Cast members of the “Lord of the Rings” are reuniting — this time not to save Middle-earth, but to save the house of the man who created it.
Actors Ian McKellen and Jonathan Rhys-Davies, as well as “The Hobbit” star Martin Freeman, are showing their support for Project Northmoor, which is raising money to purchase the home of author J.R.R. Tolkien in order to turn it into a literary center, according to People magazine.
The home is where Tolkien wrote “The Hobbit” and most of the “Lord of the Rings” series, according to The New York Times. Tolkien and his wife Edith, as well as their four children, lived at 20 Northmoor Road in Oxford from 1930 to 1947.
Unlike other writers of his stature, there is no centre devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien anywhere in the world. Yet. @ProjNorthmoor https://t.co/pzMg8Yk2t2 pic.twitter.com/jx2r5MVbcw
— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) December 2, 2020
The house will soon be put back on the market, and Project Northmoor is looking to raise $6 million in the next three months in order to purchase it, according to Entertainment Weekly. It will take $5.3 million to buy the house, with the remainder of the money going towards restoring it to create the center.
“The worldwide Tolkien fan base is enormous, but there is no center for Tolkien anywhere in the world,” Julia Golding, a British novelist who is heading up the project, told the Times. “There are centers for Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, and, arguably, Tolkien is just as influential as they are.”
McKellen, Rhys-Davies and Freeman all showed their support in a promotional video for Project Northmoor, where they were also joined by others like actor Derek Jacobi and singer Annie Lennox, who wrote and performed the Oscar-winning song “Into the West” for the “Lord of the Rings” movies, according to People.
“The vision is to make Tolkien’s house into a literary hub that will inspire new generations of writers, artists, and filmmakers for many years to come,” Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli in the “Lord of the Rings” movies, said in the video, according to EW.
The house was originally built in 1924 and is 3,500 square feet, with six bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, according to the Times. It was last on the market in 2004, when it was purchased by its current owners for 1.6 million pounds.
Those who donate to Project Northmoor will receive “thank you” gifts, including having their name listed in a book that will be kept in Tolkien’s study, according to People.