Christopher Lee Snubbed This Lord Of The Rings Premiere Over Peter Jackson Feud
"The Lord of the Ring" is loaded with A-list talent. If there's one face that stands out even in a crowded room in Middle-earth, though, it has to be the late Sir Christopher Lee's iteration of the Wizard Saruman. Lee's commanding presence was immediately felt on screen. He also was an avid follower of the source material, reading the books annually and even meeting Tolkien earlier in life.
This made the man a shoo-in for a role in Peter Jackson's adaptation, and he knocked the Saruman part out of the park during both "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" films. However, when it came time to release "The Return of the King," it got out that Lee's only scene — a verbal duel between himself and the heroes in the midst of the flooded and Ent-stomped Isengard — had been cut from the theatrical version of the movie.
According to The Guardian, Jackson explained that the final confrontation with the Wizard was supposed to start the film, but the director thought it got things off on the wrong note. Lee didn't agree and was shocked and upset when he was interviewed about it in the lead-up to the premiere. His reaction was made public on November 12th, 2003, a month before the film was due to hit theaters. In response to his being cut from the film, Lee opted not to attend the premiere at all.
The then-81-year-old British actor, who had signed a confidentiality agreement not to talk about the details of the film, clarified that "I'm only telling you this because it has [already] been revealed on the internet." Clearly appalled, the actor's dramatic reaction to being cut was to boycott the entire event. No Lee on screen? No Lee in person.
Lee eventually returned to Middle-earth, all the same
When Lee clarified how he felt about being axed from the final installment of Jackson's monumental trilogy (and the one that ultimately went on to win a ton of awards), he said, "Of course I am shocked, that's all I can say. If you want to know why [it has happened] you would have to ask the company New Line, or the director Peter Jackson and his associates, because I don't really know why."
After pointing fingers, the actor went on to showcase his disgust in response to the question of whether he would attend the premiere or not. The actor adamantly responded by, in the words of the Guardian, 'snapping,' "No, what's the point? What's the point of going? None at all."
Fortunately for Lee, the ordeal wasn't permanent. Shortly after the theatrical release, "The Return of the King" extended edition came out with over an hour of additional runtime. The first added scene on the docket? Saruman's final confrontation at Isengard.
Even better? Lee found another way into Middle-earth by narrating the audiobook version of Tolkien's epic First Age tragedy, "The Children of Húrin." He was also able to patch things up with Jackson enough to reprise his Saruman role on the set of the "Hobbit" trilogy a decade later. The last of those films was the last movie Lee starred in that came out before his death in 2015.