Lord of the Rings Question: MAJOR SPOILER

[cutman]

This contains a major spoiler for the people who haven't read The Lord of the Rings. Proceed at your own risk.


I assume that the crowd who hasn't read the Lord of the Rings will think that Gandalf is dead after he fights the Balrog. For the Two Towers, will Ian McKellan be listed as an actor, thus telling everyone that he is not dead, or will he make a suprise entrance? It would be cool for the people who haven't read LOTR to be suprised.

End Spoiler

Cutman

[Scorchlord]

How would any of us be able to answer that question?

[ak]

When reading The Two Towers i didn't neccessarily see it as a twist or a surprise, because we are distracted by the fact that it might be Sauromon. The part in particular that gave me a fright was when Gimli is sitting by the fire and looked up to see an old man in a white cloak looking over him, Legolas and Aragorn (The figure suddenly disappears into the dark night, leading the group to think it was Sauromon, which it more than likely was).

On a film visual level, and a film narrative level it could come as a surprise though, but i don't know how they would handle it. It would certainly be more tense, as the group on the odd occasion see a white figure in the distance following them. I've never really thought about what you've said, and it would be interesting to see, although it is certain that Ian McKellen will be on the poster titles, i think it's a law or something.

[cutman]

Sorry, Scorchlord...I didn't expect anyone to know the exact answer...I was just wondering what people thought about it. I'm certainly curious...

[Zed]

Well, don't put him in the first part credits could be a good move. I think there has been some surprising apparence......Sean Connery in Robin Hood (Costner's one), Matt Damon in Finding Forrester, and many so. They are credited at the end but no at the beginning.
This sounds good, but the problem is that I don't think an entire year will pass without the people find out that Gandalf is alive because is based on a very famous book.
Then I can't see in the future another "I am your father" (think Star Wars) with Gandalf's apperence in Two Towers.