Peter Jackson

Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama ''Heavenly Creatures'' (1994), the horror comedy ''The Frighteners'' (1996), the epic monster remake film ''King Kong'' (2005), the World War I documentary film ''They Shall Not Grow Old'' (2018) and the documentary '' The Beatles: Get Back'' (2021). He is the third-highest-grossing film director of all-time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.

Jackson began his career with the " splatstick" horror comedy ''Bad Taste'' (1987) and the black comedy ''Meet the Feebles'' (1989) before filming the zombie comedy '' Braindead'' (1992). He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh for ''Heavenly Creatures'', which brought him to mainstream prominence in the film industry. Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003), including the award for Best Director. His other awards include three BAFTAs, a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Saturn Awards among others.

His production company is WingNut Films, and his most regular collaborators are co-writers and producers Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Jackson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002. He was later knighted (as a Knight Companion of the order) by Sir Anand Satyanand, the Governor-General of New Zealand, at a ceremony in Wellington in April 2010. In December 2014, Jackson was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life

Jackson was born on 31  October 1961 in Wellington
and was raised in its far northern suburb of Pukerua Bay. His parents – Joan (''née'' Ruck), a factory worker and housewife, and William "Bill" Jackson, a wages clerk – were emigrants from England.

As a child, Jackson was a keen film fan, growing up on Ray Harryhausen films, as well as finding inspiration in the television series '' Thunderbirds'' and '' Monty Python's Flying Circus''. After a family friend gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera with Peter in mind, he began making short films with his friends. Jackson has long cited ''King Kong'' as his favourite film, and around the age of nine he attempted to remake it using his own stop-motion models. Also, as a child Jackson made a World War II epic called ''The Dwarf Patrol'' seen on the ''Bad Taste'' bonus disc, which featured his first special effect of poking pinholes in the film for gun shots, and a James Bond spoof named ''Coldfinger''. Most notable though was a 20-minute short called '' The Valley'', which won him a special prize because of the shots he used.

In school, Jackson expressed no interest in sports. His classmates also remember him wearing a duffel coat with "an obsession verging on religious". He had no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects and make-up largely through his own trial and error. As a young adult, Jackson discovered the work of author J. R. R. Tolkien after watching ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1978), an animated film by Ralph Bakshi that was a part-adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy trilogy. When he was 16 years old, Jackson left school and began working full-time as a photo-engraver for a Wellington newspaper, '' The Evening Post''. For the seven years he worked there, Jackson lived at home with his parents so he could save as much money as possible to spend on film equipment. After two years of work Jackson bought a 16 mm camera, and began shooting a film that later became ''Bad Taste''.

Influences and inspirations

Jackson has long cited several films as influences. It is well known that Jackson has a passion for ''King Kong'', often citing it as his favourite film and as the film that inspired him early in his life. Jackson recalls attempting to remake ''King Kong'' when he was nine. At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, while being interviewed alongside ''Avatar'' and ''Titanic'' director James Cameron, Jackson said certain films gave him a "kick". He mentioned Martin Scorsese's crime films ''Goodfellas'' and ''Casino'', remarking on "something about those particular movies and the way Martin Scorsese just fearlessly rockets his camera around and has shot those films that I can watch those movies and feel inspired." Jackson said the 1970 film ''Waterloo'' inspired him in his youth. Other influences include George Romero, Sam Raimi and the special effects by Ray Harryhausen.

Career

Splatter phase

Jackson's first feature was ''Bad Taste'', a haphazard fashion splatter comedy which took years to make, it included many of Jackson's friends acting and working on it for free. Shooting was normally done in the weekends since Jackson was then working full-time. ''Bad Taste'' is about aliens that come to earth with the intention of turning humans into food. Jackson had two acting roles including a famous scene in which he fights himself on top of a cliff. The film was finally completed thanks to a late injection of finance from the New Zealand Film Commission, after Jim Booth, the body's executive director, became convinced of Jackson's talent (Booth later left the commission to become Jackson's producer). ''Bad Taste'' debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1987.

Around this time, Jackson began working on writing a number of film scripts, in varied collaborative groupings with playwright Stephen Sinclair, writer Fran Walsh and writer/actor Danny Mulheron. Walsh would later become his life partner. Some of the scripts from this period, including a sequel to ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'', have never been made into movies; the proposed zombie film '' Braindead'' underwent extensive rewrites.

