Peter Jackson 9781623566531, 9781501304491, 9781623560966

Table of contents :
Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. The Cinema of Peter Jackson
Biography
The early years
The birth of a film auteur
Building a film empire
Auteur as entrepreneur
Auteur theory
Themes
Style
2. Collaborative Relationships
Costa Botes
Philippa Boyens
Andrew Lesnie
Joe Letteri
Grant Major
Jamie Selkirk
Andy Serkis
Richard Taylor
Fran Walsh
3. Peter Jackson, Wellywood and the Global Dispersal of Film Production
Introduction
The New Zealand film industry
Jackson and the New Zealand Film Commission
Wellington
From Wellington to ‘Wellywood’
Jackson and the global dispersal of film production
Conclusions
4. From Kaihoro to Middle Earth: The Imaginary Geography of Peter Jackson’s Film Landscapes
Introduction
Landscape and New Zealand cinema
Locations and film production
Film geography
Middle Earth
Film tourism
Conclusions
A–Z Films/Themes/Key Concepts
3D
Aviation
Bad Taste
Braindead
Cameos
District 9
Forgotten Silver
Heavenly Creatures
Jack Brown Genius
High frame rate
King Kong
Meet the Feebles
Miniatures
Motion capture
Representation, Ethnicity and Race
Short films and minor projects
Sound
Special effects
Splatstick
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
The Frighteners
The Hobbit
Plot
Development
Adaptation
Production
Reception
The Lord of the Rings
Plot
Development
Adaptation
Production
Post-production
Marketing
The Lovely Bones
West of Memphis
Weta
Appendix 1: Filmography
Appendix 2: Selected Bibliography
Works Cited
Index

Citation preview

Peter Jackson

THE BLOOMSBURY COMPANIONS TO CONTEMPORARY FILMMAKERS Series Editor Scott Wilson

Peter Jackson Alfio Leotta

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc

N E W YO R K • LO N D O N • OX F O R D • N E W D E L H I • SY DN EY

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA

50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK

www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2016 Paperback edition first published 2017 © Alfio Leotta, 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: PB: ePub: ePDF:

978-1-6235-6653-1 978-1-5013-3855-7 978-1-6235-6948-8 978-1-6235-6096-6

Series: The Bloomsbury Companions to Contemporary Filmmakers Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.

CONTENTS

Preface viii Acknowledgements xii

1 The Cinema of Peter Jackson

1

Biography 1 The early years 1 The birth of a film auteur 8 Building a film empire 11 Auteur as entrepreneur 14 Auteur theory 14 Themes 18 Style 21

2 Collaborative Relationships

29

Costa Botes 31 Philippa Boyens 35 Andrew Lesnie 38 Joe Letteri 41 Grant Major 43 Jamie Selkirk 46 Andy Serkis 49 Richard Taylor 52 Fran Walsh 55

3 Peter Jackson, Wellywood and the Global Dispersal of Film Production 59 Introduction 59

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CONTENTS

The New Zealand film industry 61 Jackson and the New Zealand Film Commission 63 Wellington 65 From Wellington to ‘Wellywood’ 70 Jackson and the global dispersal of film production 74 Conclusions 79

4 From Kaihoro to Middle Earth: The Imaginary Geography of Peter Jackson’s Film Landscapes Introduction 83 Landscape and New Zealand cinema 84 Locations and film production 87 Film geography 89 Middle Earth 92 Film tourism 97 Conclusions 103

A–Z Films/Themes/Key Concepts 3D 107 Aviation 112 Bad Taste 114 Braindead 119 Cameos 123 District 9 126 Forgotten Silver 129 Heavenly Creatures 133 Jack Brown Genius 137 High frame rate 140 King Kong 143 Meet the Feebles 152 Miniatures 155 Motion capture 158 Representation, Ethnicity and Race 163

107

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CONTENTS

Short films and minor projects 168 Sound 171 Special effects 175 Splatstick 180 The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn 184 The Frighteners 188 The Hobbit 192 Plot 192 Development 194 Adaptation 196 Production 198 Reception 203 The Lord of the Rings 205 Plot 206 Development 206 Adaptation 209 Production 211 Post-production 214 Marketing 215 The Lovely Bones 219 West of Memphis 223 Weta 226 Appendix 1: Filmography 234 Appendix 2: Selected Bibliography 249 Works Cited 252 Index 271

