Ringers: Lord of the Fans

J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy has played an enormous role in the popular culture of the last 50 years--from the 1960s counterculture (several Gandalfs showed up at Woodstock) to today's largely Internet-based supporters of Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS films. Since their publication, the books have inspired the kind of intensely personal devotion usually associated with cult classics--but it's a passion shared by too many millions of people to really be considered cultish. Directed and produced by Carlene Cordova, in association with online mega-fansite TheOneRing.net, the documentary RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS takes a look at the long tentacles of influence sent out by a book that began its life as a tweedy, erudite Oxford professor's attempt to amuse himself. Hundreds of fantasy authors owe a large debt to Tolkien's work, rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Rush have referenced Middle Earth in their songs, and a plethora of failed attempts to bring the story to the big screen culminated in the ...