It Could Have Been 'The Lord Of The Beatles'

Posted Tuesday, March 5, 2002 at 8:08 AM Central

by Tim Briscoe

The legendary Beatles were the ones who first wanted to bring the legendary 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien to the big screen. Denis O'Dell, one of the producers of A Hard Day's Night, told the Times Of London that the Fab Four had plans to star in the films in the late '60s and feature songs on an accompanying soundtrack.

According to O'Dell, John Lennon would have taken the role of Gandalf the wizard and Paul McCartney would have become Frodo the Hobbit. No roles were mentioned for Ringo Starr and George Harrison but they were to appear as well.

The problem became finding a director for the project. Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence Of Arabia director David Lean expressed interest but was busy filming Ryan's Daughter.

Director extraordinaire Stanley Kubrick was also approached but deemed the trilogy unfilmable. New Zealander Peter Jackson has obviously thought differently. His The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring garnered public and critical success as well as 13 Oscar nominations. The other two installments are set to follow this year and next.