JRR Tolkien’s works have sparked the imaginations of millions of people around the world. They shaped the genre of modern fantasy and inspired a generation of authors, filmmakers, and artists. His books have been adapted into musicals, animated films, graphic novels, and a live action film franchise. The films adapted from his novels have grossed nearly $4 billion world-wide, and that number continues to grow as fans eager for a glimpse of his world on the big screen flock to theaters as hobbits to the breakfast table.
The man behind the legends is just as interesting as his tales of elves, hobbits, and dwarves. Now a new project, Tolkien, seeks to tell his story in a Hollywood biopic. A huge fan of Tolkien with a wealth of knowledge on the professor Irish screenwriter, David Gleeson, is confirmed to be working a script. The film will be set up at Fox Searchlight and produced by Peter Chernin of Chernin Entertainment, Chernin Entertainment is known for bringing films such as The Heat and Rise of the Planet of the Apes to the big screen.
The new biopic ‘Tolkien’, looks to chronicle key events in the professor’s life (Photo courtesy AP)
The biopic aims to explore Tolkien’s life, chronicling important moments- including his early academic career at Pembroke College in Oxford and his experiences and losses in WWI. Gleeson seeks to show how these events influenced Tolkien’s creation of Middle-earth and the characters that populate it.
Tolkien will reportedly follow in the footsteps of other biopics such as the 2004 JM Barrie biopic Finding Neverland and Saving Mr. Banks, a biopic about PL Travers the author of Mary Poppins which debuted at the London Film Festival this year.
Tolkien of course is a big name in Hollywood in recent years with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and now The Hobbit trilogy, whose second installment will hit theaters December 13th.
It is unclear whether or not Tolkien has the support of the Tolkien estate: a recent attempt at a biopic, Mirkwood, detailing JRR Tolkien’s work as a codebreaker in WWII, halted production after the estate did not offer its support.
What about you, dear readers? Are you excited at the thought of seeing Tolkien and his life on the big screen? Who would you like to see in the cast? Would you prefer not to see Tolkien hit the cinemas? Be sure to comment with your thoughts and opinions!
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