James Strong to Direct J.R.R. Tolkien Biopic ‘Middle Earth’

entertainingtheidea:

James Strong is heading to Middle Earth.

The British director of

Broadchurch, Gracepoint and Downton Abbey

will helm the biopic about author J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The film — featuring a script by Angus Fletcher, based on six years of interviews and archival research — will chart the tumultuous events that inspired him to pen

The Hobbit

and Lord of the Rings trilogies: when war broke out in 1914, disrupting his Oxford life with his wife Edith Bratt, Tolkien embarked on four years of battle, hardship, and new friendships, which served to shape his imagination and start him on the path to Middle Earth.

Strong is currently directing the AMC/ITV miniseries Liar, starring Ioan Gruffudd and

Joanne Froggatt.