One night in "The Hobbit" (1937), by J. R. R. Tolkien, three trolls capture Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves, argue about how to cook their captives, (with Gandalf the wizard imitating their voices from hiding), and turn to stone at sunrise. When reminded of this scene today by the podcast "Shelved By Genre", I recalled a scene in Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man" (1995), with William Blake (Johnny Depp) in the role of Bilbo, three fur traders (Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jared Harris) behaving like trolls, and Blake's friend Nobody (Gary Farmer) appearing just in time, like Gandalf. Jarmusch's films are full of allusions—so why not one to Tolkien? (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 22 October 2026)