Royd Tolkien takes on late brother’s challenges in ALS documentary
Royd Tolkien, the great-grandson of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien, is sharing a deeply personal story about his younger brother in the documentary “There's a Hole in My Bucket.”
Royd’s brother, Mike, died in 2015 of ALS. He secretly created a list of 50 challenges for Royd to complete, with each challenge to be revealed one at a time after his death.
“I had two instructions from him. He said, ‘You make films. Make a film of this.’ And the second one, ‘If you're going to use your name for anything, use it to promote this,’” Royd said.
Mike’s wish became “There's a Hole in My Bucket,” a documentary that follows Royd as he takes on the challenges his brother left behind.
“One of the brilliant sort of, you know, benefits of this documentary is that people get to meet him, and it's continuing his memory,” Royd said.
The challenges take Royd through a wide range of experiences, including flying a plane, jumping out of one and dressing like a hippie to spread a little love. Another challenge has him allow a large spider to crawl on his body.
“There was always purpose to it, though," Royd said. "It was, you know, it was me facing my fears."
No. 19 on the list is a flying fox zipwire. In a clip from the film, Royd nervously prepared for the challenge before he began a scream-filled journey down the mountain.
“There's a Hole in My Bucket” will screen Wednesday night at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
An auction is also raising money for the ALS Network. A copy of “The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien” has been autographed by Ian McKellan, Kate Winslet and other stars of the next “Lord of the Rings” movie.
“Everyone that's in ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ has signed this book,” Royd said.
Bids can be placed on the ALS Network website.
The documentary also revisits Royd and Mike taking part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
“What it does is it replicates the feeling of, you know, that reaction to ice water where you freeze and you can't do anything. That's motor neuron disease. That's ALS,” he said.
“There's a Hole in My Bucket” is narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.
