Here's the statement from Christopher Lee's own website:

"The news reported by Aintitcool.com, is true. Not all of it, but we are not here to discuss or pick o_n every point. The o_nly thing that concerns this web site, is that Saruman will not have a single scene in the theatrical version of The Return of the King. He might be in the Extended Edition DVD. I say "might" as you can no longer be sure of anything.

We have received hundreds of e-mails from fans, friends and members of the press. All are appalled at this situation and most think it is a huge mistake. However upsetting it may sound, the decision is irreversible and there is nothing that anyone can do about it. This is Peter Jackson's movie and his decision is the only one that counts, he is the one that has to live with it."



This makes no sense whatsoever. What if Darth Vader just vanished from Return of the Jedi? This is foolish on Jackson's part.

Saruman != Darth Vader

Saruman == Grand Moff Tarkin, maybe (no Dracula jokes, please)

In any case, sure it's a disappointment, but in all honesty I can see why he was cut. He has no role in ROTK (the book), and they have a LOT of ground to cover in the final film.

Just wait for ROTK:EE for your fix.

There's already a thread on this (with a spoiler warning):

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=328747


The "he wasn't in the book anyway" argument is neither here nor there: all sorts of material from the books has been moved around for the movies. Shelob isn't in the book of ROTK either, but she's in the movie.

And Jackson spent two movies building up Sauruman: making the big finish for this villain be the TTT shot of him standing in a doorway (looped backwards!) would be quite lame.

I'm sorry about that...

Go to your room!

I was more worried about being made a fool out of by LOTR/STAR WARS fans for comparing Saruman with Darth Vader. I'm not a huge fan of either series. I'm more of a disgruntled Christopher Lee fan, actually.

That is pretty lame if true, but as long as it's in the EE I wont' mind.

The theatrical releases of the LOTR movies are basically just a teaser to hold me off until the EE's are released anyway.

He has a big role at the end of the third book.

True but that part of the book was never filmed and won't even be in the EE.

Supposedly they filmed some other scene to deal with his demise.

I'd imagine so, Eric. Regardless of whether he has a big role or a small role, it is, to put it bluntly, moronic to leave this character out of the film when you spent the last two films building him up as a major villain.

It will be interesting to see how and where they end the story, as Saruman plays such a big part in it.

Will they end at Mount Doom?

alright so when is the premier of ROTK? cause this question is going to bug me until someone can verify just how Jackson so effortlessly edits Saruman's character out of the third movie, I know that the (sold out) DC premier is on the 4th of December (sniff, I couldn't get tickets). But the suspense is killing me here.

Eh so what if he's been cut, it's not like people WONT buy the entire trilogy anyway

well it is his

The issue at hand is who does the average joe see as the major villian. for some reason I get the feeling that they don't realize that Saruman isnt the big fish here. The extended edition adds a bit more to the whole final tree vs. Saruman battle a bit more and could be felt as some sort of closure. There is plenty ground to cover in ROTK so I don't mind having his stuff appear on the EE of ROTK only. I'll be buying it.

That's not the point...

finish your sentence I can't stand incomplete sentences.

3 and a half hours of movie and he couldn't fit one 2 minute scene with the demise of Saruman in it? Or how about at the end of TTT? Saruman has been established as a major villain in both FOTR and TTT, they can't just not mention what happened to him. I guess we'll see what actually happens...

Actually, I think...

Darth Vader = Ringwraith. Black-cloaked being, formerly a man, utterly corrupted by evil.

Except for the duel with Obi Wan in ANH, where he fills the role of the Balrog.

And in ROTJ, in the scene with Luke vs. the Emporer, he is very much . (Spoiler if you aren't familiar with how "Return of the King" ends.)

Obi Wan is pretty clearly Gandalf, with Luke being a mix of Frodo and Aragorn. (He starts out as Frodo, leaving his home for an adventure with the old wizard, but discovers his great destiny and picks up Aragorn's arc.)

The Emporer is very much the equivalent of Sauron, as he is unseen through both ANH and ESB (except for the "Palantir" scene) -- which is really the only time Darth Vader resembles Saruman.

Han could also be -somewhat- similar to Aragorn, in that the "Fellowship" meets up with him in a tavern, and he carries some moral ambiguity.

Mix in a liitle "Dune" and...

puff! Saruman mysteriousily vanishes...

While there is already a thread on this, I must reiterate that I think this is PJ's only really huge mistake. I fail to see where an additional seven minutes will make a difference if the movie is already over three hours. It's not like everyone who's followed it this far is going to jump ship.

After seeing the FOTR EE, I did enjoy the theatrical cut of TTT, but the EE really did show that significant material was cut. As a result, the theatrical cuts seem somewhat rushed to me. I hope that ROTK foregoes the TC DVD and goes straight to the EE, but I know that's wishful thinking.

I agree, people who haven't read the books are going to wonder what the hell happened to this character. They are NOT going to assume that the Ents finished him off at the end of TTT.

I don't know about that. People who haven't read the books probably won't remember too much since they have other things on their mind and going to see ROTK will just be an escape from life for a few hours.

So where is the pettition?

Just wait. Opening night there will be hundreds of average joes walking out saying : "whatever happened to that other wizard? The bad one?"