In the first teaser trailer for the upcoming biopic Tolkein, we were treated to a brief glance at Nicholas Hoult as the beloved English author, best known for penning The Lord of the Rings series. That trailer thematically tied Tolkien’s life to his seminal fantasy series through imagery that evoked the films they inspired.
It was a beautiful teaser, but now we have a more substantial look at the movie – and the breadth of its plot – in the first full-length trailer for Tolkien.
We then flash back to a much younger Tolkien, in his bedroom late at night as a young boy and playing sticks with his friends in school. We see what appear to be the Tea Club and Barrovian Society (or T.C.B.S.), the secret society he helped create at King Edward’s School in the 1910s. We then follow him to WWI – where he served as a soldier in France and participated in the Battle of the Somme – experiences that would eventually contribute to his Middle-earth tales. It even looks like the film will show his time at Oxford University, where he was a member of the literary group the Inklings, and where he first befriended C.S. Lewis.
“Experience the journey that shaped the imagination of the legendary author,” the trailer text reads. Indeed, it was a fascinating journey, and one we can’t wait to take when Dome Karukoski’s Tolkien arrives in theaters on May 10.
Images: Fox Searchlight