Christopher Lee slams 'ageist and spineless' movie bosses

Washington, June 30 : Legendary actor Christopher Lee has attacked movie bosses for chopping his scenes from new film Stone Of Destiny - insisting that they are ageist and "spineless".

The Wicker Man star shot scenes for the forthcoming movie but was upset to discover that his role had been cut, after focus groups gave a negative response to seeing an elderly gentleman on screen.

And Lee, 86, has slammed the people in charge of the picture - insisting they should not cast off veteran actors.

"The American distributors looked at the film and decided they didn't want me in it. These people are guided by focus groups; their ideal film-goer is apparently 18 and has an aversion to old faces," Contactmusic quoted him, as saying.

"But what struck me as depressing was that the director, Charles Martin Sheen, and his team agreed to this request.

"This seemed to me spineless. You would think they would have more pride in their work," he added.

ANI