Living legend
Christopher Lee has been cut from the movie
Sweeney Todd. The word is director
Tim Burton decided to remove all of the ghost characters in the film, which included Lee's "Gentlemen Ghost" character. These characters had been added by Burton himself as they do not appear in any previous Sweeney Todd productions and their addition was said to be controversial among Todd fanatics. Usually, the more someone diverts from the source material the more the movie suffers so this would seem to be a sensible decision, although it's a real shame we won't get to see Lee in the movie. This is what the actor told the Telegraph in London, referring to the contraversary around the Ghost characters...
"It would have been worse if I had done the scenes, but I never got to film them. It's a shame as the lyrics were wonderful, but these things happen."
Anthony Stewart Head from
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and veteran T.V. actor
Peter Bowles we presume have also been cut as they were originally set to play Ghosts too. Sweeney Todd will open late December/Early January and I can't wait! source -
coming soon,
playbill