‘Tolkien’ biopic sets May date

J.R.R. Tolkien. Image: AFP via AFP Relaxnews

A feature film based on the life of “Lord of the Rings” author J. R. R. Tolkien, starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins, is due to arrive by May 10.

Distributor Fox Searchlight has announced a May 10 United States release date for “Tolkien”, its biographical film about the high school years of South African-born British author J. R. R. Tolkien.

Tolkien’s school friendships, his romance with eventual wife Edith Bratt, and his World War I experiences all informed the Oxford University professor’s outlook and writing.

“The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” have more recently enjoyed a surge in popularity through the enormous critical and box office successes of six related films released between 2001 and 2014.

The “Tolkien” film stars Nicholas Hoult of the “X-Men” movies, a British actor who previously played United States writer J. D. Salinger in 2017 “Rebel in the Rye”.

Fellow Brit Lily Collins of “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” and “Okja” plays Edith, with the further involvement of Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), Mimi Keene (“Sex Education”), Derek Jacobi (“Gladiator”, “Murder on the Orient Express”), Pam Ferris (Queen Victoria, “Holmes & Watson”) and Colm Meaney (“Con Air”, “Star Trek: DS9”).

The film was written by Stephen Beresford (“Pride”) and David Gleeson, and directed by Finland’s Dome Karukoski, whose previous films “Heart of a Lion”, “Forbidden Fruit”, “Lapland Odyssey” and “Tom of Finland” have been well-received in his homeland and abroad, the latter two featuring a measure of English and otherwise non-Finnish language dialogue. JB

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