Years Ago One of the Best Fantasy Franchises Was Deemed 'Unsuitable for Adaptation'

There are some books that are considered very difficult or even impossible to adapt to a movie. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings went a very long way before a live-action film was released. The idea of creating movies about the adventures from Middle-earth came about as early as the 1960s. And the project at the time shows how show business of the era could be used in other branches of entertainment (via Variety).

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The Lord of the Rings went through an interesting path before a movie adaptation was eventually made. Namely, during the aforementioned period of the 1960s. Denis O'Dell, CEO of Apple Films, came up with the idea of a screen adaptation of Tolkien's work. The starring roles were to be played by members of The Beatles: John Lennon as Gollum, Paul McCartney as Frodo, George Harrison as Gandalf and Ringo Starr as Sam.

Stanley Kubrick was selected as the director, although others were also considered. However, the famous filmmaker made it clear that in his opinion The Lord of the Rings is impossible to film. He withdrew from the project and moved on to make the legendary 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Lord of the Rings didn't stand a chance of being made anyway, as Tolkien didn't agree to the production, the marketing of which would likely revolve around music stars, rather than a chance to show his story on cinema screens.

It wasn't until the late 1970s that an animated film based on the books was made, and Peter Jackson began work on a live-action adaptation in the second half of the 1990s.. In retrospect, it is clear that Stanley Kubrick was wrong and The Lord of the Rings could be filmed. Perhaps it was the director's vision or Apple Films' idea that was in the realm of projects that have no chance of seeing the light of day. Or perhaps the biggest obstacle was the technology available at the time.

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