By Creative Media Times

Nicholas Hoult is in early talks to play as author J.R.R. Tolkien in Fox Searchlight and Chernin Entertainment’s “Tolkien,” Deadline reports Tuesday.

The film will be directed by Finnish film director Dome Karukoski, from a script by Stephen Beresford and David Gleeson.

J. R. R. Tolkien was the author of the fantasy classics The Lord of the Rings, originally a sequel to his children’s fantasy The Hobbit, then later turned into three volumes The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Since then, The Lord of the Rings has become one of the best selling novels ever, and together with The Hobbit became the source for Peter Jackson’s blockbuster hit films.

According to Deadline, the film will focus on the orphaned Tolkien’s experiences during his youth on the outbreak of World War I, experiences which influenced his work on The Lord of the Rings novels.

Hoult gained recognition from his role as a divergent schoolboy Marcus Brewer in 2002’s critical and boxoffice hit About A Boy. He also played Nux in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road and as Hank McCoy/Beast on three X-Men films (X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse). He will reprise the role in next year’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

In addition to Tolkien, Hoult seem to attract real life character roles in biographical dramas lately. Later this year, he will be playing another celebrated author J. D. Salinger in Danny Strong’s Rebel in the Rye and then as inventor Nikola Tesla in this December’s “The Current War.”