During his discussion of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mark Steyn has a side comment about Christopher Lee.
My favourite moment in the Lord of the Rings movies isn’t actually in any of the movies, but in one of those ‘the making of’ documentaries that appears on the DVD. It’s the scene where Saruman gets stabbed by Grima Wormtongue, and Lee explains to director Peter Jackson that the backstabbing sound isn’t quite right, because in his days with British Intelligence during the war he used to sneak up and stab a lot of Germans in the back and it was more of a small gasp they made. Jackson backs away cautiously.
Wow. I need to dig out my LOTR box set and find that segment.
One response to “Christopher Lee actually used to dispatch people!”
I remember being struck by that story when I heard it on the DVD. If I remember correctly, Lee left out most of the details of how he had heard the sound and no one wanted to question him further to find out.
The extra features on the Lord of the Rings DVDs ceratinly rank among my favorites of all. I love how the Making-of documentaries tell an adventure story that is almost as big as the one from the feature. The camaraderie of the cast that developed from the hard days of filming is remarkable, and the saga they went through to produce the film is incredible.
I also love the commentary on the disks, even though the cast commentary is pieced together from separate viewings. Actually, maybe I like it BECAUSE it is edited like that. The things people have to say are chosen because they are interesting, relevant, and/or funny. And Merry and Pip make me laugh almost every time they chime in.
Which suggests a question: What DVD’s have your favorite extra features and/or commentaries? One for the forum?