A change is coming. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. After a few years of dormancy, Hollywood is renewing its interest in The Lord of the Rings. Amazon is prepping a tremendously expensive show set in Middle-earth, and because these kinds of things come in waves, Fox Searchlight and Chernin Entertainment are dusting off the idea for a biopic about Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien and setting it for a May release date, per The Hollywood Reporter.
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The movie, simply called Tolkien, explores the novelist’s early life “as he finds friendship and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts.” The author himself will be played by Nicholas Hoult, who you may remember as Beast from the newer X-Men movies or Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road. Meet your new J.R.R. Tolkien, mild-mannered linguistics professor:
Lily Collins will play Edith Bratt, Tolkien’s wife. The two met when Tolkien was 16 and had an interesting courtship: Tolkien’s guardian considered her a bad influence and forbade Tolkien from communicating with her until he turned 21, a command Tolkien obeyed. When Tolkien finally proposed, Bratt was already engaged to someone else, but broke it off to be with Tolkien. The two were together for the rest of their lives, having four children. Their courtship was the inspiration for the tale of Beren and Lúthien, about a human man and elf-maiden who fall in love. The names of Beren and Lúthien are even inscribed on the couple’s tombstone.
Put that together with Tolkien serving in World War I, and there’s probably enough material here for a decent biopic.
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h/t The A.V. Club