Jackson's next film to see release was ''Meet the Feebles'' (1989), co-written with Sinclair, Walsh and Mulheron. Begun on a very low budget, ''Meet the Feebles'' went weeks over schedule. Jackson stated of his second feature-length film, "It's got a quality of humour that alienates a lot of people. It's very black, very satirical, very savage."

''Heavenly Creatures'' and ''Forgotten Silver''

Released in 1994 after Jackson won a race to bring the story to the screen, ''Heavenly Creatures'' marked a major change for Jackson in terms of both style and tone. The real-life 1950s Parker–Hulme murder case, in which two teenage girls murdered one of their mothers, inspired the film. It was Fran Walsh that persuaded him that these events had the makings of a movie; Jackson has been quoted saying that the film "only got made" because of her enthusiasm for the subject matter.Webster, Andy (1996). "The Frightener" over: "The Twisted Genius Behind 'The Frighteners ''Premiere'' (magazine, U.S.; discontinued), August, pp. 33–37, esp. p. 26. No online archive of magazine or article available (October 2015). The film's fame coincided with the New Zealand media tracking down the real-life Juliet Hulme, who now writes books under the name Anne Perry. Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet played Parker and Hulme, respectively. ''Heavenly Creatures'' was critically acclaimed and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards and making top ten of the year lists in ''Time'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', and ''The New Zealand Herald''.

The following year, in collaboration with Wellington film-maker Costa Botes, Jackson co-directed the mockumentary ''Forgotten Silver'' (1995). This ambitious made-for-television piece told the story of New Zealand film pioneer Colin McKenzie, who had supposedly invented colour film and 'talkies', and attempted an epic film of '' Salome'' before being forgotten by the world. Though the programme played in a slot normally reserved for drama, no other warning was given that it was fictionalised and many viewers were outraged at discovering Colin McKenzie had never existed. The number of people who believed the increasingly improbable story provides testimony to Jackson and Botes' skill at playing on New Zealand's national myth of a nation of innovators and forgotten trail-blazers.

Hollywood, Weta, and the Film Commission

The success of ''Heavenly Creatures'' helped pave the way for Jackson's first big budget Hollywood film, ''The Frighteners'' starring Michael J. Fox, in 1996. Jackson was given permission to make this comedy / horror film entirely in New Zealand despite being set in a North American town. This period was a key one of change for both Jackson and Weta Workshop, the special effects company – born from the one-man contributions of George Port to ''Heavenly Creatures'' – with which Jackson is often associated.

Weta, initiated by Jackson and key collaborators, grew rapidly during this period to incorporate both digital and physical effects, make-up and costumes, the first two areas normally commanded by Jackson collaborator Richard Taylor.

''The Frighteners'' was regarded as a box office failure. Film critic Roger Ebert expressed disappointment stating that "incredible effort has resulted in a film that looks more like a demo reel than a movie". In February 1997, Jackson launched legal proceedings against the ''New Zealand Listener'' magazine for defamation, over a review of ''The Frighteners'' which claimed that the film was "built from the rubble of other people's movies". In the end, the case was not pursued further. Around this time Jackson's remake of ''King Kong'' was shelved by Universal Studios, partly because of '' Mighty Joe Young'' and ''Godzilla'', both giant monster movies, that had already gone into production. Universal feared it would be thrown aside by the two higher budget movies.

This period of transition seems not to have been entirely a happy one; it also marked one of the high points of tension between Jackson and the New Zealand Film Commission since ''Meet the Feebles'' had gone over-budget earlier in his career. Jackson has claimed the Commission considered firing him from ''Feebles'', though the NZFC went on to help fund his next three films. In 1997, the director submitted a lengthy criticism of the commission for a magazine supplement meant to celebrate the body's 20th anniversary, criticising what he called inconsistent decision-making by inexperienced board members. The magazine felt that the material was too long and potentially defamatory to publish in that form; a shortened version of the material went on to appear in ''Metro'' magazine. In the ''Metro'' article Jackson criticized the Commission over funding decisions concerning a film he was hoping to executive produce, but refused to drop a client-confidentiality provision that would have allowed them to publicly reply to his criticisms.

''The Lord of the Rings''

Jackson won the rights to film Tolkien's epic in 1997 after meeting with producer Saul Zaentz. Originally working with Miramax Films towards a two-film production, Jackson was later pressured to render the story as a single film, and finally overcame a tight deadline by making a last-minute deal with New Line, who were keen on a trilogy.

