Christopher LeeSound to be used in WB’s upcoming Middle-earth animated film The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of the Rohirrim. Lee played Saruman in the original novel Lord of the Rings trilogy, also appeared in The Hobbit movies, but the character will return in The Hobbit movies Rohirrim Warspaired with Lee’s voice, unexpected but cool!
In an interview with The One Ring, writer and producer Philippa Bones Explaining how they were able to use Lee’s own voice for Saruman’s part in the movie, no, it’s not an AI thing.
Bones explained that they decided to use an old recording from the archives after receiving a letter from Lee before his death and speaking with his late widow, Birgitte Kroenke.
She said: “[Kroecke agreed that] Sir Christopher would have wanted this, so we went into his record. I got to go back and listen to his voice, not just on the lines, but talking to us as we were recording the lines.
The recording discovered was from a later performance by Lee hobbit Franchise. Bones explained:
“Our foundation is hobbitthat is, “Ma’am, do you need help?” or whatever – a version of that. We thought, okay, we can look at this line and see how many times he’s done it.
“Can we use it? Can we find a new reading and change it a little bit? Our smart people did it. But this is Christopher Lee’s actual show, and it’s based on this quote.
While they were trying to make this happen, they did start looking for replacement voice actors just in case it didn’t work out. However, they eventually realized that no one could replace Christopher Lee.
The story is set 183 years before the events recorded in the original film trilogy. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of the Rohirrim It tells the story of “the fate of the Helmhammer family, the legendary king of Rohan.”
“Wolf was a wise but ruthless Dunland lord who avenged his father’s death, and his surprise attack forced Helm and his people to the ancient fortress of Hornkeep – a powerful fortress that would become – —make a daring final stand.
“Hera, daughter of Helm, finds herself in an increasingly desperate situation and must muster the courage to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”
The film comes from the award-winning filmmaker Kamiyama Kenji (Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Standalone complex TV series).
The dubbing lineup includes Brian Cox As Hammerhand of Helm, King of Rohan, Gaia Wise As the name of Arhat, Luke Pasqualino As Wolfe, Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s bridgeton), Ghafouri from Yazd (I’ve been here), Benjamin Wainwright (BBC world on fire), Lawrence Ubon Williams (gateway), Sean Dooley (Netflix’s wizard), Michael Wideman (“Fat and Fast: Hobbes and Shaw”), Jude Akuwudike (beasts without borders), Bilal Hasner (BBC spark), and Jenny Duwicki (ITV Benidorm).
The executive producer is Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Lester, caroline blackwood and Toby Emmerich.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of the Rohirrim It will be released theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 13, 2024, and will be released worldwide beginning on December 11, 2024.
