February 26, 2001
'Saruman'
Works Hard -- And Plays Plenty of Golf
Staff Reporter
Lee is not at liberty to say much about The Lord of the Rings, a three-film adaptation of the Tolkein trilogy; but since he has read the books every year since they were published (1954-55), playing the character of Saruman is the realisation of a long-held ambition. "The book is such a work of brilliance and majesty - Tolkein [sic] wrote an epic on the scale of The Iliad or The Odyssey. He even created a language, Elfish [sic], which you can read, write and speak. Despite having seen absolutely nothing of the film, I still think it's going to create cinema history. Peter Jackson's instincts are extraordinary, as is his stamina. My God, it would have to be, to film solidly for 15 months."