Dome Karukoski, considered one of Finland’s most successful directors and was named by Variety in “10 Directors to Watch“, is due to direct the film which will be written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford. The film will be made by Chernin Entertainment for Fox Searchlight.
The film itself will cover Tolkien’s teenage years and early 20s, and his participation in the First World War. According to Deadline the film “explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a fellow group of outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the ‘fellowship’ apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth [sic] novels.”
Tolkien is separate from the already-announced biopic Middle Earth (sic) announced last year which will also deal with Tolkien’s experiences in the First World War, as well as his relationship with his wife Edith and his life as an Oxford professor.
Speaking about the announcement, Shaun Gunner, Chair of the Tolkien Society said:
The Tolkien Society exists to promote the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Anything that promotes Tolkien’s life – including this biopic – is welcomed by me as a way of bringing his extraordinary achievements to a wider audience. In recent years there has been more and more research into Tolkien’s life – including his experiences in the Great War – as we try to discover more about one of the world’s best-selling authors. But I hope that any treatment is based on historic evidence – my fear is that tenuous connections with Tolkien’s Middle-earth could be introduced for dramatic effect. – Shaun Gunner, Chair
