Why I Drink: If I'd Been Born Yet Edition

By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Industry | November 8, 2010 |

Forty years late or not, we get you your trade news. I stumbled across this bit last night, which is not only decades into the past, but the rumors of it were apparently first confirmed a few years ago when Lord of the Rings hit DVD. Nonetheless, as they say on television, if you haven’t seen it then it’s new to you. And since we’ve never reported on it here, and we know that none of you EVER look at another news site (trust me, we are always watching), then we’re reporting it now.

In the 1960s, the Beatles attempted to make an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. They had gotten Stanley Kubrick on board to direct and planned on having John play Gollum, Paul play Frodo, Ringo play Sam, and George would have played Gandalf.

It was all but a done deal as far as getting the ball rolling. The Beatles were on board, Kubrick was on board. Lord knows a budget wouldn’t be a problem with the spending power of the Beatles behind the project. A funny little thing happened though. J.R.R. Tolkien still held the film rights at that point and vetoed the entire thing. Name your price? Any amount?

What’s Elven for “Fuck you hippie”?

(source: Blastr)

Steven Lloyd Wilson is the sci-fi and history editor. You can email him here or follow him on Twitter.