Lord of the Directors part 2

However it is again worth interceding the story at this point for a reality check: Peter Jackson is not the first filmmaker to have risen dramatically to fame, examples such as Orson Well's dramatic direction of the 'War of the Worlds' radio play that caused public panic of an invasion and made him a household name or Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, who’s first ever feature film ‘The Rat Catcher’ released in 1999 garnered her many awards and gushing praise from reviewers. He's by no means the first director to begin film-life through cult status for example Tarantino’s fame was achieved on the back of 'Reservoir Dogs' or the Steven Soderbergh, currently riding high with the Oscar winning ‘Traffic’ who rose to prominence with the indie hit 'Sex, Lies and Videotape'. What makes Peter Jackson's career worth examining? It doesn’t seem that unique that he's not only helming the largest simultaneous film production in Hollywood’s history, but also that he's dragged the filming away from the Hollywood hills to the New Zealand mountains.

Ah. That's why.

He is worth examination it because aspects of both his technical ability and personal skill make him an interesting figure for many reasons; Jackson seems to be a director who has not lost his own ideas in the movie-industry grinder. He plays buy his own rules and through talent and negotiation (and possibly luck!) seems to steer a clear course. When he originally approached the 'Lord of the Rings', he'd decided the film could not be made into a single film, which is often what Hollywood doctrine prefers; "we made a decision at the very beginning that you could never do Lord of the Rings as one film...I think that's one of the reasons why it hasn't been made for 50 years." However the rights for the film were with Disney's Miramax Films and they wanted one film, however remarkably Jackson piloted the project to Time Warner's New Line Cinema and a three-film deal.

One danger of beginning your directorial career with a cult movie is that you'll be pigeon-holed. Again Peter Jackson has stuck to his own creative guns here. There seems little doubt that he loves horror-gore films; he often speaks of his love of the genre through such films as 'King Kong' or 'Evil Dead 2' but then he can surprise critics and fans alike by a dramatic shift in subject matter through films such as 'Heavenly Creatures', which is considered by many an art-house movie. Indeed, now were discussing the man who is heading a fantasy production that seems a million miles from the low-budget splatter-fest that established him. Indeed the eclectic and inclusive approach to the art of filmmaking caused one critic to remark; "...The Fellowship of the Ring boasts some more unlikely influences. At times, Jackson's film could almost pass for the Anglo-Saxon cousin of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; lacking the dark, liquid exoticism of Ang Lee's Chinese-language epic, but compensating with old-school blood-and-thunder and a rash of fairytale monsters."

The Return of the King

Peter's career also shows that you don't need to be based in Hollywood or New York to be a filmmaker. With echo's of Kubrick, who in later life would not travel to the US and insisted executives came to London. Peter - born and based in New Zealand has persuaded the US backers that the production should also be in, you guessed it, New Zealand. Some film commentators noted that Kubrick’s distance from executives allowed him to lever an additional tier of creative freedom and one could speculate if Jackson's distance from his financiers also offered the same advantages? Such comments come from the hard commercial reality that while to many a film may be entertainment, art or both; to others it's a product, no different from toasters or toilet roll. A $300 investment does not come cheap and many worried if the 'soul' of the project would be scarified as one commentator noted; "Let's hope that his franchise is the exception to the rule, which states that the director isn't in charge - the money is." So far it appears from both the hard-core Tolkien fans reactions and the majority of the critics agree that the 'soul' of the project has been saved and creative direction has won the day. A sample fan comment from of the filmforce.ign.com was; "The movie's length is its only possible deterrent: I really wanted it to be longer..." while a many critics were full of praise; "...director Peter Jackson avoids almost all of the traps to deliver a powerful, intense and beautifully realised movie that interprets the novel - well, almost to perfection." More importantly for the financiers, this direction has paid dividends at the box office so yielding a profit on the investment greater than they may have recouped from sales of toasters or toilet roll.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Directed by Peter Jackson