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Bakshi bump! Speaking of that, I was reading about some interesting backstory for the Bakshi LotR recently: Best Films Never Made #14: The Beatles’ Lord of the Rings: "Lennon was the lead driving-force on the project with sights set on the role of Gollum. Meanwhile Paul McCartney would be assigned Frodo, Ringo Starr would take on Sam, and George Harrison would be Gandalf. The Beatles themselves went so far as to approach a pre-2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick to direct their ambitious feat. The best summarisation of how this saga ended comes from Peter Jackson on a press tour for his original trilogy: “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.” Tolkien’s rejection of The Beatles’ offer is hardly a surprise to either fanbase – yet recently-revealed letters from the author suggest a personal dimension to his opposition to the project. In 1953, Tolkien had relocated to a quiet new house in a cul-de-sac in Oxford based on a doctor’s ultimatum to, in his words, find a house on “high dry soil and in the quiet” to support his ailing wife Edith. However 11 years later, his cul-de-sac had been opened up to traffic and Tolkien was not best pleased with the council’s decision. In a letter to Christopher Bretherton, the author complained about 'radio, tele, dogs, scooters, buzzbikes, and cars of all sizes but the smallest [making noise] from early morn to about 2 a.m.' In particular, his anger’s key outlet came three doors away. Tolkien wrote, 'In a house three doors away dwells a member of a group of young men who are evidently aiming to turn themeselves into a Beatle group. On days when it falls to his turn to a have a practice session the noise is indescribable.'" More details here.