The wizard and the wheel

I heard somewhere that it's gonna be the new death scene for saruman instead of a slit throath cause thats too gorey....i see the logic in this. slitting throath = bad impalation on a ruddy big spike through the chest = good

Like I said, I hope that's how Wormtongue kills Saruman.

I'm going to go insane with that wheel!

As am I.

...and me too

I think that Mr. Martinez is probably very close. It ties up the second movie and Saruman is not necessary for the third (cinematically speaking). If they burned the Shire set (as I vaguely remember reading), that seems to indicate a Scouring. If the wizard on the wheel is Saruman, then I imagine the wheel is in Isengard, not Sandyman's Mill.

I guess we have to remember, "it's only a movie." Or three.

The other night I read "The Council of Elrond" to my wife, and it took more than two hours! At that rate, it would take 23 or 24 movies to cover everything in the story, as Tolkien set it down. To tell the tale in three movies will require some artistic leeway. This will not be so terribly unsatisfying when viewed on the big screen!

Again - the key thing to remember:

The man in the picture is wearing WHITE.

Did Saruman switch back to white or something, even though technically he became Saruman of Many Colors in the events before his first appearance in Two Towers? (Though he'll be shown in White when Gandalf describes the confrontation between the two of them and their past history)

And in the second half of RotK, I always somehow imagined him as cloaked in brown... don't know why...

Again: they can put the many colours digitally!

Look at the picture of Saruman on TheOneRing.Net (or any other site that carries a lot of the movie pictures -- I don't). I mean the shot of Christopher Lee from the Internet preview. Then look at the actor on the wheel again. You can see that it's supposed to be Saruman (though it's not Lee, who is in Australia).

And there is no reason to be concerned about the many colors. As has been pointed out, they can be added with CGI (although we have no guarantees he will even call himself "Saruman the many-colored" in the movies, unless John Forde said something about this).

Lee's never in the net preview. I assume you meen the spy photo.

actually, i was told that the guy at that spy-photo-with-staff-and-without-hat wasn't Lee: he was his double (this comes from the spy that got that photo for TOR.N).

Anyway, he's Saruman and the same as in the new photo-with-wheel-and-without-hat

Actually, I'm rather glad of these spoilers! This way, I will know something of the differences from the story as Tolkien told it. Thus, I will be braced against the jarring (and not so jarring) changes and will be able to enjoy the movies for what they will be: a cinematic adaptation of a great epic. Liberties of this sort will be taken, must be taken, and must be endured. Nevertheless, it seems that the screenplay (not to mention the screenVIEWS) will be faithful "in spirit."

Cheer up! It could be far worse!

I agree. Eventhough the stuff about Arwen really drives me close to the edge, it could be far worse.

I think we should trust Peter Jackson on this.

Hey Noldo!, That's me who's supposed to say that! Yeah, let's trust Peter on this.

And for the many colours, let's close the subject once for all. Did you EVER see a fabric that reflects EVERY colours the way it's described in LOTR? NO, it's impossible, that fabric was MAGIC. So the many colours WILL be added by CGI. That's sure. SURE.

But let's trust Peter on this, he knows what he's doing

IIRC, Gandalf says he could only tell the fabric was many-coloured when he looked at it up close. From a distance it looked white.

very good point. Argh this picture is gonna be the death of me!

I thought that Saruman's cloak looked white only because it was a foggy morning (or so I pictured it). The cloak reflects all the colors surrounding it and then merges them down to one canvas. In the darkest night it is black and dark and in the rays of sun it shimmers like gold and silver.

Well, it seems as if there are two pertinent quotes (at least, maybe there's others). The first one is from "The Council of Elrond" chapter where Gandalf describes his capture by Saruman: "I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered." That's the reference I was thinking of in my above post.

Then there's this from "The Voice of Saruman": "...an old man swathed in a great cloak, the colour of which was not easy to tell, for it changed if they moved their eyes or if he stirred." This one doesn't seem to imply Saruman's cloak looked whte at first glance, as the other quote does. In any case, I'm sure there'll be some CGI involved.

All colors added gives you White. Maybe that's why Gandalf first tought it was white.

But wouldn't it be easier if the cloak would be originally coloured gright green or blue?