By EMO films have struck a deal with author Steven Hillard to adapt his novel Mirkwood, a fictionalized version of famous Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, into a movie. The book is not a historical account of Tolkien’s life by any means, in fact the plot centers around Tolkien accidentally discovering and conjuring up some ancient Elven magic, which it turns out is actually real. (Oh, how I wish.)
The book also caused a bit of a kerfuffle with the Tolkien estate which did not want Hillard to use Tolkien’s name or direct likeness, but through a lawsuit and consequent settlement, Hillard was allowed to publish his book – as long as it had a stern message of disapproval from the Tolkien estate in the book’s description. I’m interested to see if adapting the novel into a movie will cause grief for the Tolkien estate, since the premise really sounds harmless enough. In this age of copyright and patents, though, who knows.
[Via The Hollywood Reporter]