Tolkien’s Great-Grandson Approves of “The Hobbit”
Great-grandson of the great J.R.R. Tolkien, Royd, has commended Peter Jackson and screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens on their adaptation of The Hobbit, and mentioned that it was an ambitious decision to adapt the novel into three movies.
“Pete, Fran and Philippa are just great and they’re really fans of Tolkien as well, which you’d have to be to take on a task like this … and they’ve got a real knowledge of his work as well,” he says. “To expand it into three films is brave, but if anyone can do it, those guys can pull it off.”
The first movie doesn’t follow the novel to the letter, but rather draws on Tolkien’s other works to expand upon the storytelling.
“Obviously there’s changes to the book, but it’s a different medium so you’re going to have to do that sort of thing and yeah, tricky to do as well,” he said.
Royd particularly appreciated how Jackson linked The Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit trilogy at the beginning of this movie, where Elijah Wood and Ian Holm reprise their roles from the previous trilogy.
“It’s the same filmmaker, the same people involved in it, the same effects company, a lot of the same crew, so there’s a natural link there, but I think what he did, how he linked it was good,” he said.
