He’s as cool as an elf, he has the heart of a hobbit, and he’s as mad as a wizard.” That’s the awestruck opinion of Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom on a man who has more prestige than any director in Hollywood.
That is Peter Jackson, the dishevelled, bespectacled 42-year-old New Zealander whose giant Tolkien trilogy has taken more than $2-billion at the box office and who is revered by Tolkien buffs all over the world for having brought their sacred text to the big screen with such spectacular success.
No director has masterminded three movies back to back like this, still less done so with such a giant commercial splash. The Matrix trilogy did well financially, but disappointed critically. The jury is out on the Star Wars series. But Jackson’s fantastical extravaganza has carried all before it.
He is just about the most famous man in New Zealand history. His films have the distinction of being declared the semi-official standard bearer of national pride. His use of the New Zealand countryside is credited with a tourist boom as well as a wave of national pride. After the world premiere of the third episode, The Return of the King, in New Zealand last week, they are all but inventing a new haka for him.
Now Jackson is going on to direct his much-cherished project, King Kong — a movie he had been wanting to make long before his smash with The Lord of the Rings. It used to be that he could not get funding; now Hollywood is showering him with cash. If he said he wanted to make a musical based on the Wellington telephone directory, they would be opening their chequebooks.
Jackson worked in children’s TV before making a name as a splatter-maestro of reasonably priced horror. In 1994 he discovered Kate Winslet in his psychological drama Heavenly Creatures. He has spent eight years making The Lord of the Rings. — Â