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‘Home is now behind you, the world is ahead’ announces Gandalf as Bilbo leaves the Shire in the opening sequences of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012). Like Bilbo, hundreds of millions of viewers have embarked on exciting voyages across the fantastic worlds featured in Peter Jackson’s films. My own generation has grown up with his movies: watching Braindead (1992) in an Italian open air theatre on a hot summer night was one of the most memorable experiences of my teenage years. A few years later, the release of The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) trilogy represented a major landmark event for movie-goers all around the world, and particularly for devoted fans of the Tolkien novels, like myself. For many viewers, the desire to visit the home of Middle Earth led to a physical journey to Jackson’s home country, New Zealand. My own decision to travel to, and eventually settle in Aotearoa, New Zealand, was influenced, in part, by curiosity to see the land that provided the backdrop to Jackson’s films. Jackson has virtually (and sometimes physically) moved world audiences and yet in his own personal journey as a film maker he has never left home. Jackson has become one of the most acclaimed and influential film makers in contemporary cinema while living and working in the place where he was born: New Zealand. The technological innovations devised by Jackson and his collaborators have revolutionized the contemporary film industry, attracting prestigious directors and transforming Wellington into a major film production hub. Jackson has simultaneously contributed to and profited from the globalization of Hollywood, thus becoming one of the major players in the international movie business. Paradoxically, it was his geographical distance from Hollywood that allowed him to safeguard the creative and entrepreneurial freedom that eventually led to his success. Many of the films directed and produced by Jackson have become key landmarks in

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the history of cinema, and following his unprecedented critical and commercial success, the New Zealand director now belongs to the most exclusive pantheon of film auteurs. This book aims to provide readers with the most comprehensive study of Jackson’s body of work to date by combining an examination of the social, cultural and economic factors that have contributed to his commercial and artistic success, with an in-depth analysis of his films. Unfortunately, as the writing of this book corresponded with the making and release of the last instalment of The Hobbit trilogy, Peter Jackson was not available for an interview given the demands associated with making and promoting an international blockbuster. The factual accuracy of the information presented in this volume has been verified through both the study of the existing literature on Jackson and consultations with film scholars and film makers. All errors of fact and judgement, however, remain my own. This volume is not a biography, but rather a critical exploration of Jackson’s work as a film auteur and entrepreneur. While several biographical and critical investigations of Jackson’s career were published in the period that immediately followed the release of the LOTR trilogy (Pryor 2003; Woods 2004; G. Wright 2004; Sibley 2006; Bogstad and Kaveny 2011), this book covers all the films directed and produced by Peter Jackson, including his biggest project to date: The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014). In this book, the examination of Jackson’s work and career engages with a number of current debates in film studies. In particular, the cinema of Peter Jackson offers a rich case study to better understand a number of topical issues including the global dispersion of film production; the relationship between film authorship and industrial modes of production; and the impact of new developments in film technology. Chapter 1 surveys the evolution of Jackson’s life and career from director of cult splatstick movies such as Meet the Feebles (1989) and Braindead, to entrepreneur responsible for the foundation of companies such as Wingnut Films and Weta Workshop, and finally to producer and director of mega blockbuster projects such as The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) and The Hobbit. Jackson’s biography is followed by an analysis of his authorial signature. Jackson’s name has become a distinctive brand associated with fantasy, ingenious special effects, intertextual references, dark humour and the use of New Zealand film locations. Drawing upon the premises of auteur

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theories, this section of the book examines how the stylistic and thematic characteristics of his films reflect both his own personal creative vision and the social and cultural context in which he operates. Chapter 2 is devoted to the exploration of key collaborative relationships that have played a crucial role in the evolution of Jackson’s film-making career. Like other film auteurs Jackson often works with the same collaborators on different projects, and some of them, including Richard Taylor, Jamie Selkirk and Fran Walsh, have worked with him for more than twenty years. The chapter is divided into smaller sections each examining the work and career of one of Jackson’s collaborators. The list of collaborators included in the chapter is not exhaustive, but provides a representative sample of the different roles within the film-making process. The volume also comprises two critical essays (Chapters 3 and 4) that examine specific aspects of Jackson’s work at the level of production, reception and textuality. Chapter 3 investigates the relationship between Jackson’s production environment in Wellington and the global media system. Jackson’s emergence as a successful film maker and entrepreneur was made possible, in part, by some of Wellington’s cultural, economic and geographical specificities. In turn, Jackson’s success, as well as recent technological and economic changes in the global media system, has led to Wellington’s emergence as a major production hub. Chapter 4 examines the representation of landscape in Jackson’s body of work. Jackson’s style is characterized by a tendency towards a photorealistic depiction of the fantastic worlds that feature in his films. The accuracy and realism of landscape representation in Jackson’s movies reinforces the tactile quality of the relation between screen and viewers, thus favouring their immersion in the film world. The chapter will also analyse the growing popularity of Middle Earth tourism in New Zealand, in order to assess how Jackson’s cinematic style intersects his broader economic and political agendas. The last section of the book comprises an A–Z list of all the films directed and produced by Peter Jackson. Each entry includes a movie synopsis, a discussion of its production and reception context and a critical analysis of the film in relation to Jackson’s broader cinematic oeuvre. The list also includes key themes and concepts, which are associated with Jackson’s work and authorial signature.

