Lee launches attack on young film stars
Movie legend Christopher Lee has criticised today’s generation of younger stars for being “over-hyped”.
Lee, 82, who has more than 200 films to his name, described some actors’ performances as “holes in the air”.
The actor, known for playing villains such as wizard Saruman in Lord of the Rings and Dracula, told Total Film magazine: “Johnny Depp, as far as I’m concerned, is number one.
“Of his generation, there’s no one who can touch him.
“Some performers today, it’s like looking at holes in the air.”
The British actor, who made his name in the Hammer films, said: “You get these young, over-hyped stars with very little experience, pitched into big-budget movies in major roles and they can’t begin to handle them.
“It’s extremely dangerous because it means they’re not going to last long.”
Lee, who worked with Oscar nominee Depp on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, said he still did not know why his scenes had been cut from the third Lord of the Rings film.
He told Total Film: “When it came out, millions of others were confused too. The reaction of the public was quite extraordinary.
“My point was not that, as an actor, I’d had my scenes taken out.
“It was the story. You can’t have a man looking frantic on a balcony when everything is being destroyed and then never see him again.
“The audience would demand, as they did, to know what happened to him.
“I just didn’t understand it. I was given plenty of reasons why I was cut out, none of which made sense.”
The Star Wars actor added: “At the time I read it, I wanted to play Gandalf. But they thought I was too old.
“So I played wizard Saruman, which is in many ways immensely important because Saruman is the one and only total adversary of the Fellowship.
“Everything that happens he’s responsible for. And that’s why it was so extraordinary that they didn’t have me in the third film.”
Lee, who was a cousin through marriage of Bond creator Ian Fleming, backed Pierce Brosnan, who is said to have been axed from the next 007 movie, as the best of the James Bond actors.
“I don’t think anyone has ever succeeded in putting Ian Fleming’s James Bond up on the screen,” he said. “The closest in my opinion is Pierce Brosnan.”
Lee was voted 16th in a recent poll of the greatest movie stars of all time.
Total Film goes on sale on Thursday March 24.
