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That Time The Beatles Almost Made a Lord of the Rings Film

 Heyo! Happy Monday! If you've followed this blog for a while, you may know of my love for The Beatles, specifically Paul McCartney. My brain is full of useless knowledge about these four Liverpudlians so I figured why not research a fun fact about them and write about it.

(L to R) George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr

You read that right, The Beatles did indeed want to make a Lord of the Rings film. The idea came from Denis O'Dell who produced the first two Beatles films, A Hard Day's Night and Help!. The band had a contract with the production company, United Artists that required them to make one more film. As were the previous films, this one would be a musical with brand-new songs. The Fab Four were on board with the film idea since they were fans of the original books written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Like me, I bet you're wondering how the films would be cast. I grew up with the 2000s Peter Jackson trilogy and the 1978 animated film as well, so I know the characters well. When I first learned about this potential film, I could not see the Liverpool lads as any of the characters. Apparently, the casting would have had Paul McCartney as Frodo Baggins, Ringo Starr as Samwise Gamgee, George Harrison as Gandalf, and John Lennon as Gollum. I do think that casting fits them well.

United Artists had been interested in making a Lord of the Rings film so it was almost perfect. Lennon had his eye on Stanely Kubrick to direct the film. However, despite Kubrick's interest in the source material, he had doubts about the ability to bring the story to live-action in 1968. So he never signed on to the project. Which made the band begin to lose interest in making it.

Author, J.R.R. Tolkien

What completely killed the project was Tolkien's rejection. He did not want to sign off the rights to The Beatles, as he was never very fond of them. He disagreed with the quartet's affinity for drugs, so of course he wouldn't trust them with his Magnus Opus. Who could blame him?

We never did get to see Lennon's unhinged Gollum or Starr's potential comedy relief Sam. Some believe that the film never being made is a blessing, but I would like to see what they had planned. It would not match the dark serious tone of the original subject material, but I strongly believe it would have been fun. Probably bad, but entertaining at the very least.

We did end up getting two more Beatles films. The animated Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour. Both were acid trips, but I love them both. United Artists did get to make their Lord of the Rings film with the 1978 animated The Lord of the Rings.

Peter Jackson

Fortunately, we do have Peter Jackson's films which I think are complete masterpieces. And it's come full circle with Jackson directing and producing the 2021 documentary, The Beatles: Get Back. Do you think The Beatles would have made a successful adaption of Lord of the Rings? Or do you think you would have enjoyed their interpretation of the story so many of us know so well? Let me know in the comments!

If you enjoyed learning about this weird time in history, please check out my other That Time...posts! And if you have any other weird moments in history that interest you, drop them in the comments. I'm always looking for new things to learn and write about. Have a great week!

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