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Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

bbc.com

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Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#41

Post by kayodelycaon »

drob wrote: post #37
rcstank wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's his own creation. He had every right to stop it. I don't see how this is wrong at all.

He owns the IP, but we all lose out from this system. Art has asymmetric upside – bad art doesn't really harm anyone (usually just gets forgotten) but good art enriches millions of people's lives. It might have been amazing. It might have been bad-but-interesting. We'll never know!

As a writer, I really would not like someone taking something I wrote, trashing it and then have that person’s version be the one everyone knows.

Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#42

Post by mensetmanusman »

drob wrote: post #37
rcstank wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's his own creation. He had every right to stop it. I don't see how this is wrong at all.

He owns the IP, but we all lose out from this system. Art has asymmetric upside – bad art doesn't really harm anyone (usually just gets forgotten) but good art enriches millions of people's lives. It might have been amazing. It might have been bad-but-interesting. We'll never know!

If it would have been done poorly, no one might have funded Jackson, it’s hard to judge in hindsight.

Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#44

Post by solardev »

api wrote: post #31
Drunk_Engineer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They wanted Kubrick to direct, so it could have been a serious effort (Kubrick declined).

I’m not 100% sure Tolkien is right for Kubrick. Maybe but I’d be concerned that he’d make it a little too ponderous and symbolic. He’d nail the spooky dark aura around the ring though. But with the Beatles? Nah no way. Peter Jackson’s adaptation was so authentic it looked at places just like my mental imagery looked as I was reading the book. That’s a tough thing to pull off in and of itself. Spielberg would have mad…

Didn't Ridley Scott do Gladiator?

Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#46

Post by drob »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #42
drob wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He owns the IP, but we all lose out from this system. Art has asymmetric upside – bad art doesn't really harm anyone (usually just gets forgotten) but good art enriches millions of people's lives. It might have been amazing. It might have been bad-but-interesting. We'll never know!

If it would have been done poorly, no one might have funded Jackson, it’s hard to judge in hindsight.

Do bad adaptations prevent good adaptations? Lynch's Dune flopped but Villeneuve had a $165m budget.

We can't know the contrapositive but I don't see why giving the author a veto makes good outcomes more likely, especially decades after a book is published.

Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#47

Post by Keyframe »

Drunk_Engineer wrote: post #39
Keyframe wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kubrick for sure could've worked in a collab env, like he did with Spartacus (yeah, he distanced himself from it though). If you're interested in how Ridley Scott version might've looked like, look no further than Legend.

Kubrick did Spartacus (I think you meant to say). Kingdom of Heaven might be a better example from Ridley Scott.

that's right, thanks!

Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#48

Post by parthianshotgun »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #41
drob wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He owns the IP, but we all lose out from this system. Art has asymmetric upside – bad art doesn't really harm anyone (usually just gets forgotten) but good art enriches millions of people's lives. It might have been amazing. It might have been bad-but-interesting. We'll never know!

As a writer, I really would not like someone taking something I wrote, trashing it and then have that person’s version be the one everyone knows.

Why be so precious? If it's good it's good

Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#49

Post by shagie »

karaterobot wrote: post #9

> "Ultimately, they couldn't get the rights from Tolkien, because he didn't like the idea of a pop group doing his story. So it got nixed by him. They tried to do it. There's no doubt about it. I'm a Beatles fan. Tolkien was right to be skeptical, it would have been terrible. No doubt in my mind: campy, perfunctory, self-mocking. Please recall how "nerd" material was treated before the 2000s, if you'd like some prece…

> Please recall how "nerd" material was treated before the 2000s

And I present The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. https://youtu.be/BC35cQKHwzg?si=KWIbiEpEVb36tqh1

Re: Peter Jackson on how Tolkien stopped a Beatles LOTR film (2021)

#50

Post by drob »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #41
drob wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He owns the IP, but we all lose out from this system. Art has asymmetric upside – bad art doesn't really harm anyone (usually just gets forgotten) but good art enriches millions of people's lives. It might have been amazing. It might have been bad-but-interesting. We'll never know!

As a writer, I really would not like someone taking something I wrote, trashing it and then have that person’s version be the one everyone knows.

On a personal level I can absolutely empathize, but respectfully, I don't see why that should be the state's concern. The goal of IP law should be to promote the creation of good art, not to make sure artists' wishes are respected.

So, for example, theft should be illegal, because a world of unrestricted IP theft might be one in which we would get a lot less art. But allowing Tolkien to block adaptations of his bestseller 14 years after publication was probably not good for art.

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