Neil Garcia reports:

Earlier today I went to New York City's Barnes & Nobles for an in-store discussion on The Lord of the Rings. At the event, Peter Jackson* (director), Fran Walsh (screenwriter and co-producer) Howard Shore (composer) and Christopher Lee were at attendance responding to a handful of questions from over 200 fans listening and watching.

At the end of the 1 hour discussion, Mr. Lee left the meeting area with escorts, walking to the opposite side of the 4th floor. It was at this moment I posed the toughest question to Mr. Lee, asking him, "Mr. Lee, how was it fighting Yoda?"and he turned, smiled and responded, "Now, I can't tell you that."

*By the way, Peter Jackson mentioned that on March 22nd, all theaters still showing The Lord of the Rings movie will end with a 3 1/2 minute movie trailer of the next installment "The Two Towers."

Andy sends us the following from AICN:

Was just reading up on some reports from people that were actually there. They say Christopher Lee talked for a bit and had some good quotes. Here are a few:

"He said the "rivalry" between SW and LOTR was ridiculous because the films are not comparable at all and he should know since he is in both! Then he went on to tease us by making wicked comparisons anyway, all in LOTR?s favor. Peter chimed in saying the rivalry was all made up ? that he and GL [George Lucas] have great respect for each other?s work, that the productions were supportive of each other and shared information frequently."

"Once Lee was through, Jackson took up the topic so he could dismiss rumours of any rivalry between his production and Lucas'. In fact, the Lucasfilm effects team came down to visit them in New Zealand in very early stages of production (Lucas was still working on Episode I) and invited Jackson's fx team to come up to Skywalker ranch where they received some "very valuable suggestions."

The rest of the article is pretty interesting. You can read the rest here.