The Furious 7 actor has been outed as a "huge Tolkien nerd" by his The Last Witch Hunter co-star Elijah Wood and he reveals Diesel is desperate to portray the character of Melkor onscreen.

Elijah, who is known for his role as Frodo Baggins in the director's Lord of the Rings trilogy, admits he was stunned by Vin's knowledge of Tolkien's Middle-earth stories and his eagerness to bring The Silmarillion to the big screen.

Elijah tells U.S. talk show host Stephen Colbert. "He was talking to me about The Silmarillion and I've never read The Silmarillion, but this man has read The Silmarillion and he's like, 'You've gotta tell Peter Jackson I need to play Melkor...'"

There's only problem with Vin's dream job - Peter previously claimed his three The Hobbit films, which wrapped last year (14), marked the end of his journey to Middle-earth. He also poured doubt on rumours suggesting The Silmarillion, an epic history of the fantasy world, would be the next Tolkien project to be adapted for film.

"The Silmarillion's really simple," he told fans at San Diego Comic-Con last year (14). "J.r.r. Tolkien sold the film rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the 1960s. The Silmarillion wasn't written yet. It wasn't even written in his lifetime. It was written by him and, partly, his son finished it after his death and published it after the professor had died.

"So, the film rights are with them, and the estate doesn't have any interest in discussing film rights with anybody. So that's the situation there."

Tolkien died in 1973, four years before his son Christopher published The Silmarillion in 1977.

If the Tolkien family does decide to turn the novel into a movie, it is sure to be a money-spinner - The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies both grossed over $2.9 billion at the box office.