Sir Peter Robert JacksonONZKNZM (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of theLord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and theHobbit trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name byJ. R. R. Tolkien.
Jackson was born on 31 October 1961 inWellington[4]: 25 [5]and was raised in its far northern suburb ofPukerua Bay.[6] His parents – Joan (née Ruck),[4](p 20)[7] a factory worker and housewife, and William "Bill" Jackson, a wages clerk – wereimmigrants fromEngland.[8][9]
As a child, Jackson was a keen film fan, growing up onRay Harryhausen films, as well as finding inspiration in the television seriesThunderbirds andMonty Python's Flying Circus. After a family friend gave the Jacksons aSuper 8 cine-camera with Peter in mind, he began making short films with his friends. Jackson has long citedKing Kong as his favourite film, and around the age of nine he attempted to remake it using his ownstop-motion models.[10] Also, as a child Jackson made a World War II epic calledThe Dwarf Patrol seen on theBad Taste bonus disc, which featured his first special effect of poking pinholes in the film for gun shots, and aJames Bond spoof namedColdfinger.[11] Most notable though was a 20-minuteshort calledThe Valley, which won him a special prize because of the shots he used.[citation needed]
Jackson attendedKāpiti College, where he expressed no interest in sports.[12] His classmates also remember him wearing aduffel coat with "an obsession verging on religious". He had no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, visual effects and make-up largely through his own trial and error. As a young adult, Jackson discovered the work of authorJ. R. R. Tolkien after watchingThe Lord of the Rings (1978), an animated film byRalph Bakshi that was a part-adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy trilogy.[13] When he was 16 years old, Jackson left school and began working full-time as aphoto-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 a16 mmcamera, and began shooting a film that later becameBad Taste.[14]
Jackson has long cited several films as influences. It is well known that Jackson has a passion forKing Kong, often citing it as his favourite film and as the film that inspired him early in his life. Jackson recalls attempting to remakeKing Kong when he was nine. At the 2009San Diego Comic-Con, while being interviewed alongsideAvatar andTitanic directorJames Cameron, Jackson said certain films gave him a "kick". He mentionedMartin Scorsese's crime filmsGoodfellas andCasino, 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."[15] Jackson said the 1970 filmWaterloo inspired him in his youth.[16] Other influences includeGeorge A. Romero,Steven Spielberg,Sam Raimi and the special effects byRay Harryhausen.[17]
Jackson's first feature wasBad Taste, a haphazard fashionsplatter comedy which took years to make. It included many of Jackson's friends acting and working on it for free. Shooting was normally done on 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 theNew Zealand Film Commission, afterJim 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 theCannes Film Festival in May 1987.[18]
Around this time, Jackson began working on writing a number of film scripts, in varied collaborative groupings with playwright Stephen Sinclair, writerFran Walsh and writer/actorDanny Mulheron. Walsh would later become his life partner.[2] Some of the scripts from this period, including a sequel toA Nightmare on Elm Street, have never been made into movies; the proposedzombie filmBraindead underwent extensive rewrites.[2]
Jackson's next film to see release wasMeet 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."[19]
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 1950sParker–Hulme murder case, in which two teenage girls murdered one of their mothers, inspired the film. It wasFran Walsh that persuaded him that these events had the makings of a movie;[4](p 466) Jackson has been quoted saying that the film "only got made" because of her enthusiasm for the subject matter.[20] The film's fame coincided with the New Zealand media tracking down the real-life Juliet Hulme, who wrote books under the nameAnne Perry.Melanie Lynskey andKate Winslet played Parker and Hulme, respectively.Heavenly Creatures was critically acclaimed and was nominated forBest Original Screenplay at theAcademy Awards[21] and made top ten of the year lists inTime,The Guardian,The Sydney Morning Herald, andThe New Zealand Herald.[22][failed verification]
