15 Things That Almost Completely Changed The Hobbit Trilogy

8. Christopher Lee Wanted To Voice Smaug

Thanks to his advancing age, Christopher Lee initially balked at the idea of having to travel all the way to New Zealand to film, which was presumably an issue when Peter Jackson decided to include the White Council and the soon-to-be evil wizard in his padded out Hobbit sequences. Lee even had a solution to Jackson's desire to keep him in the film: just abandon Saruman entirely and have him voice Smaug (before Benedict Cumberbatch was pretty perfectly cast), which would have worked nicely given his vocal talents. That would have allowed him to stay in the UK and film, rather than having to fly across the globe for a fairly minor role. Despite not really satisfactorily showing Saruman's temptation by Sauron, Jackson clearly thought Lee important enough to change his filming schedule, shooting his scenes at Pinewood rather than shipping him out. He wasn't the only cast member to almost play an entirely different character: Ryan Gage who played Alfrid (the most annoying character in Middle Earth) was initially supposed to play Drogo Baggins, father of Frodo. He impressed enough to be promoted to a more substantial (and far more irritating) role.