Limerick writer and director David Gleeson - whose most famous screen credits include Irish films ‘Cowboys & Angels’ and ‘The Front Line’ - has signed on to write the screenplay for a biopic of ‘Lord of The Rings’ author J.R.R. Tolkien.
Fox Searchlight and Chernin Entertainment are producing the feature which will explore the life of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, and the influences that shaped his literary creation of Middle Earth.
David Gleeson first rose to fame as writer and director of ‘Cowboys & Angels’, notable for filming in Limerick city and a memorable performance by Michael Legge in the wake of ‘Angela’s Ashes’. It was nominated for three IFTA awards, including Best Film, and won the IFTA for Best Costume Design for Grania Preston.
'The Front Line' - which Mr Gleeson also wrote and directed - focused on an African immigrant working as a bank security guard, who is forced to act as the ‘inside man’ for a criminal gang. The film earned four IFTA nominations in 2007, including two for Mr Gleeson’s writing and directing, and one for his wife & producer Nathalie Lichtenthaeler.
Ms Lichtenthaeler also shared in the IFTA for Best Picture for Bosnian War drama ‘As If Am Not There’ in 2011.
In more recent news, Mr Gleeson sold a proposed script for a sci-fi feature called 'The End of History' to Sony Pictures.