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The volume is complemented by a set of appendices, including a detailed filmography and a list of key critical works about the cinema of Peter Jackson. The study of the cinema of Peter Jackson has represented a challenging and exciting part of my personal journey as film scholar. I hope that this work, which represents the conclusion of this voyage, will be of some benefit to the reader.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book would have not been possible without the invaluable support provided by Katie Gallof, my editor at Bloomsbury, and Dr Scott Wilson, the director of the Bloomsbury Contemporary Film-makers series. I would like to thank those colleagues and friends who offered their knowledge and time to this project. I am particularly grateful to Miriam Ross (for providing her feedback on several sections of the book), Maddy Glenn and Sarah Adams (for helping to collect and organize the vast amount of material about Peter Jackson’s films), Rosina Hickman and Balaji Kasirajan (for assisting with editing and proofreading) and Mary Al-Sayed (for the beautiful cover of the book). Special thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions. I am indebted to Tom O’Regan, Thierry Jutel, Peter Thompson, Kathleen Kuehn, Tim Groves and Kirsten Moana Thompson for providing sage advice and encouragement at various stages of the project. I would also like to thank Victoria University of Wellington for the research grants that allowed me to complete the book. My gratitude also goes to Costa Botes, Lindsay Shelton, Joe Letteri, Matt Aitken, David Lascelles, Grant Major, Jamie Selkirk, Richard Bluck, Sean Kelly, Alex Funke and Amy Minty. Finally, I would like to express my love and recognition to my family for their unconditional support throughout my whole life.

1 The Cinema of Peter Jackson

Biography The early years Sir Peter Robert Jackson (ONZ KNZ) was born on 31 October 1961, Halloween night, in Wellington, New Zealand. Promotional material about Jackson’s films has often emphasized how his birthdate is particularly fitting, given his love of horror, blood and monsters. Jackson grew up in the small seaside community of Pukerua Bay, forty minutes north of Wellington. Like many other Britons, his parents, Bill and Joan Jackson, had migrated from England to New Zealand after the war. Bill had served in the British Army during the Siege of Malta, while Joan had worked at DeHavilland’s aircraft factory building Mosquito fast bombers. In his official biography Jackson recalled how his childhood was marked by his parents’ tales about the Second World War, which had represented a dominant part of their lives (Sibley 2006, 9). In 1954, shortly after marrying Joan, Bill found a job as a clerk for the Wellington City Council, where he would work until retirement. Following Peter’s birth, doctors advised Joan against having a second child due to her fragile health (Pryor 2003, 25). Later in life, Jackson claimed that his upbringing contributed to excite his imagination: Being an only child does make you more imaginative, I think, because you have to create your own games by yourself with whatever props come to hand – Matchbox toys and building blocks and that sort of carry on. You don’t have anybody else to

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bounce off, so you’re creating it in your head. I think it certainly helps exercise the mind. It trains you to be imaginative. (Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 25) Another major influence on Jackson’s future film-making career was television. According to Jackson, movie-going was not a common activity in his family during his early childhood. By contrast, it was the television set, which entered Jackson’s life in 1965, that sparked his interest in moving images, storytelling and fantasy. Bill Jackson was a fan of old silent comedies, and through him, Peter was exposed to Buster Keaton, who in turn influenced his love for slapstick comedy (see A–Z: Splatstick). According to Jackson, however, the most influential TV programme he watched during his childhood was a British sci-fi puppet series: Thunderbirds. The show, which first aired in 1965, was created by pioneer puppet film maker Gerry Anderson, using a combination of marionette puppetry and scale model special effects. Thunderbirds followed the adventures of International Rescue, a team of action heroes operating from a secret base in the South Pacific Ocean. The protagonists were assisted in their missions by Thunderbirds machines, technologically advanced land, sea, air and space rescue vehicles. Thunderbirds played a crucial role in developing Jackson’s love for model making and storytelling: I remember wanting to make models of the Thunderbirds crafts and buying plastic clip-together model kits that were around at the time and which I incorporated into my games. Like lots of kids, I had Matchbox toys of various vehicles and I created International-Rescue-style scenarios in the garden [. . .]. Setting up those little backyard dramas with my toys was when ‘specialeffects’ really entered my awareness. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 19) Jackson was a devoted fan of Thunderbirds, and later in his career he would support Pukeko Pictures (a Weta offshoot) in their bid to remake the original TV series using both computer-generated imagery (CGI) and live action model sets (Wannan 2013). Around 1969, a family friend, Jean Watson, who worked at the local Kodak processing lab, purchased a Super 8 movie camera for Peter’s parents who intended to record important events in their

