The upcoming J.R.R Tolkien biopic will focus on the author’s life as a youngster and the friendships that ultimately inspired The Lord Of The Rings writer.
That’s according to actress Genevieve O’Reilly, who will star alongside Nicholas Hoult and Lilly Collins in the hugely anticipated drama.
“Well it is about his life as a young man really,” O’Reilly explains to Metro during our discussion about her Broadway play The Ferryman.
“And his relationships early on. I’m really interested and can’t wait to see that film. It was so lovely to work on.”
Nicholas Hoult will play J.R.R. in the Tolkien biopic
But who exactly is O’Reilly playing Tolkien?
“I play the mother of one of the boys. Because really it is about the relationship that he formed as a young man and he very strong relationships with a group of friends.”
“I play the mother of Anthony Boyle’s character, Geoffrey Bache Smith, one of his close friends. I can’t say much more than that. Dome Karukoski, the director, was great and Nicholas Hoult is a joy to work with, he is such a generous and bright leading man. It was lovely to work with him.”
During the 1900s, Tolkien and his extremely close group of friends, which consisted of Smith, Robert Gilson and Christopher Wiseman, who called themselves the Tea Club and Barrovian Society.
However, when the First World War began in 1914 they signed up, the experience and aftermath of which was of great inspiration to Tolkien during his writing of The Lord Of The Rings.
But only after Tolkien was severely struck down with a case of writer’s block, because of what he had seen during the war.
Hoult will star as Tolkien, with Collins portraying Edith, his lifelong love, in Tolkien, which still doesn’t have a release date.
The Ferryman is currently showing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in New York.
