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Tolkien director Dome Karukoski was very "lucky" to land Nicholas Hoult as his leading man.
The 29-year-old plays the famed English author, known for penning The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit novels, in the movie, with Lily Collins portraying Tolkien's beloved wife and muse, Edith Bratt.
Now, Finnish filmmaker Karukoski has revealed that Hoult was his one and only choice, and even had to wrangle him away from filming commitments on superhero blockbuster X-Men: Dark Phoenix to ensure he was cast in the film.
"We actually cast Nick first. Yes, after I read the script, he came to mind immediately and I really wanted him," he explained to Collider. "Luckily, (bosses at studio) Fox suggested him and I was so happy. We had to do a little bit of scheduling to get him away from X-Men to come shoot with us.
"It worked out, though. So much of the movie depends on who you have playing Tolkien. We were lucky to have Nick… After that we got Lily. She’s such a wonderful actress and they were great when they read together."
The filmmaker also went on to candidly share that he had placed a self-imposed ban on making another biopic after 2017's Tom of Finland, which told the story of artist Touko Valio Laaksonen.
"I didn’t really think I was going to be taking on another biopic. That’s the problem with biopics! They’re rigid. There’s an ending and things you have to hit along the way because those are things which actually happened. After Tom of Finland, I told myself, ‘No more biopics!’ Then I read the script and I love Tolkien’s work so very much, so I suddenly found myself doing a biopic again," the 42-year-old confessed.