Warning! Some spoilers for what we saw at the presentation.
J.R.R. Tolkien is probably the best-known fantasy author of all-time. His sprawling stories include The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its prequel, The Hobbit, both of which have defined much of the fantasy genre. In a new film from Fox Searchlight, the writer’s origin story will be explored with Nicholas Hoult playing the iconic creator. During a panel at WonderCon, the cast and crew shared their thoughts about bringing the story to the screen.
Moderated by Cliff Broadway, the panel began with a rousing round of applause for J.R.R. Tolkien led by the man behind the fansite OneRing.net who was clearly ecstatic to be in the Anaheim Convention Center celebrating the writer who has had such a profound impact on his life. After playing the teaser trailer which was released earlier this year, the room was introduced to the director, Dome Karukoski, and cast members Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Tom Glynn-Carney, and Nicholas Hoult, who was fresh off the Dark Phoenix panel.
Karukoski then shared an anecdote about how the film came to be. “This started when I was 12 and I planned the script right then when I read The Lord of the Rings. It was the first time I entered that world of Middle-earth, and then that led to me reading The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion at a more adult age. In early 2017 I was sent the script and it actually featured his life. It was a dream of mine to make The Lord of Rings movies, but I missed that opportunity.”
After an explainer about how the film came to be, the arena was treated to a new clip from the film which showcased the four friends in childhood coming together on the cobbles of their schoolyard to create their now famous group, the Tea Club and Barrovian Society, also known as TCBS. The aim of the club was to “change the world through art,” and as the scene showcases, it’s clearly a pivotal moment for the author and his career, and the cast and creative team obviously see that friendship as the core of the story that they’re telling.
Hoult explained. “He was orphaned at such a young age, and finding these guys and that relationship, somewhere that he could flourish and feel safe artistically, and that gave him a place in the world even though he wasn’t necessarily from the same privileged background… That’s what’s so important, I think the takeaway is the impact that can you have, that these guys had on Tolkien’s life and inspiration.”
The next brief clip showcased this once again as the four elder boys laze around on a floor covered in pillows, drinking and reading each other poetry, but when it comes to Tolkien he shies away from sharing. Another key theme throughout the production was apparently drinking in pubs, as the cast shared a couple of anecdotes about bonding over drinking together as well as revealing that they went to Tolkien’s favorite watering hole.
Glynn-Carney told the crowd that Tolkien had first gripped him when he realized that his work offered up an “escape where you can dream and fly away with the story.” Karukoski told a heartfelt story about how he discovered Tolkien during a period where he was being bullied, and how the way that the author finished stories made a huge impact on him. Tolkien’s influence on the wider world of sci-fi and fantasy was something that the group all agreed on, with Hoult and Karukoski explaining that they thought without the writer the literary landscape as we know it wouldn’t exist, with Karukoski drawing an interesting line between Game Of Thrones and The Silmarillion, saying you can see many direct influences of the latter in the former.
The panel ended with a trailer which focused on Tolkien and his relationships, whether it was with his wife Edith or his friends who would become his “fellowship.” It also gave us a glimpse at some of the more fantastical elements of the film which seem like they’ll play at least a small part in the narrative. It’s unclear if these are going to be directly linked to The Lord of The Rings or The Hobbit, which Fox doesn’t have the rights to, but it seems like the film is going the route of a more general description by calling them “his stories” and using fantasy imagery which looks similar to LOTR–Dragons, flaming faces, and orc-like creatures on horses–during the war sequences rather than explicitly referencing the books.
Tolkien hits theaters on Friday, May 10. For more on WonderCon 2019, find out what we saw at the Dark Phoenix panel, and DC Universe sets a premiere date for its new live-action series, Swamp Thing.
Source: Read Full Article