The following year, in collaboration with Wellington film-maker Costa Botes, Jackson co-directed themockumentaryForgotten Silver (1995). This ambitious made-for-television piece told the story of a fictitious New Zealand film pioneer, Colin McKenzie, who had supposedly invented colour film and 'talkies', and attempted an epic film ofSalome 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.[23][24] The number of people who believed the increasingly improbable story provides testimony to Jackson and Botes' skill at playing on New Zealand'snational myth of a nation of innovators and forgotten trail-blazers.[25]
The success ofHeavenly Creatures helped pave the way for Jackson's first big budget Hollywood film,The Frighteners starringMichael 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 andWeta Workshop, the visual effects company – born from the one-man contributions of George Port toHeavenly 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.[26](p 229)[27]
The Frighteners was regarded as a box office failure.[28] Film criticRoger Ebert expressed disappointment stating that "incredible effort has resulted in a film that looks more like a demo reel than a movie".[29] In February 1997, Jackson launched legal proceedings against theNew Zealand Listener magazine fordefamation, over a review ofThe Frighteners which claimed that the film was "built from the rubble of other people's movies".[30][31] In the end, the case was not pursued further. Around this time Jackson's remake ofKing Kong was shelved byUniversal Studios, partly because ofMighty Joe Young andGodzilla, both giant monster movies, that had already gone into production. Universal feared it would be thrown aside by the two higher budget movies.[32]
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 theNew Zealand Film Commission sinceMeet the Feebles had gone over-budget earlier in his career. Jackson has claimed the Commission considered firing him fromFeebles, 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 inMetro magazine.[33][full citation needed][34][35][4](p 321) In theMetro article Jackson criticised 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.
Jackson won the rights to film Tolkien's epic in 1997 after meeting with producerSaul Zaentz. Originally working withMiramax Films towards a two-film production, Jackson was later pressured to render the story as a single film,[36][37] and finally overcame a tight deadline by making a last-minute deal withNew Line, which was keen on a trilogy.[38]
Principal photography extended from 11 October 1999 to 22 December 2000 with extensive location filming across New Zealand. With the benefit of extendedpost-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 received huge critical acclaim, winning all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for, includingBest Picture andBest 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 beingThe 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.[39]
Universal Studios signed Jackson for a second time to remake the 1933 classicKing Kong.[40] The film was released on 14 December 2005 to critical acclaim and grossed around US$562 million worldwide.[41] He also collaborated with game designerMichel Ancel fromUbisoft to make avideo game adaptation of the film, which released 21 November 2005 and was also a critical and commercial success.[42][43][44]
In 2007, Jackson directed a short film entitledCrossing the Line, to test a new model of digital cinema camera, theRed One. The film takes place duringWorld War I, and was shot in two days. "Crossing the Line" was shown at NAB 2007 (the USANational Association of Broadcasters). Clips of the film can be found at Reduser.net.[45]
Jackson completed anadaptation ofAlice Sebold's bestseller,The Lovely Bones, which was released in the United States on 11 December 2009.[46] 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 withHeavenly Creatures. The film ended up receiving generally mixed reviews and middling box office returns yet earnedStanley Tucci anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.[47][48]
Jackson was one of three producers onThe Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, directed bySteven Spielberg and released in 2011. He is officially credited as producer but before he began working onThe Hobbit, helped Spielberg direct the film.Jamie Bell andAndy Serkis were cast due to their collaboration with Peter Jackson onKing Kong andThe Lord of the Rings. Spielberg chose to collaborate with Peter Jackson due to his work on theLord of the Rings series, and knew Peter Jackson's visual effects companyWeta 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.[49]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.[50] 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.[51] 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 byHerge."[52]
