Hi all, just found out that christopher Lee (Saruman) and Brad Dourif (Wormtoungue) have been cut from the final film for unknown reasons. oO No official word yet from New Line or Peter Jackson as to changes to the film. Christopher Lee was on a Brittish morning talk show recently and said that he could not comment too much but did confirm that he and Brad were cut from the movie. It seemed that he was cut without being asked. :wtf: As a side note, it has been confirmed (through the fan sites) that the Orthanc prop has been taken from the LotR's movie exibit in England and a note in it's place stating that it has been taken for further filming. Christopher Lee said that he would not go to the premier. :tv: This sucks! A few months ago I also heard that Peter Jackson would not be making a special edition to RotK because he wanted to work on a new "project". Yeah, that new project I found out is another version of King Kong. It's not even going to be The Hobbit. ??? Is he starting to lose it or what?!? I personally hope he changes his mind about all this!
For the record, Jackson has explained the reasons for this on other sites. Basically there's about 7 minutes of footage with Wormtongue and Saruman at Saruman's tower, to wrap up the leftovers from Helm's Deep. However, the initial cut of the film being over 4 hours, stuff had to be cut. Part of the reason for this being cut is that they felt that it didn't start the film off on a good foot - it was wrapping up the 2nd film stuff, and it gave better flow with it removed, as we could focus right from the start on the upcoming conflict with Sauron's troops. The scene _will_ be in the extended dvd of RotK, which _will_ come out. After that there will be no more "special editions" made, at the most there will be a box set of the theatrical versions and the extended versions, with no new material - buying individually will only lose you a grouped box to carry it in.
Wow, thanks for that update! I could not find any comment by Jackson or New Line. Guess i'll have to keep looking. As far as the special edition goes, I was going off of an interview that he had done where he did say, "There will be no special edition of RotK." He went on to say that he wanted to focus on 'other projects' and he would not have time to make one. Perhaps I mistook that for the box set w/extra features. Anyhow, thanks again for the info Vaevictis!!! :thumbsup: [edit] Just got confirmation that there WILL be a special edition to be released this time next year, and the scene will be added to it!
Well, looks like we will have to wait for the 'special edition' to come out. It's just too bad for them (Lee and Dourif) that it won't be on the big screen. :cry: But we can't always get what we want. At least we can watch it on tv when it comes out. :tv:
My thoughts exactly, this to me is one of the most important parts of Lord of the Ring, certainly of Return of the King. Its the counter balance to small people can make big changes, in that evil done in small ways are as bad as the big evil to those that they happen to. Also knowing of Tolkiens history and serving in WW1, I saw it as his frustration of coming home from the Trenches to find that his beloved England (well specificaly where he lived near Birmingham) had become a horrendous industrial wasteland. When I heard that Saruman (Cushing) had been cut from the movie my initial thoughts where the scouring of the Shire, nevermind Orthanac and Helms Deep, thats done and finished. (yes some footage in the spec ed would be nice but hardly important). The only reason I can see to cut out the scouring of the Shire is to give the movie a "feelgood" :finger: holywood ending where everyone goes home and lives happily ever after.
Sign 'o the times I guess. A lot of movies have been cut down due to 'Time constraints'. But nevertheless they (the movie industry) should leave some things alone! :evil:
Actually, the scenes concerning the Scouring of the Shire have not been cut out, and nor will they appear in the special edition... for the simple reason that they were never filmed in the first place! A decision was taken early on in the design process to "kill" Saruman after the destruction of Isengard for the sake of the film's narrative. Whether you agree with the decision or not (and I for one think it was a sensible choice in terms of translating the book to the screen), the fact remains that the inclusion of the Scouring of the Shire never even made it into the first screenplay.
I cannot agree with that. I too saw the scouring of the shire as a very important part of the book. The mental picture of Saruman being driven from the Shire by angry Hobbits was very satisfying. Anyway,I'm sure that if Tolkien wanted Saruman killed he would have mentioned it!
