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Disney could’ve avoided the whole ugly Snow White controversy if they’d just tuned into Peter Jackson’s blunt take on CGI dwarves back in the Hobbit days. Seriously. Jackson didn’t mince words when he slammed the idea of computer-generated dwarves, calling out how weird it would look.

Peter Jackson in The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee | Credit: Canal Cat Films

Fast forward, and Disney tried to pull the same stunt with their live-action Snow White remake, thinking CGI could somehow replace real actors for the iconic dwarves.

Peter Jackson’s CGI wisdom: Why Disney’s Snow White dwarves missed the mark A still from the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | Credits: Walt Disney Productions

Disney could’ve dodged the whole Snow White dwarf controversy if they’d just listened to Peter Jackson’s blunt take on CGI dwarves back during The Hobbit era.

Jackson,...

The time is the night of June 7, 2015. The setting is Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. These were the circumstances for the final moments of one of cinema's all-time greatest actors, Sir Christopher Lee. In 2015, Lee was 93 years old and wrapping up an epic career that included military service in World War II and singing in heavy metal bands into his 90s. Of course, Lee was most famous for his acting career — a journey that started in the 1940s and included memorable performances as the quietly terrifying Dracula, Bond assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the short-lived Star Wars villain Count Dooku, and, of course, Saruman the White in "The Lord of the Rings" film franchise.

It was his performance as the White Wizard that was top of mind on the night of his death. According to a new documentary that aired in the UK in late October called "The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee" (via Yahoo!

by Chad Kennerk

Image courtesy of Sky Arts

Christopher Lee may have become famous for his iconic performance as a young, suave, debonair Dracula, but his work went far beyond the Hammer Horror roles he is most often associated with. With a commanding voice, penetrating eyes and his imposing height, he often found himself cast as the villain, but like Vincent Price and his other horror contemporaries, the villains Lee played were often the most interesting and layered performance in the film.

Following a long and expansive career that began with uncredited roles in the 1940s, he worked later in life with the biggest names in the industry, appearing in major franchises like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. He made five films with director Tim Burton and worked with Martin Scorsese on Hugo. Beyond his work on the screen, Lee led a fascinating life. Before his acting...

The actor who played Saruman in the Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, Christopher Lee, spent his last evening watching The Lord of the Rings. Yahoo Movies UK reported via a new documentary from Sky on the actors life. The documentary, titled The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, aired on Sky Arts, a British TV channel, on October 24.

In the documentary, Lees son-in-law, Juan Aneiros, who is married to Lees only daughter, Christina, was featured in the documentary, and shared that while Lee was in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, one of the films from the original Lord of the Rings trilogy was being shown on television.

Lee suggested they watch because he wanted to tell the nurses who were caring for him how the film was made. That night he said, The Lord of the Rings is on TV so well watch (it) with the nurses.

When you think of classic horror movies, the first icon of the screen to come to mind is probably Christopher Lee. Hes up there with Vincent Price and Peter Cushing as one of the most recognizable faces of the genre, having played just about everyone except the Wolfman. Either that, or you recognize him from The Lord of the Rings, where he played the diabolical Saruman in his later years. Regardless of which, hes an icon of cinema history, and director Jon Spira has set out to reveal the truth behind the legend of the actor, veteran, and occasional metal singer with his new documentary, The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee.

The world-renowned Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, Italy’s foremost event dedicated to science fiction, has unveiled its 2024 poster designed by acclaimed cartoonist Michele Rech, better known as Zerocalcare. Scheduled to run from October 29th to November 3rd, this year’s festival promises to delve into the evolving intersection of technology and humanity, inspired by the rapid advancements in Generative Artificial Intelligence.

The new poster by Zerocalcare poignantly captures the tension between the utopian dreams of past generations and the potentially dystopian future ushered in by AI. As Zerocalcare explains, “The poster tells the story of the distance between how I imagined science fiction as a kid and how my expectations have evolved: we used to think that in the future machines would do the alienating and exhausting jobs, leaving humans free to dedicate themselves to the arts. Today, quite the opposite, the evolution of artificial intelligence shows us a possible...

"Great things were expected of him, and here he was playing monsters." BritFlicks has revealed the official trailer for a cinema documentary called The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, examining the life & legacy of this iconic actor. The doc film is premiering at FrightFest London in August this summer. "Prepare to be captivated by the extraordinary life of a legend of horror cinema in The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee. This innovative doc made by Jon Spira brings the iconic Christopher Lee back to life. Through a blend of fresh interviews, rare archive material, and both traditional & cutting-edge animation, the film explores Lee's multifaceted career." Best known as Dracula and for his roles in James Bond, Star Wars & The Lord of the Rings, this film delves deeper into his aristocratic Italian roots, wartime bravery, post-war Nazi-hunting, and even his heavy metal career. Featuring insights from Peter Serafinowicz, Harriet Walter,...

Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024, the UK’s No.1 horror & fantasy film festival, will, for the first time, present its five-day extravaganza at The Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, taking over all seven screens, including the two Odeon Luxe West End screens.

Running from Thursday August 22nd – Monday 26th August, Pigeon Shrine FrightFest will showcase sixty-nine features from across the world, including twenty-five main screen premieres and forty-five Discovery Screen titles, embracing the famed ‘First Blood’ strand, the latest genre documentaries, and some exciting restorations and retrospectives. Plus, there’s the regular short-film showcase, panels, and some surprise 25th edition extras. This year there are twenty-eight world premieres, with eleven countries represented, spanning four continents.

Co-director Alan Jones comments:

FrightFest, the Dark Heart of Cinema, has been beating loud and proud now for an amazing 25 years. An incredible quarter of a century that has seen major challenges and transformations to the global...

UK horror and fantasy film festival FrightFest (August 22-26) has selected 69 features for its 25th anniversary edition, including opening title Broken Bird and closing film The Substance.

Playing its world premiere, Broken Bird is the feature directorial debut of UK actress Joanne Mitchell. Based on Tracey Sheals’ short story and Mitchell’s short film Sybil, the film stars Rebecca Calder as a mortician whose dark desires are becoming insatiable and out of control.

The festival will close with the English premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance starring Demi Moore as a fading celebrity who uses a cell-replicating substance that creates a younger,...

There are no words in the dictionary that can perfectly describe late Christopher Lee’s career in the film industry. With over 250 films to his name, the actor was a force to reckon with. Even though it has almost been a decade since he passed away, Christopher Lee’s legacy still lives on, and his fans will finally get to learn more about him in an upcoming documentary on his life.

Christopher Lee in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Titled The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, the documentary is directed by Jon Spira, who has access to the actor’s scrapbooks and interviews from the British Institute’s library. However, this is no ordinary documentary, just as Christopher Lee was no ordinary man.

A Documentary Gives Insight into Christopher Lee’s Life

A still from the trailer of The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee (2024) | Credit: Canal Cat Films...