The beloved and talented Christopher Lee will no longer be gracing the screen of Sweeny Todd. We get the news of the slash from movieweb:
It’s a shame. Christopher Lee has been axed out of Tim Burton’s upcoming musical Sweeney Todd. According to Playbill, so have a number of other characters. Oh, well. At least Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are still in it.
It was DreamWorks that confirmed Lee’s “Gentleman Ghost” was removed from the film. The character had been raising some eyebrows, since the ghost does not appear anywhere in the stage version of the story. Lee explained, “It would have been worse if I had done the scenes, but I never got to film them. It’s a shame as the lyrics were wonderful, but these things happen.”
It sucks that this happened to Lee. I remember how bummed out he was when he had his scenes cut from Return Of The King. He is a fantastic actor and I would love to see him in more sword and sorcery roles. He looks majestic with long hair and a massive beard. When I grow into elderhood I hope I look as badass as he did in that film. When I turn 60 I plan on stop getting haircuts and rock the full blown wizard look.
International Friends: Who has the greatest on screen wizard look?
What about Richard Harris, did a pretty good job as Dumbledore in the Potter movies, didn’t he. I also agree that you don’t hire Christopher Lee, then cut him from the fucking movie! The guy has class, style and should have picked up Jackson’s glasses and shoved them up his (Jackson’s) ass!
I’m sorry, but when you hire Christopher fucking Lee, you DO NOT CUT HIM. I don’t care, that guy deserves better than to get cut out of movies, and I see why he was so pissed off at Peter Jackson for cutting him out of ROTK. Poor guy.
If the character isn’t actually in the play…then it’s good he was cut
The dude from Drangonslayer of course
Sir Ralph Richardson