Everybody knows JRR Tolkien wrote the Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, but not many people know much about him as a person. Now Fox Searchlight is planning to change that with a biopic, currently just titled Tolkien.
David Gleeson is set to write a script, which the LA Times says ‘will examine the author’s life, particularly his formative years at Pembroke College and as a soldier in World War I, and how it influenced him and his work, according to a person familiar with the project who was not authorized to talk about it publicly.’ He is said to have channelled many of the friends he lost during the war into his life and work.
Gleeson is apparently a Tolkien super-fan, so would seem a good choice for the project. Various other plans for Tolkien biopics have foundered, partly due to the fact the Tolkien estate is notoriously private. It’s not known whether they’re co-operating with this one, but it was apparently their issues that scuppered Mirkwood, a fantastical look at Tolkien’s work as a codebreaker in World War II (the author was a renowned linguist, so his skills came in very handy.
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