Ulmo wrote:

My point is he hated the movies. I can’t imagine he would have greenlit this particular actor to read the book. It feels like an insult.

Christopher Tolkien was quite well and involved in the Estate at the time HarperCollins chose to have Christopher Lee read the Children of Húrin audiobook...

To the extent that Christopher "hated" the Jackson movies, I have seen no indication at all that it extended to or had anything to do with the actors themselves, only with the adaptation of the book as movies. I can't imagine that Christopher would have had any objection to Serkis on those grounds.

I have not seen any evidence that Christopher disliked the actors in the movies, only hearsay that he disliked the writing.

In this case, the writing is his father's (edited by him and Guy Gavriel Kay), so I can't see this as an insult under any circumstances.

Also worth noting that the audiobooks have "all" (I have not rigorously searched them all out this morning) been famous movie actors before they did the Tolkien readings.

Rob Inglis on IMDb
Martin Shaw on IMDb
Samuel West on IMDb
Timothy West on IMDb

Nicol Williamson was Merlin in Excalibur

Couldn't agree more with these sentiments. I don't feel Christopher Tolkien would ever inherently demonize someone just for being associated with a project or adaptation he didn't necessarily agree with. He was better than that.

Also who's being insulted here by Serkis reading S? There are no changes to the text...Serkis will do the text in the best way he can. It's not like he's out to purposely do bad work on it.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Couldn't agree more with these sentiments. I don't feel Christopher Tolkien would ever inherently demonize someone just for being associated with a project or adaptation he didn't necessarily agree with. He was better than that.

Also who's being insulted here by Serkis reading S? There are no changes to the text...Serkis will do the text in the best way he can. It's not like he's out to purposely do bad work on it.

Also, the Wests’ version will still be available (much as the Inglis audiobooks remain on Audible and other sites). If it causes some casual fans to engage with The Silmarillion, it could be beneficial.

I've seen a report (from William Cloud Hicklin) that Christopher objected to one of the casting choices in the films.

http://forums.theonering.com/viewtopi ... 364d413ed8e90144#p4029495

Alright, just my opinion, I guess. I only wanna know, are they going to slap this business on the cover art?

I hope this happens. Personally I thought Serkis did a good job on LotR (though the Inglis version remains my favourite) and I feel confident he can do a great job with the Silmarillion as well even if it's a very different project.