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Andy Serkis said in a recent interview with the BBC that his new “Lord of the Rings” movie, “The Hunt for Gollum,” will “somewhat acknowledge” the franchise’s lack of diversity. The film, which is now in production, has announced a cast so far that is made up entirely of white actors: Jamie Dornan, Anna Taylor-Joy, Kate Winslet, Lee Pace, Leo Woodall, Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen, plus Serkis’ return in the title role. The BBC asked Serkis why this is the case.
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https://variety.com/2026/film/news/andy-serkis-lord-of-the-rings-diversity-white-actors-1236811570/
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Voy a aprovechar este post para contaros cosillas sobre Tolkien y su obra que a lo mejor no sabíais y que os permitirán concluir que Serkis no se ha preocupado de informarse sobre la opinión de Tolkien y se limita a utilizarlo como “argumento de autoridad” para justificar sus propios prejuicios.
Empecemos por la más obvia: “The Shire feels very, very much like a very, very white, you know”.
Tolkien dice (y no en una carta o en un borrador, sino en el mismísimo prólogo de «El Señor de los Anillos») que hay tres especies de Hobbits: Pelosos (Harfoots), Fuertes (Stoors) y Albos (Fallohides). Los Harfoots “were browner of skin (…) They were the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous”.
No sé lo que pensáis vosotros, pero en mi opinión lo de “browner of skin” y “most numerous” casa mal con lo de “very, very white”.
Otro clásico, el “mundo nórdico”. Unos periodistas entrevistaron a Tolkien en 1968 y cuando le mandaron el borrador del artículo escribieron lo siguiente: “Middle-earth …. corresponds spiritually to Nordic Europe.”
La respuesta de Tolkien (contenida en su carta de 8 de febrero de 1967 a Charlotte y Denis Plimmer) la voy a copiar literalmente porque es inapelable:
“Not Nordic, please! A word I personally dislike; it is associated, though of French origin, with racialist theories. Geographically Northern is usually better. But examination will show that even this is inapplicable (geographically or spiritually) to ‘Middle-earth’.
This is an old word, not invented by me, as reference to a dictionary such as the Shorter Oxford will show. It meant the habitable lands of our world, set amid the surrounding Ocean.
The action of the story takes place in the North-west of ‘Middle-earth’, equivalent in latitude to the coastlands of Europe and the north shores of the Mediterranean. But this is not a purely ‘Nordic’ area in any sense”. If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence. The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir are at about the latitude of ancient Troy.
Auden has asserted that for me ‘the North is a sacred direction’. That is not true. The North-west of Europe, where I (and most of my ancestors) have lived, has my affection, as a man’s home should. I love its atmosphere, and know more of its histories and languages than I do of other pans; but it is not ‘sacred’, nor does it exhaust my affections. I have, for instance, a particular love for the Latin language, and among its descendants for Spanish.
That it is untrue for my story, a mere reading of the synopses should show. The North was the seat of the fortresses of the Devil. The progress of the tale ends in what is far more like the re-establishment of an effective Holy Roman Empire with its seat in Rome than anything that would be devised by a ‘Nordic.’”
Así que no, Serkis. Si quieres hacer una obra “solo blanca” no es por ser fiel a la mitología y espíritu del original, es porque te mola la idea de ser racista sin decirlo abiertamente. Igual que a mí me mola la idea de no ver tu película, y eso que de Tolkien me trago hasta la serie de Amazon.
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