‘X-Men’ star will play young J. R. R. Tolkien in new biopic

Nicholas Hoult is in talks to lead the cast of Tolkien; a new movie about the creator of The Lord Of The Rings.

The X-Men star, who plays Beast in the superhero franchise, will play the young J. R. R. Tolkien.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in 1892 in South Africa and died in 1973 in Bournemouth, UK.

The English writer, poet, philologist and university professor is best known as the author of fantasy novels The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

Tolkien is widely acknowledged as the “father” of modern fantasy literature.

The new movie is set to be directed by Finnish director Dome Karukoski, from a script by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford.

Tolkien will explore “the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a fellow group of outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the ‘fellowship’ apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels.”

Nicholas Hoult will reprise his role as Beast in next year’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which began filming in Montreal, Canada last month.