According to Wikipedia's article on Stanley Kubrick;
Now, what kind of movie would have resulted? Being a big fan of the works of Kubrick, my guess is that it would probably be an epic, iconic, artistic and technical masterpiece with some deep subconscious, transcendental meaning and with the Beatles being involved it would probably be seen as a major cultural landmark film of the generation. But what would be the creative conflicts between Kubrick and the Beatles? Would they also be responsible for the soundtrack though Kubrick was pretty meticulous with his his classical music soundtrack selections but I guess he'd have to give up control of that part of the film if he's going to work with the Beatles. And lastly, what effect could being involved in a major project like this have on the Beatles possibly staying together?
And what of the possible casting; the four Beatles; John, Paul, Ringo and George as the four hobbits; Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin respectively, Jack Nicholson as Aragorn (Kubrick was a big fan of Nicholson at the time, considering him for the role of Napoleon), Malcolm McDowell as Legolas, Peter Sellers as a semi-comedic version of Gandalf, Ryan O'Neal as Boromir, Danny DeVito in dual roles as Gimli and Gollum, and Yoko as Galadriel!
So, what if Kubrick had decided otherwise and agreed to make and direct the film in collaboration with the Beatles? His problem with it was that it was too immense but if he was able to compress the entire life and career of Napoleon into an excellent 200 page screenplay then why couldn't he do the same for at least the first part of LOTR.When J.R.R. Tolkien sold the film rights of The Lord of the Rings to United Artists in 1969, the Beatles considered making a film of it, and approached Kubrick as a possible director, but Kubrick told John Lennon he thought the novel unfilmable due to its immensity.[92][93]
Now, what kind of movie would have resulted? Being a big fan of the works of Kubrick, my guess is that it would probably be an epic, iconic, artistic and technical masterpiece with some deep subconscious, transcendental meaning and with the Beatles being involved it would probably be seen as a major cultural landmark film of the generation. But what would be the creative conflicts between Kubrick and the Beatles? Would they also be responsible for the soundtrack though Kubrick was pretty meticulous with his his classical music soundtrack selections but I guess he'd have to give up control of that part of the film if he's going to work with the Beatles. And lastly, what effect could being involved in a major project like this have on the Beatles possibly staying together?
And what of the possible casting; the four Beatles; John, Paul, Ringo and George as the four hobbits; Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin respectively, Jack Nicholson as Aragorn (Kubrick was a big fan of Nicholson at the time, considering him for the role of Napoleon), Malcolm McDowell as Legolas, Peter Sellers as a semi-comedic version of Gandalf, Ryan O'Neal as Boromir, Danny DeVito in dual roles as Gimli and Gollum, and Yoko as Galadriel!