I think it's been known for a long time that Christipher Lee as a massive Tolkien fan always wanted to play Gandalf. He said many times himself that when he heard they were adapting the books, he was eager to play the part.
But he also accepted he was too old to play Gandalf, because of the physical demands of the role, Ian McKellen was 17 years younger than him when he was cast. He also publicly accepted that PJ never really had him in mind for Gandalf anyway, largely for those reasons.
I also think some of PJs comments have been taken slightly out of context in the EW article, (and further still in Geeky Tyrant sifting it for click-bait).
Of course Christopher Lee would vouch that Saruman was always a good man, he understood the character because he read the books yearly, and had met Tolkien himself, not just because he had always played bad guys. And He and Ian McKellen were also good friends as the oldest members of the cast, there was no rivalry between them asthey were both delighted to finally be working together.
lol 