Principal photography stretched from 11 October 1999 to 22 December 2000 with extensive location filming across New Zealand. With the benefit of extended post-production and extra periods of shooting before each film's release, the series met with huge success and sent Jackson's popularity soaring. ''The Return of the King'' itself met with huge critical acclaim, winning all eleven Oscars it was nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film was the first of the fantasy film genre to win the award for Best Picture and was the second sequel to win Best Picture (the first being ''The Godfather Part II''). Jackson's mother, Joan, died three days before the release of the first movie in the trilogy, ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. There was a special showing of the film after her funeral.

''King Kong''

Universal Studios signed Jackson for a second time to remake the 1933 classic ''King Kong''. The film was released on 14 December 2005 to critical acclaim and grossed around US$562 million worldwide. He also collaborated with game designer Michel Ancel from Ubisoft to make a video game adaptation of the film, which released 21 November 2005 and was also a critical and commercial success.

''Crossing the Line''

In 2007, Jackson directed a short film entitled ''Crossing the Line'', to test a new model of digital cinema camera, the Red One. The film takes place during World War I, and was shot in two days. "Crossing the Line" was shown at NAB 2007 (the USA National Association of Broadcasters). Clips of the film can be found at Reduser.net.

''The Lovely Bones''

Jackson completed an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller, ''The Lovely Bones'', which was released in the United States on 11 December 2009. Jackson has said the film was a welcome relief from his larger-scale epics. The storyline's combination of fantasy aspects and themes of murder share some similarities with ''Heavenly Creatures''. The film ended up receiving generally mixed reviews and middling box office returns yet earned Stanley Tucci an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.

''Tintin'' franchise

Jackson was one of three producers on '' The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn'', directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 2011. He is officially credited as producer but before he began working on ''The Hobbit'', helped Spielberg direct the film. Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis were cast due to their collaboration with Peter Jackson on ''King Kong'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Spielberg chose to work with Peter Jackson due to his work on the ''Lord of the Rings'' series, and knew Peter Jackson's company Weta Digital would make his vision a reality. It received positive reviews and grossed $374 million at the box office.

In December 2011, Spielberg said that a sequel was planned, but this time he would be in a producing role, with Jackson as director. Kathleen Kennedy said the script might be done by February or March 2012 and motion-captured in summer 2012, so that the movie would be on track to be released by Christmas 2014 or mid-2015. In February 2012, Spielberg said that a story outline for the sequel had been completed. In December 2012, Jackson said that the Tintin schedule was to shoot performance-capture in 2013, aiming for a release in 2015. On 12 March 2013, Spielberg said, "Don't hold me to it, but we're hoping the film will come out around Christmas-time in 2015. We know which books we're making, we can't share that now but we're combining two books which were always intended to be combined by Herge."

In December 2014, Peter Jackson said that the ''Tintin'' sequel would be made "at some point soon", although he intended to focus on directing two New Zealand films before that. The following year, Anthony Horowitz, who was hired as the sequel's screenwriter even before the release of the first film, stated that he was no longer working on the sequel, and was unsure if it was still being made. In June 2016, Spielberg confirmed that the sequel was still in development, but Jackson is working on a secret project in the meantime.

''The Hobbit''

Jackson's involvement in the making of a film version of ''The Hobbit'' has a long and chequered history. In November 2006, a letter from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh stated that due to an ongoing legal dispute between Wingnut Films (Jackson's production company) and New Line Cinema, Jackson would not be directing the film. New Line Cinema's head Robert Shaye commented that Jackson "... will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company ...". This prompted an online call for a boycott of New Line Cinema, and by August 2007 Shaye was trying to repair his working relationship. On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Jackson and New Line Cinema had reached agreement to make two prequels, both based on ''The Hobbit'', and to be released in 2012 and 2013 with Jackson as a writer and executive producer and Guillermo del Toro directing.

In early 2010, del Toro dropped out due to production delays and a month later Jackson was back in negotiations to direct ''The Hobbit''; and on 15 October he was finalised as the director – with New Zealand confirmed as the location a couple of weeks later.

The film started production on 20 March 2011. On 30 July 2012, Jackson announced on his Facebook page that the two planned ''Hobbit'' movies would be expanded into a trilogy. He wrote that the third film would not act as a bridge between ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' films, but would continue to expand ''The Hobbit'' story by using material found in the ''Lord of the Rings Appendices''.

''They Shall Not Grow Old''

On 16 October 2018, Jackson's documentary about the First World War, ''They Shall Not Grow Old'', was premiered as the Special Presentation at the BFI London Film Festival and followed by a question-and-answer session hosted by English film critic Mark Kermode. The film was created using original footage from Imperial War Museums' extensive archive, much of it previously unseen, alongside BBC
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