Upcoming J.R.R. Tolkien biopic disavowed by the author's family, estate, biographer

The human life resists compartmentalization, especially when it comes to the identifiable three-act structure of a Hollywood biopic. The family and estate of Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien are keenly aware of this, having fiercely fought over the years via lawsuits and sternly worded statements to uphold the author’s reputation and buck against the commercialization of his works. It’s not all that surprising, then, that they’ve now publicly disavowed Tolkien, an upcoming biopic that marks the first Fox Searchlight film to be distributed under Disney’s ownership. Their statement, as terse as you might expect, says simply that they did not “approve of, authorize or participate in the making of this film,” and that “they do not endorse it or its content in any way.”

Tolkien biographer John Garth agrees, cheekily plugging his own works on the author to The Guardian while wearily sighing at how busy he’ll be “correcting new misconceptions arising from the movie.” He adds, “Biopics typically take considerable license with the facts, and this one is no exception. Endorsement by the Tolkien family would lend credibility to any divergences and distortions. That would be a disservice to history.”