In December 2014, Peter Jackson said that theTintin sequel would be made "at some point soon", although he intended to focus on directing two New Zealand films before that.[53] The following year,Anthony Horowitz, who was hired as the sequel's screenwriter even before the release of the first film,[citation needed] stated that he was no longer working on the sequel, and was unsure if it was still being made.[54] In June 2016, Spielberg confirmed that the sequel was still in development, but Jackson is working on a secret project in the meantime.[55]
Jackson's involvement in the making of a film version ofThe 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) andNew Line Cinema, Jackson would not be directing the film.[56] New Line Cinema's headRobert Shaye commented that Jackson "... will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company ...".[57] This prompted an online call for a boycott of New Line Cinema,[58] and by August 2007 Shaye was trying to repair his working relationship.[59] On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Jackson and New Line Cinema had reached agreement to make two prequels, both based onThe Hobbit, and to be released in 2012 and 2013 with Jackson as a writer andexecutive producer andGuillermo del Toro directing.[60][61]
In early 2010, del Toro dropped out due to production delays[62] and a month later Jackson was back in negotiations to directThe Hobbit;[63] and on 15 October he was finalised as the director[64][65] – with New Zealand confirmed as the location a couple of weeks later.[66]
The film started production on 20 March 2011. On 30 July 2012, Jackson announced on his Facebook page that the two plannedHobbit movies would be expanded into a trilogy. He wrote that the third film would not act as a bridge betweenThe Hobbit andThe Lord of the Rings films, but would continue to expandThe Hobbit story by using material found in theLord of the Rings Appendices.[67]
On 16 October 2018, Jackson's documentary about theFirst World War,They Shall Not Grow Old, was premiered as the Special Presentation at theBFI London Film Festival and followed by a question-and-answer session hosted by English film criticMark Kermode.[68] The film was created using original footage fromImperial War Museums' extensive archive, much of it previously unseen, alongsideBBC and IWM interviews with servicemen who fought in the conflict. The majority of the footage (save for the start and end sections) has beencolourised, converted to 3D and transformed with modern production techniques to present detail never seen before.[68][69]
Before the screening, Jackson said, "This is not a story of the First World War, it is not a historical story, it may not even be entirely accurate but it's the memories of the men who fought – they're just giving their impressions of what it was like to be a soldier."[70]
To mark the centenary of theFirst World War's end, Peter Jackson has created a visually staggering thought experiment; an immersive deep-dive into what it was like for ordinary British soldiers on thewestern front. This he has done using state-of-the-art digital technology to restore flickery old black-and-white archive footage of the servicemen's life in training and in thetrenches. He has colourised it, sharpened it, put it in 3D, and, as well as using diaries and letters for narrative voiceover, he has usedlip-readers to help dub in what the men are actually saying.
The effect is electrifying. The soldiers are returned to an eerie, hyperreal kind of life in front of our eyes, like ghosts or figures summoned up in aséance. The faces are unforgettable.[71]
The film was broadcast onBBC Two on 11 November 2018 (the hundredth anniversary of theArmistice of World War I), earning acclaim for its restoration work, immersive atmosphere, and portrayal of war.[72] To accompany the film, a special episode of the documentary seriesWhat Do Artists Do All Day?, which followed Peter Jackson making the film, aired the following day onBBC Four.[73]
On 30 January 2019, the fiftieth anniversary ofthe Beatles'rooftop concert, which was the band's final performance, Jackson announced that his next directorial work would be a documentary about the making of their final albumLet It Be. In a process similar to his previous documentary projectThey Shall Not Grow Old, this created around "55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to [Jackson's team]", which are "the only footage of any note that documents them at work in the studio". The documentary used the techniques developed forThey Shall Not Grow Old to transform the footage with modern production techniques, and seeks to display a new side of a period in the Beatles' history usually remembered as highly conflictual.[80][81][82] Most of the used footage was originally recorded for the1970Let It Be documentary.[83]
