It is no secret that there have been a lot of films set in the Middle-Earth, the fantasy world of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. The three massively successful Lord of the Rings films spawned three less than successful Hobbit films, and all of these came after the animated version of The Hobbit. Now a new film will take a stab at the fantasy story, or rather, the real-life story that inspired it.
Like in the fantasy novels he wrote, J.R.R. Tolkien had a life filled with adventure and danger. As a student at King Edward’s School, he founded a secret society with his friends where they honed their writing skills. During one of his summer breaks, he hiked through the Swiss Alps. At the age of 16, he met and fell in love with Edith Mary Bratt, but his guardian forbade them from seeing each other. Before the two married, the First World War broke out, where Tolkien suffered the deaths of many of his friends from school.
In the upcoming biopic, Nicholas Hoult will take on the role of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien during this pivotal time in his life. Dome Karukoski directs the film with a script by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford. Fox Searchlight is the studio behind the film, which is why it won’t feature any music or clips from the Lord of the Rings films, which were produced by New Line Cinema.
Tolkien arrives in theaters on May 10th. For those craving even more stories inspired by the author’s novels, a new TV series set in Middle-Earth will be coming to Amazon. While Tolkien himself has long since passed, his tales will likely continue to live on for a very long time.
