A closer look
Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson cast actor Christopher Lee as the wizard Saruman, but quickly discovered that the veteran actor needed absolutely no direction on how to properly react to being stabbed in the back. During filming, Lee stopped Jackson from explaining the motivation and casually informed the director that he had served in British Intelligence during World War II, and he knew exactly what sound a man makes when he is lethally punctured from behind. Having an actor calmly explain the biological reality of secret assassinations based on his actual, real-life wartime experience is the ultimate cinematic flex. It must have been incredibly humbling for a nerdy New Zealand filmmaker to try to give acting notes, only to be politely reminded that the elderly wizard standing in front of him used to casually murder Nazis in the dark
