Posted on 11/26/2021 1:12:08 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Beatles attempted to make a big-screen adaption of "Lord of The Rings" in 1968, but the band was denied rights to the fantasy books by J.R.R. Tolkien, according to filmmaker Peter Jackson.
Jackson — who is best known for his sprawling trilogy based on Tolkien's "Lord of The Rings" series — is currently on the press run for his latest work "The Beatles: Get Back," a docuseries crafted from footage of the band recording their last album, "Let It Be," when he told the BBC that he had discovered the fab four had been keen on adapting Tolkien.
"I've been scraping together little pieces of information. I've been interrogating Paul about it. Ringo doesn't remember much," Jackson said.
Peter Jackson Jonathan Leibson Getty Filmmaker Peter Jackson. Jonathan Leibson/Getty The filmmaker continued to say that the band were sent copies of the "Lord of The Rings" books by their producer, Denis O'Dell, when they visited India in the late 60s.
"I expect because there are three, he sent one book to each of the Beatles. I don't think Ringo got one, but John, Paul, and George each got one 'Lord of The Rings' book to read in India. And they got excited about it," Jackson said.
However, Jackson said Tolkien, the author of the fantasy novels, was not enthusiastic about handing over big-screen rights to The Beatles.
"Ultimately, they couldn't get the rights from Tolkien, because he didn't like the idea of a pop group doing his story. So it got nixed by him. They tried to do it. There's no doubt about it. For a moment in time, they were seriously contemplating doing that at the beginning of 1968."
lord of the rings New Line Cinema The BBC reports that if the film had made its way into production, the cast would have been composed of Paul McCartney as Frodo, John Lennon as Gollum, George Harrison as Gandalf, and Ringo Starr as Sam. And the band's choice of director was Stanley Kubrick who at the time was best known for his work on "Lolita," "Spartacus," and "2001: A Space Odyssey."
As mentioned above, a "Lord of The Rings" big-screen adaptation was finally produced in the early '00s by Peter Jackson.
The filmmaker famously shot all three movies in his "Lord of The Rings" trilogy simultaneously and entirely in his native New Zealand from 11 October 1999 until 22 December 2000. The trilogy went on to become one of the most successful film series of all time taking home almost $3 billion at the worldwide box office. And in 2014, Jackson concluded the spin-off "Hobbit" film series.
Good!
Glad it didn’t happen
Tolkien’s masterpiece was brilliantly produced by Jackson!
I imagine Pipe Weed would have had a central role.
The Beatles Tried to Make a ‘Lord of The Rings’ Movie But J.R.R. Tolkien Turned Them Down>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thereby proving that Tolkein regarded h9is work as more than fantasy. They combine the Nordic myths upon which Western civilzation is established.
We even have Trolls on Free Republic.
I loved their music, but not their movies. I think it would have been a disaster.
LotR couldn’t be done (properly) until CGI came along...
Ringo Star Voice: “Oh, my precious. Oh, my precious, mate.”
He probably didn’t want Hobbits traveling around Middle Earth in a yellow submarine.
Ringo doesn’t remember much,” Jackson said.
I doubt that Ringo remembers much of anything.
A friend sent me his new movie on the Beatles and I watched about 4 minutes of it before I turned it off.
It starts out showing early Beatle clips and he showed one I’ve seen before where John Lennon looks into the camera and make this “spaz face” only Jackson cut it. Why? Because last year the left went on this campaign claiming Lennon was mocking disabled people with those faces he makes. So of course Jackson had to bend over, spread his cheeks to the left and cut it. So that was it for me, BYE.
Screw these guys, if you do not have the gonads to stand up to the left and their insane tyrannical BS, then to hell with you pal. Something so incredibly ridiculous as that, a guy who has been dead 41 years and you are censoring the dude over making a freakin’ face? I’m sick of that group anyway, most overplayed music in the history of mankind.
the cast would have been composed of Paul McCartney as Frodo, John Lennon as Gollum, George Harrison as Gandalf, and Ringo Starr as Sam.
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It’s like “Yellow Submarine” meets Middle Earth.
I could see Yoko as Gollum.
Common sense prevailed back in those days.
What caused the Beatles to break up was the confiscatory British tax rate.
They tried to escape it with business ventures, but they weren’t businessmen.
They were looking for a place to invest their money, and this was evidently one of the things they looked into.
Ringo actually is part hobbit...
Absolutely! Never get tired of watching it over and over and I love the hobbit as well.
jrr should have just given it to led zep.
JRR Tolkien was a devoted Christian. He and CS Lewis spent hours together at Oxford discussing Christianity. The trilogy reflects the high morality and world view of the Christian faith.
We were spared a lot of misery then.
It would have gone nowhere, man.
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