I’m a bit shocked as well. There’s quite a bit left up in the air for Saruman, especially considering what was left out of the end of The Two Towers. I can’t imagine that they’d just ignore it.
Is this just a rapidly-spreading internet rumor, or is it true?
Someone posting on Slashdot suggested that the cut scenes will show up in the ROTK Extended Edition DVD, which wouldn’t surprise me at all, but still… can they really just leave off with Saruman and still finish the story properly? I have my doubts…
And seriously, how pissed off are the hardcore LOTR fans going to be about this? I predict effigies of Jackson going up in flames…
If the rumours are true, Jackson has been fighting the studios tooth and nail to leave that 7 minutes in, which depicts Saruman getting thrown off the Orthanc tower by Wormtongue, but since the movie already clocks in at 3.5 hours, I guess they’re leaving it up to the view to assume the Ents killed him or something. Honestly, the death of the second-biggest villain in the movie NEEDS his death shown on the big screen.
I’m not entirely sure about mod approval, since this is the text of a public e-mail from Peter Jacksonto Harry Knowles and not the whole article from Aint it Cool News.
If they went ahead and fabricated an entirely new scene where Saruman gets killed in some new, other way, I don’t see how it matters WHAT they show or don’t show. (It’s in the DVD!? How about a DVD where all the scenes that aren’t in the book are removed!)
How timely a Scouring of the Shire scene would have been! An illegitimate leader grabs power, divvying out the benefits only to his closest supporters, whose tough-guy posturings keep the proletariat obedient …
Yeah, but he’s right that it wouldn’t work on film. With the epic battle sequences and the destruction of the ring the audience would be a bit bemused to see the story continue.
Thanks for posting that e-mail, Silentgoldfish… I hadn’t seen that.
I can sort of see his point about pacing, but I still feel like it’s going to feel awfully… unresolved. Plus, we already know that Saruman’s palantir is definitely in. Did it just magically appear amongst the Fellowship’s things? No, Wormtongue threw it out at them, and Saruman was right pissed about it at the time.
Well, far be it from me to pre-judge the movie. For my money, Jackson’s done right by the books for the most part. We’ll see how this last turns out.
It’ll be interesting to see if my wife feels anything is missing, though. She hasn’t read the books; I wonder if she’ll notice Saruman’s sudden abscence.
Huh? What are you talking about? I know what the palantir is but why do you think they have Saruman’s in ROTK? There are several of those things you know.
Have you read the books? At the end of Two Towers, Saruman’s palantir comes into the possession of the Fellowship, specifically Gandalf, Merry, and Pippin.[/spoiler]
If the palantir shown in this photo, and this one as well, isn’t Saruman’s, then they’ve got more ‘splainin’ to do…
Of course, Gandalf didn’t even know about Saruman’s palantir in the book until it almost hit him on the head… so who knows what to expect anymore… sigh
TWDuke, you’re right about the spoiler. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll e-mail the mods to change the thread title, if they feel it should be changed.
Oh, don’t do that! I got a little snarky about the spoiler because the Saruman cut has me disgruntled. I’m going to miss the guy. But maybe this change should be spoiled so those who care can watch the film without wondering, “Where’s Saruman?”
LIke he said, there’s more than 1 of those laying around Middle Earth. We know of at least 3 of them that are used in LOTR. There’s no evidence from those pictures that the palantir Pippin has isn’t Denthor’s, which would certainly be a very easy way around cutting Saruman’s scenes.
Moo the Cow, what part of the plot is it spoiling? If someone not familiar with the books reads this title, what are they gleaning about the story?
I suppose so, but I somehow doubt that Gandalf is foolish enough to leave Saruman’s lying around… but still, you’re right. Other explanations are possible. Just not very satisfactory.
My point is, it’s supposed to be Saruman’s palantir.
Interesting. While I agree that starting the movie with the fall of Saruman may hurt the pacing of ROTK, I’m surprised that PJ & Company cannot find an alternate location for the scene outside the timeline (flashback, etc.), thereby creating additional dramatic tension. For instance, you could imagine starting with Gandalf/Pippen’s arrival in Gondor and flashing back to the events that served to bring them there. I bet, however, that the time constraints for this movie are more severe than the previous, especially given that major events of the second book now take place in ROTK.
The ROTK preview on TTT DVD (theatrical cut) briefly mentions that Sauron thinks Pip is the Ringbearer, implying that the Saruman’s palantir is involved. I’ve tried to stay away from spoilers, but I’m interested to see how they will establish Pip’s contact with Sauron in the absence of baubles falling from the sky…
I think I’m more upset that they’re leaving out the scouring of the Shire. That’s my favorite part of the book. It shows the growth and the heroism of the hobbits. They take care of business all on their own with no help from men, elves, wizards or dwarves and it’s funny. I love that chapter.
Easy…here is one possibility…a complete and total guess.
Gandalf arrives with Aragorn and the rest. Pippen, Merry and the Ents are already there and Pippen and Merry are running around the tower. Saruman is just gone (we assume the Ents took care of him or he ran off or something - this doesn’t seem like that much of a leap to me. Had they put in the scouring, he’d have had to run off, and by the end of the third movie, Joe Average isn’t going to remember they forgot to kill him off - or he will think they are saving his return for a sequel). Sometime before Gandalf arrives to make sure the palantir is safely stowed, Pippin (prone to this sort of thing anyway) has already found it and looked into it. No big deal.