The late Christopher Lee's work in the Lord of the Rings films is arguably one of the best parts of the trilogy. Despite being 79 years old at the time, Lee's take on the great wizard Saruman in The Fellowship of the Ring is powerful and imposing- a trend that would continue on throughout both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
Simply put, it was an amazing casting choice...but Saruman wasn't Lee's first choice when it came to which character he wanted to play.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson reflected on his time spent working with Lee: everything from Jackson's childhood reverence of Lee's work in horror, to their chance meeting during the casting process for The Fellowship of the Ring, to the fact that Lee originally wanted to play Gandalf the Grey before signing on as Saruman.
That's right: one of the best villains in cinematic history almost played one of the industry's greatest heroes.
"...Fran and I realized in horror that he'd come to talk to us about playing Gandalf! A very awkward 30 minutes followed, with Fran and I trying our best to explain to a rather peeved Christopher Lee that we were already talking to Ian McKellen about Gandalf - but what an incredible Saruman he would be!
Chris wasn't hearing a bar of it, and eventually commanded us to turn on the video camera so he could audition for Gandalf. After shooting a few takes, he thanked us very graciously before disappearing back into the shadows."
Anyone who knows anything about Christopher Lee's career knows that he hated playing the villain. After starring in Dracula movies for the better part of a decade, Lee wanted nothing to do with playing the bad guy - and yet, directors would continue to typecast him for years.
"That was the bittersweet reality with Chris - while he regarded his cinematic history with a certain amount of disdain, everyone around him had the opposite opinion."
Granted, it's obvious now that Lee's Saruman is anything but a generic villain...but it's understandable why Lee would want to avoid signing on as the White Wizard at first.
While it's true that a turn as Gandalf could have been absolutely amazing, it's hard to imagine Saruman as anyone other than Christopher Lee.
You can read the full interview here.
