Future Film Friday: Tolkien

Following the success of last year's Hitchcock, Fox Searchlight have announced that they are working on a JRR Tolkien biopic which will capture his time during both university and as a soldier during WW1, as well as his well-publicized friendship with CS Lewis.

Whilst it may be surprising that no such film has already been produced, it is worth noting that the Tolkien estate are notoriously protective over usage of Tolkien's outputs, so I'll wait with bated breath to see if this comes to fruition.

I have my own personal family reasons to hope that this film gets the greenlight; my great-grandad was in his year at school and my great-aunt was matron of the hospital where he was treated for trench-foot so I'm looking forward to pointing out "nurse #4" and pretending she is an ancestor.  All jokes aside, Tolkien is probably the most innovative and imaginative authors of all time, so it will be fascinating to see the man behind Middle-earth.

Talking of Middle-earth, Google has made sure none of us forget the imminent release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2511261/Google-Middle-earth-Interactive-3D-map-J-R-R-Tolkiens-imagined-kingdom-launches-run-Hobbit-film-release.html

Some of The Hobbit's well-known locations are  now open for virtual tours, thanks to the new interactive map from Google.

Incorporating, audio passages, character biographies and Elvish muzak, users can explore Trollshaws, Dol Guldur and beautiful Rivendell.