Possible Movie Biopic with slight Marquette Tie-in

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I saw this piece today with an extended Marquette tie-in.

Competing J.R.R. Tolkien Biopics In the Works

'Tolkien & Lewis' explores author's friendship with C.S. Lewis while 'Tolkien' traces the writer's path to Middle Earth


By Daniel Kreps

July 20, 2014 12:38 PM ET

We're nearing the end of The Hobbit trilogy as The Battle of the Five Armies is slated to arrive in December 2014. The film will culminate director Peter Jackson's 13-year-long, six-film voyage into J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, and judging by the billions of dollars both Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have generated worldwide at the box office, there is no end to the thirst among moviegoers for all things Tolkien. With that in mind, to help fill that Gollum void, two different movie studios are planning competing J.R.R. Tolkien biopics.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Attractive Films is currently working on Tolkien & Lewis that will focus on the friendship between the Lord of the Rings mastermind and The Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis. The two writers inspired each other both artistically and theologically, but religion and paranoia soon tear the two friends apart. The film is not exactly Legolas firing arrows into Orcs but it is still an interesting topic for a period drama. Con Air and The Expendables 2 director Simon West is currently tabbed to direct that biopic.

Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight is planning their own film simply titled Tolkien, based on a script by David Gleeson, that is a more straightforward look at the legendary linguist-turned-writer. However, neither biopic is a sure thing: The Tolkien estate has previously prevented other attempts to bring J.R.R.'s life to cinemas, like when they nixed a film called Mirkwood about Tolkien's experience as a codebreaker during World War II.

The film industry often makes it a habit of simultaneously planning competing biopics. Take for instance the two Jeff Buckley films that were greenlit at the same time: Greetings From Tim Buckley starring Penn Badgley and Mystery White Boy with Reeve Carney. Badgley's Buckley won the race to completion and went straight-to-video while Carney's Buckley is reportedly still in production. There was also the competing Truman Capote biopics Infamous and Capote, and the double up of 2012 Alfred Hitchcock movies Hitchcock and The Girl. Ironically, actor Toby Jones portrayed Capote/Hitchcock in the lesser of both biopics. If he's cast as Tolkien, bet on the other J.R.R. film succeeding.


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/competing-j-r-r-tolkien-biopics-in-the-works-20140720#ixzz388XypXYP
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[Coleman]

What's the deal with the Tolkein manuscripts anyway? How did MU get them? He had no connection to MU...

[BME to MD]

My understanding is that Marquette got them because no one else the family asked wanted them.  There was a long period of time where his work was under appreciated.

Edit
Actually looking at the library site they negotiated directly with Tolkien.
"Tolkien manuscripts reside at Marquette because of the vision of William B. Ready (1914-1981), director of libraries from 1956 to 1963. Ready was appointed with the understanding that he would aggressively collect material for the newly-constructed Memorial Library. He recognized The Lord of the Rings as a masterpiece soon after its publication, long before the work and its author gained enormous popularity. With administrative approval, Ready approached Tolkien in 1956 through Bertram Rota, a well-known rare book dealer in London. At the time, no other institution had expressed an interest in Tolkien's literary manuscripts. After a relatively brief period of negotiation, an agreement was reached whereby Marquette purchased the manuscripts for 1,500 pounds (or less than $5,000). The first shipment of material arrived in 1957; The Lord of the Rings manuscripts arrived the next year. Tolkien accepted offers to visit and speak at Marquette in both 1957 and 1959, but on each occasion he canceled the anticipated visit due to family concerns. Tolkien's personal and academic papers, as well as his other literary manuscripts (e.g. The Silmarillion and Leaf by Niggle), are at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University."

http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/tolkien.shtml

[Coleman]

My understanding is that Marquette got them because no one else the family asked wanted them.  There was a long period of time where his work was under appreciated.

Edit
Actually looking at the library site they negotiated directly with Tolkien.
"Tolkien manuscripts reside at Marquette because of the vision of William B. Ready (1914-1981), director of libraries from 1956 to 1963. Ready was appointed with the understanding that he would aggressively collect material for the newly-constructed Memorial Library. He recognized The Lord of the Rings as a masterpiece soon after its publication, long before the work and its author gained enormous popularity. With administrative approval, Ready approached Tolkien in 1956 through Bertram Rota, a well-known rare book dealer in London. At the time, no other institution had expressed an interest in Tolkien's literary manuscripts. After a relatively brief period of negotiation, an agreement was reached whereby Marquette purchased the manuscripts for 1,500 pounds (or less than $5,000). The first shipment of material arrived in 1957; The Lord of the Rings manuscripts arrived the next year. Tolkien accepted offers to visit and speak at Marquette in both 1957 and 1959, but on each occasion he canceled the anticipated visit due to family concerns. Tolkien's personal and academic papers, as well as his other literary manuscripts (e.g. The Silmarillion and Leaf by Niggle), are at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University."

http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/tolkien.shtml

wow, talk about lucky!

[77ncaachamps]

Marquette needed (needs) to cash in on this as Tolkien fans worldwide would want to visit the archives.

Seriously.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Marquette Warriors and the logo & mascot is one of the LOTR characters.

[MU82]

When I saw the headline, I was thinking, "Midnight Express II: Billy Hayes' Revenge!"

[tower912]

This year, the Marquette Hobbits would not be an inappropriate mascot.    Several years ago, they did have an exhibit at the Haggerty Museum of Tolkien's drawings and watercolors.   MU would do well to find a way to have a permanent exhibit.   

[keefe]

When I saw the headline, I was thinking, "Midnight Express II: Billy Hayes' Revenge!"

"Billy Hayes and Billy Jack: Vanquishing Hobbitts from Front and Rear"

[Tugg Speedman]

wow, talk about lucky!

This doesn't sound like luck ... It sounds like skill and foresight on Ready's part.

[JuniorCardigan]

The film is not exactly Legolas firing arrows into Orcs but it is still an interesting topic for a period drama. Con Air and The Expendables 2 director Simon West is currently tabbed to direct that biopic.

With Simon West directing this I would not be surprised if his first choice to play Tolkien is Jason Statham

[rocket surgeon]

my 7th grade(1971) reading teacher started off every day by reading a chapter of the hobbit to us-BRUTAL!! bilbo baggins?  seriously?  well, we all know where this went for jrr tolkien, but i relapsed and started cutting myself again