With less than a month to go before the release of Tolkien, Fox Searchlight’s biopic starring Nicholas Hoult as the famed author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, the subject’s family has said it does “not endorse” the movie.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the J.R.R. Tolkien family and the Tolkien estate said they wished to “make clear that they did not approve of, authorize or participate in the making” of the film, which recounts the years of toil and imagination that gave the novelist the inspiration for his storytelling in the early 20th century.
“They do not endorse it or its content in any way,” the statement added.
A representative confirmed that the family hadn’t yet seen Tolkien, and the statement wasn’t regarding any particular scene or element of the story, adding that the estate had been approached about biopics in the past without ever giving its approval.
The biopic, which also stars Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, Derek Jacobi, Mimi Keene and Pam Ferris, is due to land on May 10, more than 46 years after Tolkien’s death.
On another historical note, Tolkien is the first Fox Searchlight film to be distributed by Disney since its multi-billion-dollar acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
