As Peter Jackson continues his march to what everyone thought was a sure-to-never-be-made Hobbit movie, he’s been slowly re-collecting all the actors that appeared in the Lord Of The Rings. Now, he’s got Saruman, as Christopher Lee has announced that he’ll be in the movie…if he’s not too busy suffering from being so dang old. According to his official website:
Sir. Christopher Lee had been in talks to reprise his role as the wizard Saruman and it now looks certain, providing that he is in good health, that he will be appearing in the movie.
Lee was born in 1922, so he’ll be turning 89 this year. Now, that may not seem old when you’re talking about immortal Tolkien characters, but it’s pretty ancient in the real world. In fact, to put it in perspective, here are a few things that Christopher Lee is older than:
- Time Magazine
- Interpol
- The Empire State Building
- The Valentine’s Day Massacre
- The Scopes Monkey Trial
- The first prototype television
- Talking movies
So, the guy is old. And frankly, we’ve got no problem with him dropping out of the movie if it’s a choice between that or dying, especially since Saruman isn’t actually in the book.
Christopher Lee deserves to live forever…if only for The Wicker Man.