The Beatles were ‘so SERIOUS’ about starring in Lord of the Rings: Guess roles they wanted

Yesterday, Josh Gad organised an epic Lord of the Rings reunion on the latest episode of his Reunited Apart YouTube series. The Frozen star has been reuniting casts and crews of iconic movies for charity and the latest was a real treat. Towards the end, Peter Jackson’s fellow Kiki director Taika Waititi joined the call to test everyone on their Lord of the Rings knowledge, only for a fascinating Beatles fact to be revealed.

Waititi asked them all: “Who approached Stanley Kubrick to direct an adaptation of Lord of the Rings?”

After a brief pause, Jackson answered: “Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

“The Beatles, after A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, they had a third film in their United Artists contract.

“And they wanted to do Lord of the Rings.”

On their preferred roles, Jackson revealed: “John Lennon was going to play Gollum, Paul McCartney Frodo, Ringo Sam and George was going to play Gandalf.

“They got so serious that they actually approached JRR Tolkien, who at that point still had the rights.

“They approached him and Tolkien said, ‘No.’”

It’s unsurprising that Jackson knows this, considering he’s directed a brand new Beatles documentary called Get Back.

Iger continued: “I’m a huge fan myself, so I could not be happier that Disney is able to share Peter Jackson’s stunning documentary with global audiences in September.”

Jackson previously directed They Shall Not Grow Old, in which he and his team restored, colourised and added sound to original First World War footage.

On working on The Beatles: Get Back, the director said: “Working on this project has been a joyous discovery. I’ve been privileged to be a fly on the wall while the greatest band of all time works, plays and creates masterpieces.

“I’m thrilled that Disney have stepped up as our distributor. There’s no one better to have our movie seen by the greatest number of people.”

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