Jackson, Peter

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Peter Jackson

New Zealander Peter Jackson (born 1961) started out his career making popular, but gruesome and supremely gory films about zombies and other supernatural creatures that became cult favorites. He became known around the world, however, when he directed the movie versions of the three "Lord of the Rings" books written by British writer J. R. R. Tolkien. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for the last of the three movies, The Return of the King, and the three movies garnered over 20 Academy awards in all. A multi-talented filmmaker, Jackson has done just about everything that can be done in the moviemaking business, including director, producer, cinematographer, editor, special effects, make-up artist, screenwriter, puppet maker, camera operator, stop motion animator, and actor.

Born to Bill and Joan Jackson in New Zealand on October 31, 1961, Jackson was raised in Pukerua Bay, a small town west of Wellington. He was an only child and therefore was forced when very young to make up his own games and stories to keep himself entertained, something that would serve him well later, for he developed his imagination very early on. For Christmas in 1969 Jackson's parents received an 8mm camera, an instrument Jackson soon got his hands on and rarely let go of after that. In 1973 he began making narrative movies, the first a World War II film he made with some friends. Showing his knack for inventiveness, he began experimenting with special effects, for example, simulating gunfire by punching holes in celluloid. Jackson left school at age 17 hoping to get a job in the New Zealand movie business. He was only able to get a small acting role in a Swedish movie, however, so to pay bills he got a job with the Evening Post as a photoengraving apprentice.

First Full-Length Film Premiered at Cannes

Jackson continued to make films throughout his youth and saved up money until he could afford to buy himself a Box 16mm film camera, a piece of equipment that would allow him to make more-professional-quality films. In 1983 he began a ten-minute short film, called Roast of the Day, which ended up, because of the myriad ideas Jackson kept coming up with, to be a full length feature film. As Jackson later told Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly, "I was a photolithographer at a Wellington newspaper—but I always wanted to make movies. So I got some friends, and we started filming during weekends. It took us four years. I ended up playing two characters [because] I ran out of friends." At the same time he was filming this project, with the help of his friends, he applied to the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) for money to help with the post-production work. No one got paid to be in or work on the film, but editing it was going to cost more money than Jackson made at the Evening Post.

The only person at the NZFC to appreciate the film was Jim Booth, and he found enough money to help fund the film's completion. The film, ultimately titled Bad Taste, premiered at Cannes, where critics loved it and the film sold to over 30 countries. A contributor to the VH1 Website dubbed Bad Taste "a delightfully repulsive romp that truly lived up to its title. An alien horror comedy that offered up almost unprecedented servings of blood, gore, dismembered anatomy, and a degree of cannibalism not seen since the Donner Party's last family outing." In addition to the satisfaction the film's success gave Jackson, it also enabled him, more importantly, to become a full-time moviemaker. In fact, after the film's success Booth left the NZFC and joined Jackson in starting up the production company WingNut Films.

Jackson's next film, Meet the Feebles, has been described as an acid-taking muppet movie. It would be Braindead, a zombie film that was released internationally and received much acclaim and many awards, that would ultimately energize Jackson's career. Braindead also brought the New Zealander to the attention of producers of the sixth film in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series. Jackson spent a lot of time working on a script for the film series, but took so long that by the time he delivered it to the studio the movie was already in production, with someone else's script. Although disappointed, Jackson remained determined to be successful. In contrast to his professional ups and downs, his personal life advanced in 1987 when he married Frances Walsh. The couple went on to have two children: Billy and Katie, and Jackson is reported to write his screenplays in collaboration with his wife.

Heavenly Creatures Released to Much Acclaim

The next film Jackson did was entirely different than anything he had done before. Rather than gore and effects, he focused on psychology in the thriller Heavenly Creatures, a story based on the true-life relationship between two girls in an obsessive relationship. The girls, living in a fantasy world of their own making, decide to kill one of the girls' mothers because the woman was attempting to separate them. While the film has the dark side characteristic of many of Jackson's films, it also contains an element of humanity that was lacking in his previous efforts. Rather than depicting the girls as evil lesbian killers, as they had been portrayed by the press, he attempted to reveal the seductiveness of their made-up world by contrasting it with the crueler one they actually inhabited. Heavenly Creatures was the film that launched actress Kate Winslet in her career, while Jackson was nominated for an Academy Award with his wife, Frances Walsh, for Best Screenplay, and won awards at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.

Jackson's next movie was The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister, a psychic investigator. Entertainment Weekly described the film as "A smart, subtle movie disguised as a dumb, noisy one," and added that it "grabs you by the hair and drags you along." The film was well received and aided Jackson in achieving his next coup, one that would draw on all his talents as a filmmaker and director.

Tackled Epic Lord of the Rings

When it was announced that Jackson, the king of the gruesome horror flick, was going to direct the Lord of the Rings trilogy, many were surprised. There had been several suggestions for the movie running around Hollywood, including one suggestion to condense all three books into one film, another to film two of the three parts of Tolkien's classic work. Finally producers decided to film three movies back-to-back, one per book, and release the films over a three-year span. The movies took over 15 months to film, the cast moving to New Zealand for the length of filming and becoming as close as their characters were. Jackson wanted to film all three installments of the story together so that the actors and everyone else working on the films would feel that these movies were one story. As a Time magazine reviewer explained, Jackson's "triumph was to oversee a production as mammoth as his early films had been intimate, and to keep the grand scheme in mind while enriching each screen moment. Moviemakers appreciated the breadth and depth of his commitment. Moviegoers reacted in awe. And studio execs learned that once in a while it's a good bet to trust a director's passion and vision." The movies starred Elijah Wood as Frodo, along with Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Christopher Lee, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian Holm, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Karl Urban, Sir Ian McKellen, and many, many more.

Reviewing the completed work, Richard Alleva wrote in Commonweal that The Lord of the Rings "may or may not please votaries of J. R. R. Tolkien's prose epic, but it is a godsend to anyone like me. . . . This movie isn't merely an adaptation; it's a coup d'etat. . . . Jackson, master of technomagic and generalissimo of a thousand technicians and actors, has made of Tolkien's deliberately archaic epic a fresh, bracing revel." The films were overwhelmingly admired and each of the films won many award. The Fellowship of the Rings won four Academy Awards and was nominated for nine others, including Best Picture, Best Writing, and Best Director. The Two Towers won two Academy awards and was nominated for four more, including Best Picture. Some people were surprised that the second movie did not receive more awards, but it was thought that the reason the second movie garnered less awards was because by that point people were waiting for what they were sure was going to be an amazing last film. And so it was. As Entertainment Weekly said, "All hail The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King! I can't think of another film trilogy that ends in such glory, or another monumental work of sustained storytelling that surges ahead with so much inventiveness and ardor." The Return of the King was nominated for 11 Academy awards and won them all, tying with Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Academy awards won by a single film. Jackson won the Best Director award for Return of the King and the film won for Best Picture. Together, the three films grossed nearly $3 billion.

Looked to the Future with King Kong

Following the success of Return of the King, many were curious to see what Jackson would do next. By 2005 he was working on a remake of the classic 1933 film King Kong, which he credits for inspiring him to be a filmmaker in the first place. Jeff Giles interviewed the director for Newsweek and explained: "Jackson hopes to bring the Kong myth to a generation that's allergic to black-and-white movies, confuses King Kong with Godzilla and never saw the original, just the campy '70s remake."