We’re getting one last performance from Christopher Lee as Lord of the Ring’s Saruman, but before you ask, no, it’s not AI
Christopher Lee’s already historic career is fitting in one more Lord of the Rings film almost 10 years after his death.
The thing about Christopher Lee, is that he’s been in so much it’s hard to say what he’s most iconic for. Obviously the nerdier folks of you reading this will first and foremost think of him as Saruman in the original Lord of the Rings films, though I’ll always have a soft spot for him as Ansem the Wise in Kingdom Heart 2 (what a get). Before Lee died in 2015, he did manage to appear in a couple of the Hobbit films, reprising his role as Saruman one last time, and now as it turns out that won’t be the last time we’ll be hearing his voice as the character.
Later this year, the first Lord of the Rings anime movie, The War of Rohirrim, will be released in cinemas, taking place before both the original Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, and Saruman is set to appear in it. Philippa Boyens, a longtime collaborator of Peter Jackson’s and co-writer of The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, recently made an appearance at New York ComicCon, where she spoke with TheOneRing.net, who spoke about Lee’s appearance in the upcoming film. “We went into his [recordings], I got to go back and hear his voice, not just doing his lines, but talking to us as we were recording him,” Boyens said.
“We based [his performance on The War of Rohirrim] on a line from The Hobbit, which is ‘are you in need of assistance my lady?’, a version of that line. We can see how many takes he did of that, can we use it, can we find a new read on it, and change it up a little bit… but it is an authentic bit of Christopher Lee performance.”
It should be noted that the team did get the blessing from Gitte Lee, Christopher Lee’s wife, who’s now also passed on, to include old recordings of the beloved actor in the new movie, so at least there isn’t any digital tomb raiding going on here. Boyens also noted that they didn’t know if it would even be possible to find a line from The Hobbit that works for the anime, so they did look for a sound-a-like, but said, “now I know the internet’s going to say there’s a million people who could have done Chris Lee’s voice, but you know what? I don’t think so. I’m so glad we used his own voice.”
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is out December 13, later this year.