10 Actors That Totally Overprepared For A Role
3. Christopher Lee Took Terrible Film Roles To Play A Wizard - The Lord Of The Rings
Unlike some on this list, Sir Christopher Lee didn’t put himself through hell in order to bring a character to life. However, as a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings series, he did everything in his power to make sure he got to take part.
Lee, who admitted to reading the entire series annually, was the only member of the cast to actually meet Tolkien by pure chance, in a pub in England. It was an experience that left Lee star struck despite the fact he was already an established actor himself known as the quintessential Dracula.
When Lee caught wind of Peter Jackson’s intention to cast the trilogy, the story goes that the veteran actor decided to take on a pretty abysmal TV job starring in The New Adventures of Robin Hood. Why? Purely just to get something on his CV where he portrays a wizard, to show that it was in his skill-set. He then wrote a letter directly to Jackson and included a photo of himself in costume, pining for the role as one of Middle Earth’s most ancient characters.
It’s very amusing to imagine Sir Christopher Lee so excited for Lord of the Rings to take these measures, as if his prestige didn’t make him enough of a viable candidate alone.