Tag: J.R.R. Tolkien

  • Regendering bedtime stories

    Regendering bedtime stories

    When Michelle Nijhuis reads The Hobbit aloud to her five-year-old daughter, she doesn’t quite recite Tolkien’s original prose. There’s one major change: Bilbo is a girl-hobbit. As she explains at Slate: You know what? The switch was easy. Bilbo, it turns out, makes a terrific heroine. She’s tough, resourceful, humble, funny, and uses her wits…

  • Not quite convinced

    Not quite convinced

    For decades, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was considered “unfilmable.” The Professor himself doubted that any director could successfully adapt the work. Chief among the challenges? Middle-Earth’s major races come in all shapes and sizes. Men and elves wouldn’t pose a problem, but how could an actor play a four-foot-tall hobbit? Or a…

  • First things first (part 2): why Peter Jackson should have made Lord of the Rings after The Hobbit

    Last time, I explained why, in an ideal world, Peter Jackson would have tackled The Hobbit first (before The Lord of the Rings). But what would this have meant for The Hobbit’s bigger, more serious older brother? Of course, much depends on how well The Hobbit performed at the box office. But let’s assume that…

  • Ian Holm as Bilbo through the years

    I was thrilled when I learned that Ian Holm would reprise his role as Bilbo for the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. Holm’s quirky, temperamental portrayal in Lord of the Rings was uncannily spot-on.

  • Christopher Tolkien on Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth movies.

    Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?