In a Christmas address by the incomparable Christopher Lee, the actor remarked on his completed works of 2011 (including a tongue-in-cheek clarification of his role in The Wicker Tree). More notably, Lee also touched on his role in Hugo and his working relationship with director Martin Scorsese, his own personal vitality (Lee will turn 90 in 2012) and his work in Dark Shadows with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Oh and you might have been wondering about his reprisal of the role of Saruman in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit movies. Not to worry as Lee goes into some detail about his involvement and it’s safe to say the actor’s work has been completed on both films. Hit the jump to check out the video.
Thanks to TheOneRing for posting Lee’s Christmas message. While it’s nice to hear holiday well wishes from someone like Lee, many of you will want to skip ahead to hear his movie related news. You can find a breakdown of times below, along with the video.
Lee, addressing his own mortality, mentioned that he now only takes small parts, such as his small role in The Wicker Tree, which he stressed was “not the sequel to The Wicker Man in any way.” He also commented on his small role in Dark Shadows:
“I don’t play long parts. They must be short parts, but they’ve got to be parts that mean something, that matter, where people will notice when I’m on the screen and people will remember the character after they’ve seen the film.”
One character that will definitely be remembered is Lee’s portrayal of Saruman, the White wizard. Lee comments that though Saruman’s character has returned in The Hobbit films, he is now:
“A good and noble man and the head of the Council of Wizards, as he had always been.”
Check out the video below to see what else Lee had to say.
- 2:20 Lee comments on The Wicker Tree
- 2:55 Lee comments on Hugo and working with Scorsese
- 6:30 Lee talks about both The Hobbit films
- 7:55 Lee mentions that Aragorn and the Rohirrim will not be present in The Hobbit
- 8:20 Lee talks about his 4 days of filming to fulfill his role in both films
- 8:50 Lee comments on Saruman
- 9:30 Lee talks about Dark Shadows
You can also click here to view the rest of his message in which Lee talks about various awards he’s been given over 2011, such as being named a Fellow of BAFTA.
