who plays saruman in lord of the rings?
Christopher Lee
neutral
 Peter Jackson also directed three films based on Tolkien 's 1937 novel The Hobbit , a prequel to the Lord of the Rings novels . The first film , The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey , was released on 12 December 2012 , the second film , The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug , was released on 13 December 2013 , and the third film , The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies , was released on 17 December 2014 . Several actors from The Lord of the Rings , including Ian McKellen , Andy Serkis , Hugo Weaving , Elijah Wood , Ian Holm ( as older Bilbo ) , Christopher Lee , Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom reprised their roles . 

entailment
 In Peter Jackson 's film trilogy ( 2001 – 2003 ) , Saruman is significantly more active in the first two films than in their equivalent books , and he appears in several scenes that are not depicted in Tolkien 's work . In the films , Saruman is depicted presenting himself outright as a servant of Sauron . Smith and Matthews suggest that Saruman 's role is built up as a substitute for Sauron — the story 's main antagonist — who never appears directly in the book . Jackson confirms this view in the commentary to the DVD . They also suggest that having secured veteran British horror actor Christopher Lee to play Saruman , it made sense to make greater use of his star status . Despite this increased role in the first two films , the scenes involving Saruman that were shot for use in the third film , The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King , were not used in the cinematic release , a decision which " shocked " Lee . Jackson reasoned that it would be anticlimactic to show Saruman 's fate in the second movie ( after the Battle of Helm 's Deep ) and too retrospective for it to be in the third one . The cut scenes end with Saruman falling to his death from the top of Orthanc after being stabbed by Wormtongue and include material from the chapter The Scouring of the Shire . They are included at the start of the Extended Edition DVD release of the film . 

entailment
 Saruman has appeared in film , audio and stage adaptations of The Lord of the Rings . BBC Radio produced the first adaptation in 1956 , which has not survived . Tolkien was apparently disappointed by it . 

contradiction
 In the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy directed by Peter Jackson , Faramir is played by David Wenham . The actor jokes that he got the role because he and Sean Bean , who played Boromir , both had large noses . Faramir and his brother 's appearances were slightly altered from the book : in the films , they have fair hair and are slightly bearded , whereas in the book they were dark @-@ haired and , following a statement in Unfinished Tales , lacked beards . 

contradiction
 Following the conclusion of the series in 2011 , Felton appeared in the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes , a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series . He had roles in minor films , appearing in the 2012 films The Apparition and From the Rough , and he starred as James Ashford in the critically acclaimed period drama film Belle ( 2013 ) , followed by roles in In Secret ( 2014 ) and Against the Sun ( 2014 ) . Felton 's 2016 films include the epic historical drama Risen , alongside Joseph Fiennes , and the period biopic A United Kingdom , alongside David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike . In 2016 , he will appear as a series regular in The Flash . 
