I hope it's not true. tghis was one of my favorite scenes from the book and I don't see how it would hurt the flow of the movie at all seven minutes is not that long a time to resolve what happens to the villian of two three hour films! They could even do it in less, as an intro scene, such as they have had in both films before the title comes up (Galadriel's back history and Frodo's flashback in TTT). Those were both a few minutes long, and I think if they opened the movie with Gandalf and Saruaman on the steps already in conversation ...they could end this intro with the death of Sauraman and/or the throwing of the planitir and show a cloesup of the plainitir on the steps with the title "The Return of the King" over it. It would be similar in my mind to the "teasers" they used to have in the James Bond movies ... a well respected cinematic device which would not interfere with the "flow" of the movie at all. it would start the movie with a dramatic moment, rather than another redundant shot of Sam and Frodo trudging along towards Mordor and it would explain to everyone in five minutes or so what really happened at Isengard. And it would put the planitir, which is so important to this episode right up front and focus attention on it. I just don't buy that the flow of this movie would be hurt by wrapping up Sauraman ... especially when the second movie started with a flashback of a scene from the middle of the first, and was filled with unneeded flashbacks to Aragorn and Arwen in the middle of the movie. Please excuse my spelling, I've had five beers tonight, but I think that excluding what was probably one of the MOST filmable scenes in the books is a big mistake and it makes me sad.
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