With the immense popularity of THE LORD OF THE RINGS series and recently, THE HOBBIT, it is only fitting that now is the time for a biopic of its creator, J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien is definitely worthy of a film based on his life since he lead a very interesting one. The project tentatively titled TOLKIEN will follow, “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 Born in South Africa in 1892 and raised in England, Tolkien went on to serve in the Great War, where many of his closest friends were killed in combat. That experience affected him deeply, and he would come to channel both his friends and their fates into his writing and world-creation.”
David Gleeson, a self-proclaimed Tolkien superfan and scholar of Middle Earth is working on a script for the biopic which will be produced by Peter Chernin’s Chernin Entertainment (THE HEAT, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) and is set up at Fox Searchlight. Gleeson is best known for writing and directing 2003s COWBOYS & ANGELS.
Though the LORD OF THE RINGS films have been churning out since 2001, no Tolkien flicks have come out. Several years ago, there was an attempt to make one titled MIRKWOOD but that one ran into an indefinite snag with the Tolkien estate. There’s no word on whether the estate has shown an interest in participating.