Entertainment
APFrom left to right: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison in 1963.The final installment of "The Hobbit" is in theaters now and has made over $573 million worldwide.
The films serve as a prequel series to Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" (LOTR) trilogy Peter Jackson directed over a decade ago. However, we could have had a very different LOTR series if the Beatles had their way.
The singers reportedly wanted to make a LOTR film in the 1960s with legendary director Stanley Kubrick, according to an interview Jackson did with Deadline this past summer.
"I actually spoke about this with Paul McCartney. He confirmed it," said Jackson. "I'd heard rumors that it was going to be their next film after Help."
Jackson detailed which roles each of the Beatles wanted to play.
John Lennon would have been Gollum. Motion capture guru Andy Serkis took on that role in both series.
Warner Bros./The Hobbit trailer
Paul McCartney wanted to play Frodo Baggins while Ringo Starr wanted to be his sidekick Sam. Those roles were played by Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, respectively.
Warner Bros./Lord of the Rings trailerSean Astin (left) and Elijah Wood as Sam and Frodo in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."George Harrison wanted to be the wizard Gandalf, who was eventually played by Sir Ian McKellen.
Warner Bros. / MGMWhy didn't it ever happen?
For one thing, Jackson told Deadline Kubrick turned the Beatles down.
However, the final nail in the coffin came from LOTR author J.R.R. Tolkien himself who wasn't a fan of the collaboration.
In 2002, People reported Jackson previously discussed the long-rumored Beatles LOTR movie with Wellington's Evening Post newspaper.
"It was something John was driving and J.R.R. Tolkien still had the film rights at that stage, but he didn't like the idea of the Beatles doing it. So he killed it," said Jackson.
While we can imagine how much different that movie would have been, Jackson told Deadline this summer McCartney rather enjoys his adaptations of the series.
"Paul was very gracious; he said, 'It was a good job we never made ours because then you wouldn't have made yours and it was great to see yours,'" Jackson recalled.
Still, Jackson thinks we probably missed out on a few good Beatles' tunes.