Christopher Tolkien Pans Film Adaptations of His Father’s Work

In his first interview for forty years, Christopher Tolkien — son of author/wizard JRR Tolkien — speaks out against the recent film adaptations of his father’s work.

Christopher Tolkien, who remains the literary executor of his father’s estate, decided at the time of this father’s death in 1973 to avoid the media in all forms. And he’s stuck to this resolution unerringly for nearly 40 years. In July, though, the man finally cracked, giving a press interview to Le Monde (read the full article here.).
Tolkien is particularly unkind to Peter Jackson, director of the wildly successful film trilogy and the recently released adaptation of The Hobbit. In fact, when invited to meet with Jackson, Tolkien turned down the offer. His reasoning? “They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25,” Christopher says. “And it seems that The Hobbit will be the same kind of film.” Snobby much?
Don’t get me wrong, Tolkien makes some great points about the bastardization of his father’s work, but it does also sound like he’s being unnecessarily pretentious about the whole affair. After all, Lord of the Rings has become such a cultural force (even before JRR Tolkien’s death) that the occasional clunky adaptation is inevitable. Oh, plus Jackson’s supposedly vacuous franchise has grossed several billion dollars. No big deal.