self. This is why he went bad.

If I remember correctly he became Saruman of many Colors.

Staring too long into the palantir

Legend

He can remember stuff 60 years ago but could not remember an obvious question asked 20 seconds ago.

The man's voice was a gift from Eru Illuvatar. What a commanding yet gentle presence.

With modern AI technology, I imagine someone, or some people, with a lot of time and a lot of talent could recreate the films with Christopher Lee as Gandalf.

I could never grow tired of hearing this man talk.

Don’t forget (most importantly) that this man was in the British Special Forces, and had to personally correct/ ‘direct’ the director of the first trilogy as to what the proper noise someone would make when being stabbed in the back is 😂

Oh. And he was also Metal Singer.

‘Fuckn’ legend***

Oldest and biggest fan of the Tolkien world

when he says "Radagast the brown" i almost feel like the next word should be "Fool" :D

The man couldn't remember the question but remembers the lore of this story like an encyclopaedia... had his priorities set right lol. RIP, what a legend

Sir Christopher Lee, among his many other attributes, was also the only cast member to have personally met Tolkien. He also was a cousin of Ian Fleming whom based the character of James Bond on Lee himself (due to Lee’s physical appearance and his role in the British Secret Service in WWII and beyond).

In the books is saruman of many colours. He was never, "saruman the balck." Look it up.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

You know that you've bossed life, when you make 2 metal albums at 80, an have an incredible hit at 70.

For everyone who doest know, search for 'Magic of the Wizards Dream'

Legend. Rest in peace😢

One of those cases where I'm glad he actually didn't answer the question, because that was way more interesting. Let's just say he probably wanted to be Radagast but he wasn't in the movies so he became Saruman.

I just don't have the attention span to read a book trilogy, but I could listen to Christopher Lee talk about the books all day.

Mystic..,.

The simple answer is yes. Christopher Lee actually asked Tolkien himself for permission to specifically play Gandalf and got his blessing.
But he was happy to play the part of Saruman and take part in bringing his his expertise and fandom to the films. It definitely added weight to the character and the trilogy.
No one could’ve brought Saruman to life as Christopher Lee has

I love him so much

I miss him much.

A fabulous man. He will be missed 😞

RIP