Clare Olssen andJabez Olssen, respectively producer and editor ofThey Shall Not Grow Old, returned for this new project, with Ken Kamins,Jeff Jones and Jonathan Clyde as executive producers. The project was made with "the full co-operation" ofPaul McCartney andRingo Starr, the last two living Beatles, as well asJohn Lennon andGeorge Harrison's widowsYoko Ono andOlivia Harrison.[80][81][82] The film includes the full 42-minute last rooftop concert.[83]
The "de-mixing" technology developed to isolate instruments and vocals from old audio recordings to achieve a better sound quality inGet Back would have an effect on Beatles records themselves:Revolver: Special Edition, a 2022reissue of the band's 1966 albumRevolver, would use the technology to improve the album's audio quality.Annie Zaleski ofThe Guardian, who gaveSpecial Edition a five out of five stars rating, wrote that: "new details tease out deeper meanings in the songs. Now more prominent, the low-lit backing harmonies on 'Here, There and Everywhere' remake the tune as an old-fashioned rock'n'roll love song; the piano bending out of key on 'I Want to Tell You' mirrors the narrator's insecurity; and McCartney's booming walking bass on 'Taxman' illuminates the biting, cynical tone of Harrison's lyrics...Revolver still sounds so vibrant."[90] It would eventually lead to the release on 2 November 2023 of "Now and Then", dubbed "the last Beatles song", which used the technology to salvage audio from a 1977 demo by Lennon and a failed 1995 attempt by the other three ex-Beatles to complete the song (Lennon having beenmurdered in 1980), together with newly recorded music by McCartney and Starr, to finally release the song over 55 years after it was first conceived. The short documentary filmNow and Then – The Last Beatles Song, featuring Jackson, chronicled the making of the song.[91] "Now and Then" received received widespread attention and acclaim upon release, winning aGrammy Award and being considered a worthy finale for the Beatles.[92][93][94]
Jackson personally directed the "Now and Then" music video, using new footage of McCartney and Starr and using restored old footage similarly toGet Back to have all four Beatles visually on-screen.[95] In an interview days before the song's release, Jackson claimed that he had originally been "very reluctant" when offered to direct the video, but that McCartney, Starr and Apple "didn't even wait for me to say no" before proceeding to send him footage for the video. I found myself swept along as they quickly addressed my concerns. Paul and Ringo shot footage of themselves performing and sent that to me." He stated that he made the video thinking of it as a short film rather than a music video.[96] The video was met with a mixed response, with praise for its emotional weight but criticism for the inclusion of the dead Harrison and Lennon into more recent footage.[97][98][99][100]
In May 2024,Warner Bros. Discovery CEODavid Zaslav confirmed that Jackson and his collaboratorsFran Walsh andPhilippa Boyens would be producing a newLord of the Rings film with theworking titleThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The film is intended to be released in 2027, withAndy Serkis directing from a screenplay written by Walsh, Boyens, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.The Hunt for Gollum is the first slate in a newLord of the Rings film series developed through Warner Bros. labelNew Line Cinema. In February 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery had signed a deal with theEmbracer Group to produce a new series ofLord of the Rings live-action films.[101] On 10 May,RNZ reported thatWellington would serve as the production hub for the newLord of the Rings films.[102]
Jackson was set to make games withMicrosoft Game Studios, a collaboration announced on 27 September 2006, atX06.[103] Specifically, Jackson and Microsoft were teaming together to form a new studio called Wingnut Interactive.[104] In collaboration withBungie, he was to co-write, co-design and co-produce a new game taking place in theHalo universe – tentatively calledHalo: Chronicles. On 27 July 2009, in an interview about his new movie (as producer)District 9, he announced thatHalo: Chronicles had been cancelled, while Microsoft confirmed that the game is "on hold". In July 2009 Jackson's game studio Wingnut Interactive were said to be at work on original intellectual property.[105] As of August 2023, there are no games released nor developed by Wingnut Interactive.
In 2006, Jackson gaveNZ$500,000 toembryonic stem cell research.[106] He purchased a church in the Wellington suburb ofSeatoun for $1.06 million, saving it from demolition.[107][108] He also contributes his expertise to48HOURS, a New Zealand film-making competition, through annually selecting 3 "Wildcards" for the National Final.
