John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, better known as J.R.R., is an indisputable titan in English literature, with his series of Middle-Earth novels and stories, from “Lord of the Rings” to “The Hobbit” to “The Silmarillion” and more, having provided the basis upon which the fantasy genre was largely born and earning him the moniker of the Father of High Fantasy. His work, which has famously been adapted into six films thus far by Peter Jackson, is still so relevant that Amazon Studios reportedly paid $500 billion for the rights to the books for their upcoming series adaptation. Despite this, comparatively little is known about Tolkien among audiences, which seems to be the problem the upcoming biopic “Tolkien” aims to fix.
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Starring Nicholas Hoult as the young author, the film would examine how Tolkien’s experiences in his youth inspired the later series, from his childhood in the English countryside, which would inform The Shire, his time at Oxford, which inspired Isengard, and his harrowing experiences in World War I, which influenced his writing about the Fellowship and view of deforestation and battle. His groundbreaking work in linguistics, including his popularization of “Beowulf” and the development of Elvish, will also be a major factor, as evidenced by early pictures from the film.
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Helmed by Finnish director Dome Karukoski and written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford, “Tolkien” appears to be examining the author in much of the same way as “Finding Neverland,” “Goodbye Christopher Robin,” and “Saving Mr. Banks,” which each analyzed how iconic British authors utilized their life experiences to inform their works. Starring alongside Hoult is Lily Collins as Tolkien’s muse and future wife Edith Bratt, Tom Glynn-Carney as his friend Christopher Wiseman, Anthony Boyle as Geoffrey Bache Smith, Patrick Gibson as Robert Q. Gilson, and Derek Jacobi in an as-yet-unknown role.
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“Tolkien” will be released in theaters by Fox Searchlight Pictures on May 10. You can watch the trailer below.
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