Saruman:
Given the passing of the late, great Christopher Lee, I will step aside
from my examinations of the Fellowship actors for a look at this stellar
performance. Like Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, and several of the other LOTR
actors not named Ian, Lee provides another
excellent example for comparison between a classically trained actor
and some of the younger, less experienced members of the cast.
With a long and rich tapestry of life
experiences including service in the British Special Forces during World
War II, Lee brings a fantastic wealth of expertise along with his
imitable love
of Tolkien to the film set. It’s fairly common knowledge Lee wanted
nothing more than to play Gandalf, but Jackson made the right call when
casting him as the vile traitor Saruman instead. Lee’s most defining
characteristic is his tremendous stage voice, which
translates wonderfully into the slick, seductive tones of the White
Wizard. One can scarcely imagine any other actor in the role as Lee
wends his slippery way from scene to scene, commanding the audience’s
rapt attention every step of the way.
Saruman doesn’t get a ton of
screen-time throughout the film trilogy, but his presence is critical as
Sauron always remains a potent but remote and disembodied force. This
partial vacuum is
filled in part by the Ringwraiths and their nightmarish menace, but
also by the more proximal Saruman, who (in the films, at least)
personally interferes with the Fellowship’s ability to proceed with the Quest. This gives a more immediate sense of danger to
the audience, who gets to see a major antagonist and understand his
purposes and motivations. As always, a character’s relationships with
other characters is also an important part of the action. I’ve mentioned
several times already how the way different characters’
interactions with Sauron (via a palantir) or his Ring is crucial for
the audience’s understanding of the Dark Lord’s character, and Saruman
is no exception. One of my favorite mini-moments is the way Lee chooses
to show himself after conversing with Sauron
through the palantir early in FOTR. In the very next clip, the mighty
White Wizard is seen huddled and seated, as though chilled to his soul
or horrified at what he was subjected to in the Dark Lord’s twisted
mind. This reaction, especially coming from Sauron’s
most powerful ally, is very telling and even that brief moment
communicates vital information to viewers about Sauron’s nature and his
ability to terrify and dominate even Saruman the White, who we just
recently saw overpower Gandalf in a sort of angelic duel.
The pecking order, then, is clearly established: Gandalf has shown
himself to be possessed of considerable divine power (as seen in his
scenes with Bilbo and the aforementioned duel), but Saruman is stronger
than Gandalf. Sauron, on the other hand, pulls Saruman’s
strings from a great distance and inspires immense fear in Saruman, all
of which has our audience thinking: how can the Free Peoples possibly
defeat something of such incredible power? And if this great Wizard, who
was supposed to be on our side, can be converted
and manipulated, on whom can we rely? Who is friend or foe? Gandalf
mentions later he considers Saruman to be a greater threat with each
passing hour “because he is driven now by fear of Sauron.” The
uncertainty this creates in the audience’s mind is important
for the furtherance of the drama, and Lee’s use of small opportunities
advances this.
Lee’s use of voice is always worthy of
mention, and his masterful display of raw talent throughout the Rings
trilogy is a tantalizing case study for it. Even without any obvious
moments featuring
Saruman using his strongest ability to dominate others’ minds, Lee’s
voice is enough to convey that power in spades. The riveting scene I
love to read and re-read from TTT
The Voice of Saruman is greatly reduced in the films, earning
little more than a tip of the hat in the Extended Edition. This is
probably wise for the same reasons visualizing prolonged mental bouts
with the Ring don’t work on-screen, but we still get
delightful tastes through Lee’s vocal art. He uses range, volume,
diction, and stresses flawlessly to augment his physicality and makeup,
creating a character of great power and a deep mind, but with a sneering
condescension which belies his ambitions.
Another key triumph of Lee in his
portrayal is his knowledge, through decades of acting in roles of
strength, authority, or power (which he probably received often, since
they fit so nicely
with his vocal abilities) is that those with true power have no need to
exert much force. The mere threat of their doing so is all that’s
needed to drive the actions of others in the manner he wishes. This is a
personality trait which is an excellent fit for
the character of Saruman, and Lee uses it to the fullest. Whether he is
ordering his Uruk-hai about, trying to persuade Gandalf toward
treachery, or simply going about the business of inspecting his hordes,
Lee’s Saruman exudes a hidden menace which his servants,
his opponents, and the audience all keenly feel. As I’ve noted
elsewhere, “less is more,” and this axiom is rarely more true than in
situations where someone wields immense power. Lee’s controlled actions
convey extreme confidence, so long as the character
is in control of his circumstances. It’s when things slip that we see
the character become less suave, such as in the parley before Orthanc
following Saruman’s defeat. Lee knows his character is in very real
danger of being toppled and imprisoned, and his
character reacts with more attempts at direct exercise of power (up to
and including an outright magical attack on Gandalf, who he hates most)
than we’ve ever seen from him, even while at the height of his
influence. This juxtaposition is another method of
showing the audience the back-and-forth over who has the control at any
given moment, which brings lovely moments of drama into the films.
Films that, generally speaking, often were required to move too quickly
to allow the drama in any single scene to develop
far just in order to cover the vast amounts of time necessary to tell
the story. Lee is always aware of how his character is perceived by the
audience and lends his majestic personality to a role that could have
been written with him in mind.
In summation, it is remarkable how well
the character of Saruman is understood by the audience considering how
little time Lee gets in front of the camera, especially when you mark
that most
of that time is spent in very short scenes where he issues orders or
plots his wars. Despite these limitations, it’s Lee’s use of the
non-verbals as well as the verbals which work pure magic for the
audience.
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