Let’s move to Bray Studios, they said. That way if Sir Christopher Lee decides to lodge a protest from the afterlife, he’ll show up in Victorian evening wear instead of wizard’s robes, they said.

Incidentally, I get really tired of Lee’s fans going all CHOSEN BY TOLKIEN HIMSELF about Lee’s involvement in the LOTR movies. According to Lee, he sent Tolkien a fan letter mentioning that he was an actor who would like to play Gandalf someday. Tolkien wrote back “giving him permission” to play Gandalf. This sounds consistent with Tolkien’s somewhat stiff and unenthusiastic tone in published letters dealing with LOTR adaptation attempts.

Tolkien was not a big movie goer. There is a story about him chatting up Ava Gardner at a party without having the faintest idea who she was. It’s unlikely that he recognized Lee’s name or had seen enough of his work to have an opinion about said work.

Sir Christopher made a good Saruman. He would have made a better Saruman if the filmmakers had leaned into the Saruman traits he could identify with: the gifted man who’s confident in his abilities but feels like he’s not getting a fair shake from the people around him. He would also have been an excellent Gandalf. But enough with CHOSEN BY TOLKIEN HIMSELF.