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From The Times
December 12, 2002

Twin tower lobby calls for Tolkien title change

By Adam Sherwin and Jack Malvern
AOL Time Warner is risking a box-office backlash by refusing to rename The Two Towers after complaints that the title is disrespectful to the memory of the victims of the World Trade Centre attacks.

The buildings in the title belong to two wizards from the fictional land of Middle Earth and there are no references to the United States in the film.

But over 3,000 people have signed an online petition accusing the film-makers of “cashing in” on the September 11 attacks. The Two Towers Protest Organisation claims: “The name will cause the return of emotions which left so many people stunned and in shock.”

Peter Jackson, the director, admitted that he considered changing the name of the film, which was already being shot at the time of the attacks. He said: “It’s true I thought about the title in the aftermath of the attacks, but the book is 50 years old and I don’t think I could change the title even if I wanted to.”

The towers in Tolkien’s novel were supposedly based on a redbrick water works and Perrott’s Folly, an 18th-century monument, in Edgbaston, Birmingham, where the author grew up. They are part of Birmingham’s bid to be Europe’s City of Culture in 2008.

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