On a wintry Oxford morning last week, Philippa Boyens wrapped herself up all cosy and warm and set off on her own journey into Middle-earth.
“I went looking for the Barrow-downs,” she says, excitedly referencing the eerie ancient burial mounds where the hobbits nearly meet a terrifying end at the hands of a wight (supernatural being) in the early chapters of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
“I’d never done that before. I went off to the Rollright Stones and Stow-on-the-Wold and did a bit of a recce around. It was great!”
It’s charming to hear the Academy Award-winning screenwriter and producer fangirling out over visiting the historic real-world locations that inspired the legendary fantasy author JRR Tolkien.