Jackson, aWorld War I aviation enthusiast, is chair of the 14–18 Aviation Heritage Trust.[109] He donated his services and provided replica aircraft to create a 10-minute multimedia display calledOver the Front for theAustralian War Memorial in 2008.[110] He contributed to the defense fund for theWest Memphis Three.[111] In 2011, Jackson and Walsh purchased 1 Kent Terrace, the home ofBATS Theatre in Wellington, effectively securing the theatre's future.[112]
His property portfolio in 2018 was estimated atNZ$150 million.[115]
In 2009, he purchased aGulfstream G550 jet registered ZK-KFB; Jackson is one of therichest people in entertainment industry, with an estimatednet worth upwards of $1.5 billion, cited by Forbes and multiple other highly reliable news sources.In early 2014 he replaced his Gulfstream G550, with aGulfstream G650 also registered ZK-KFB.[116] In April 2014, the aircraft was used in thesearch forMH370.[117][118] The aircraft has subsequently been sold. Jackson owns an aircraft restoration and manufacturing company, The Vintage Aviator (based in Kilbirnie, Wellington, and at theHood Aerodrome, Masterton), which is dedicated to World War I[119][120] and World War II fighter planes among other planes from the 1920s and 1930s.[citation needed] He is chairman of theOmaka Aviation Heritage Trust, which hosts a biennial air show.[121]
He owns ascale modelling company Wingnut Wings that specializes in World War I subjects.[122] Wingnut Wings, however, closed in March 2020 with the ultimate fate of the company and its moulds not yet known.[123]
Jackson became a billionaire in 2021 by selling WETA toUnity Technologies, an interactive 3D gaming business.[124]
Peter Jackson invested inColossal Biosciences, a bio-science company that aims to bring back extinct creatures, like Wooly Mammoth, back to life .[125]
Jackson is known for his attention to detail, a habit of shooting scenes from many angles, amacabre sense of humour, and a general playfulness – the latter to a point thatThe Lord of the Rings conceptual designerAlan Lee jokingly remarked, "the film is kind of incidental, really".[126]
Jackson was a noted perfectionist on theLord of the Rings shoot, where he demanded numerous takes of scenes, requesting additional takes by repeatedly saying, "one more for luck".[a][127][128] Jackson is also renowned within the New Zealand film industry for his insistence on "coverage" – shooting a scene from as many angles as possible, giving him more options during editing. Jackson has been known to spend days shooting a single scene. This is evident in his work where even scenes featuring simple conversations often feature a wide array of multiple camera angles and shot-sizes as well as zooming closeups on characters' faces. One of his most common visual trademarks is shooting close-ups of actors with wide-angle lenses.[129] He was an early user of computer enhancement technology and provideddigital special effects to a number of Hollywood films.[26](p 159)
Jackson is one of the lead actors in two of his films: inBad Taste, he playstwo characters named Derek and Robert, even engaging them both in a fight.[26](p 124) In the mockumentaryForgotten Silver, he plays himself.[26](p 129)
InThe Frighteners, Jackson is a biker bumped into by Frank Bannister.[26]
InThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson plays a carrot-chomping citizen ofBree when the fourhobbits are entering the town.[26]
InThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, he plays a spear-throwing defender ofHelm's Deep.[26]
InThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King he is seen as the boatswain of a murderouscorsair ship.[26] This character is seen very briefly in the theatrical version. In the extended version he is onscreen for a longer period and is accidentally killed byLegolas's "warning shot". A detailedaction figure of Jackson was made of this character in the same line as the rest of the Lord of the Rings toys.
