The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King : Christopher Lee schools Jackson

A columnist recently pointed out a great contribution of Lee's to the film. In the commentary during the death of Sauruman, Lee recalls that Jackson wanted him to give a big scream and fall off the top of Isengard. Lee said no. Wormtongue stabs Saruman in the back, so Lee proposed to give a small groan, as air is pushed out of his punctured lungs.

Jackson balked - not cinematic enough. Lee, a former member of the Special Operations Executive, who had done commando missions in Occupied Europe during the war, had this conversation:

Lee: Peter, have you ever heard the sound a man makes when he's stabbed in the back?

Jackson: Umm, no.

Lee: Well I have, and I know what to do.

And so, a film of Middle-Earth was enhanced by the memories of an old SOE agent of the sound a Nazi makes when you plunge the knife in.

That's pretty interesting. I think there's an implied condescension in the word "schools" which I don't think really applies here, though. Jackson, a film director, wanted something more "cinematic". That's perfectly reasonable and anyone who ignored the sounds of spaceships zooming through the presumably noiseless vacuum of space in 'Star Wars'can understand. The fact that Jackson took technical advice from someone with actual experience shows good judgment.

Always loved that story, though I too think using the word "schools" implies a disrespect not needed or intended by Lee. This wasn't some fanboy telling Abrams why his Star trek movie is clearly rubbish, but a guy who aside from being a huge fan of the source material could offer experience and knowledge frankly most people should be thankful not to have themselves.

"schooled" would be better fitted to the story of Chow Yun Fat being told on the set of The Replacement Killers that a person cannot fire two guns at once. :)

I do sometimes wonder how Lee felt about the Hobbit movies he was less involved with, though.

How recent is recent? i first heard the story in an Extended Edition interview, I think.

If that's the modern meaning of 'schools', ok; sort of an ironic teach-your-grandmother implication? In this case it was literally true tho, with no irony.

Tolkien might have appreciated Lee's point. He put enough of his own WWI experiences into LotR.

Right. There's an implied condescension in "schools" that isn't there even in the word "corrects (Jackson)". Apparently the director took the advice in the right spirit.

Jackson even reiterated that advice in his King Kong remake. I believe there's a scene where Driscoll is writing that a guy screams after being stabbed in the back into his script, but then Jimmy the cabin boy informs him that's not what happens, which is confirmed later when the sound guy is stabbed in the back.

I think 'schools' is correct. Having Saruman scream would be out of character for such a proud and stubborn wizard.
Jackson was wrong.
Sometimes actors know better, just like sometimes the worker bees know better than the big boss.

On a smiliar note: I for one will never understand why Jackson included the Wilhelm scream so often in the Lord of the Rings movies. So unoriginal.

Books are a uniquely portable magic. ~Stephen King

Because it's a natural human scream.

Why are you here if you haven't seen the movie yet?

God I miss Christopher Lee :(

AC/DC are Bronies