Tom Glynn-Carney has joined the cast of “Tolkien,” joining actors Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins in the upcoming biopic of the “Lord of the Rings” author.
Glynn-Carney’s most notable film role to date is in “Dunkirk.” On stage he appeared in Sam Mendes’ “The Ferryman” this year, the latest theater work by “Jerusalem” playwright Jez Butterworth.
The film focuses on J.R.R. Tolkien as he finds friendship, love, and artistic inspiration among a group of classmates prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. After the war, he went on to write “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
Glynn-Carney will play Christopher Wiseman, socially adept beyond his years and the class clown, who spots Tolkien’s potential and invites him into his social group. Hoult (“X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) plays the budding author, and Collins (“Okja,” “The Last Tycoon”) stars as Edith Bratt, his sweetheart and eventual wife, and the inspiration for several of his literary characters.
The script for “Tolkien” comes from David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford. Fox Searchlight and Chernin Entertainment are producing. Dome Karukoski, whose “Tom of Finland” is the official Finnish entry in the foreign-language Oscar race, will direct.
Glynn-Carney is repped by Oliver Slinger and Natalie Day at Independent Talent.
Last edited by Nomis on January 18th, 2019, 4:36 am, edited 2 times in total.
Tolkien explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the “Fellowship” apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-earth novels.
I don't know too much about his life (sadly), but I can imagine the story working even if it's set before the outbreak of the War. If the backdrop of that is the general atmosphere in Europe and the world that time, and the story ends with Tolkien going into service, it could still deliver an emotional punch, especially if his relationship with his future wife and his friends is explored in an exciting way, not in a phoned-in manner (á la your run-of-the-mill biopic). So it could work if they aren't aiming desperately for an Oscar-winning approach.
