When Peter Jackson turned the Lord of the Rings books into a blockbuster movie trilogy, he won three Oscars.

But the director expressed his disappointment that the Fab Four did not arrive first.

The Beatles wanted to swap Abbey Road for the Shire in the 1960s, but JRR Tolkien stopped the Fab Four from making a musical in Middle-earth.

Sir Paul McCartney has now admitted he was “happy” that the plans – which included him in the role of Frodo – never came to fruition.

The Beatles wanted to swap Abbey Road for the Shire in the 1960s, but JRR Tolkien stopped the Fab Four from making a musical in Middle-earth. Sir Paul McCartney (pictured November 16 in London) has now admitted he was ‘happy’ the plans – which included him in the role of Frodo – never came to fruition.

Denis O’Dell, a producer on the group’s previous films, came up with the idea for a Lord of the Rings musical after the group read the books while staying in an ashram in India. But Tolkien (pictured in 1967) prevented plans from taking hold.

Jackson, whose latest draft is a three-part Beatles documentary, told the BBC: “Paul said: ‘I’m glad we didn’t, because you have to do yours and I liked your movie “.

‘But I said to him,’ Well, it’s too bad you didn’t, because it would’ve been a musical. ‘

“It would have been 14 or 15 Beatles songs that would have been pretty amazing to listen to.”

When Peter Jackson turned the Lord of the Rings books into a blockbuster movie trilogy, he won three Oscars, but said the Beatles were seriously considering making a Lord of the Rings musical in early 1968.

Denis O’Dell, a producer on the group’s previous films, came up with the idea for a Lord of the Rings musical after the group read the books while staying in an ashram in India.

But Tolkien, then in the mid-1970s, prevented plans from getting started.

“They couldn’t get the rights because he didn’t like the idea of ​​a pop group making a big splash,” Jackson said.

“So he was refused by him.

“For a while, they were seriously considering doing this in early 1968.”

For his three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back, Jackson sifted through 60 hours of footage from the band recording Let It Be from the 1970s.

The project, carried out with the cooperation of surviving band members Sir Paul, 79, and Ringo Starr, 81, is now available on the Disney + web streaming service.

For his three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back, Jackson sifted through 60 hours of footage from the band recording Let It Be from the 1970s. The project, produced in cooperation with surviving band members Sir Paul, 79, and Ringo Starr, 81, is now available on the Disney + web streaming service.