Also inThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: during the scene ofShelob's Lair,Sam's hands (i.e. Jackson's) are seen entering the shot asShelob is wrappingFrodo in cobweb. This was due toSean Astin's temporary absence, and Jackson wanted to progress the production of the scene as much as possible, even without the actor.[133]
InThe Lovely Bones, he appears as a customer in a camera store playing with a camera.[26]
InThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Jackson plays one of thedwarves escaping fromErebor afterSmaug has attacked.[134]
InThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, he reprises hisThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring role as the carrot-chomping citizen ofBree.[135]
At the end ofThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, whenBilbo Baggins restores the fallen portraits of his parents, Bungo Baggins andBelladonna Took, to the wall from which they had fallen or been removed, Jackson andFran Walsh have cameos as Bungo and Belladonna, as the portraits were painted in their likeness.[b]
He has also made cameos in several films not directed by him. In the opening sequence ofHot Fuzz (2007), he played a demented man dressed asFather Christmas, who stabs Nicholas Angel (played bySimon Pegg) in the hand.[136]
Jackson's eldest son, Billy (born 1995), has made cameo appearances in almost every one of his father's films since his birth, namelyThe Frighteners,The Lord of the Rings film trilogy,King Kong,The Lovely Bones, and the third film ofThe Hobbit trilogy. His daughter, Katie (born 1996), appears in all the above films exceptThe Frighteners. His partner Fran Walsh makes a short cameo inThe Frighteners as a woman walking next to Cyrus and Stuar just prior the scene featuring their son Billy.[137][full citation needed]
Jackson is an avidaviation enthusiast and owns a collection of over 40 airworthyWorld War I-erawarbirds housed atHood Aerodrome nearMasterton,[142] and aGulfstream G650 in Wellington.[143] Jackson also owns the main driving Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car that was built for the filmChitty Chitty Bang Bang.[144] He is also interested in building scale models and owns a company that makes models of World War I aircraft.[145] Wingnut Wings, his model making company, has stopped producing kits as of 2020; however, the future of the company is unknown.[123]
As well as this,Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre presents the Knights of the Sky exhibition, featuring Jackson's own collection of WW1 aircraft and artifacts. This story ofaviation in the Great War is brought to life in sets created by the internationally acclaimed talent of WingNut Films and Weta Workshop.[146][147]
Jackson received some criticism during the 2019 Wellington City Council Elections, with his support for then-city councillorAndy Foster. Foster won the election against the incumbent mayorJustin Lester by 62 votes, with critics noting Jackson's public support and $30,000 of funding to Foster's election campaign being pivotal for Foster's victory.[148] Both Jackson and Foster had criticised the previous city council's decision to support property development atShelly Bay.[149]
In 2025 Jackson and Walsh placed fifth on theNBR Rich List with an estimated net worth of $2.6b.[150]
Since 1994'sHeavenly Creatures Peter Jackson's films have enjoyed success in the annual awards season, earning many nominations and winning several awards;The Frighteners being his only fictional directed effort since 1994 not to be nominated for anAcademy Award. TheLord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful trilogies of all time in terms of awards, winning moreAcademy Awards than theFrancis Ford Coppola directedGodfather Trilogy, with 2003'sThe Return of the King winning in all 11 categories for which it was nominated including Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay. Jackson's films have fared extremely well in the technical categories as well as the major categories; all threeLord of the Rings pictures as well asKing Kong won theAcademy Award for Best Visual Effects in their respective years. In total Jackson's directed efforts have been the most awarded films at three separate Academy Award ceremonies, the 74th, 76th, and 78th.
^Christopher Lee remarked about having twelve takes for one scene, and later he was told byIan McKellen he did 24 takes for two lines the previous day.
^Jackson and Walsh point this out in the DVD commentary of the film's extended edition.
^Because its release date did not match their deadlines,They Shall Not Grow Old was ineligible for theAcademy Awards; theGolden Globe Awards do not reward documentaries.
^Pryor, Ian (24 August 1989). "Meet the Feebles".Evening Post (film review). p. 25.
^Webster, Andy (1996). "The Frightener" [Cover: "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).