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son’s childhood (Sibley 2006, 19). The young Peter, however, soon became the main user of this device. According to his mother, Joan, ‘as soon as it came into the house, that started Peter off’ (Joan Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 26). Jackson’s early experiments with the Super 8 camera involved the disappearance of a cat in a puff of smoke and the making of a war movie featuring some of his friends in the family back garden. Around 1970, shortly after the beginning of his film experiments, Jackson watched the original version of King Kong (Cooper 1933) on television. The film made a profound impression on him (see A–Z: King Kong), and later in life, Jackson credited it as the main reason behind his decision to become a film maker: ‘I saw King Kong and the gorilla really sealed my destiny’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 21). Merian C. Cooper’s film also inspired Jackson to create his own special effects and develop more sophisticated film projects: after watching the film, Jackson decided to remake King Kong using his own stop motion puppets of the giant ape and various other monsters (see A–Z: Special Effects). During his early life, Jackson was also exposed to other influential TV shows such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a 1969 British programme characterized by satire and subversive, surreal humour. Monty Python would inspire Jackson’s love for dark comedy that characterizes most of his oeuvre, including some of his early amateur projects. Television allowed Jackson to watch other film classics such as Planet of the Apes (Schaffner 1968), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Juran 1958) and Jason and the Argonauts (Chaffey 1963). In the early 1970s, Jackson, now in his teens, began broadening his knowledge of film with books and magazines about movies and moviemakers. During his high school years at Kapiti College, Jackson met other young students like Ken Hammon, who shared his passion for cinema. Both boys had projectors and regularly purchased 8 mm copies of various film classics such as King Kong and Nosferatu (Murnau 1922). Often, Jackson and his friends would hire 8 mm versions of British and American horror films such as Dr Terror’s House of Horrors (a 1965 movie directed by Freddie Francis featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee) and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), which furthered Jackson’s fascination with gore and horror (Sibley 2006, 30). In his teenage years, Jackson also began travelling into Wellington to watch the latest movie releases. During the 1970s, Jackson saw several war movies, which influenced his fondness for spectacular

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battle sequences. Jackson was particularly impressed by Waterloo, a 1970 Russian film directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, which used 20,000 extras to recreate the battle of Waterloo between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington. Referring to Jackson’s early cinematic passions, childhood friend Ken Hammon claimed that: ‘Pete adored the wide-screen, three hour historical epics that proliferated in the Fifties and early Sixties: Quo Vadis, Spartacus, El Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire and the like’ (Hammon cited in Sibley 2006, 32). The style and content of these films informed Jackson’s future work, particularly the spectacular battle sequences in the LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies. In 1978, Ken Hammon and other friends helped Jackson in making The Valley, a short fantasy film conceived for a film competition run by a New Zealand TV show. The film, which featured remarkable stop motion animation sequences, won some minor prizes and was broadcast on national television. The Valley also impressed the school’s principal, who offered Jackson and his friends the possibility of making an official promotional film about Kapiti College on the condition that they would return to school for a further year. Jackson, however, declined the offer as he had already passed his school certificate and was not interested in pursuing further studies (Sibley 2006, 41). Jackson intended to find a job as a special effects developer in the local film industry; however, in 1970s’ New Zealand, opportunities in this sector were extremely scarce (see Chapter 3). Film production in the country was very limited, and although the New Zealand Film Commission, a government-funded institution responsible for supporting the making of local feature films, was established in 1978, it would take several years for the local film industry to fully develop. When Jackson graduated from high school, the only major production company in the country was the National Film Unit, a government body established in 1941 that produced mainly documentaries and promotional films. Shortly after leaving school, Jackson’s parents contacted the National Film Unit and arranged a job interview for Peter. Despite being impressed by his models, the managers of the Film Unit were unable to offer Jackson a position related to special effects (Pryor 2003, 35). After this rejection, Jackson decided to find a temporary job that would allow him to independently pursue his passion for film making. Only a few days after the interview at the National Film Unit, Jackson found a job

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as photoengraver at The Evening Post, a local newspaper. Jackson’s day-job salary financially supported his film experiments, and during this period, he began working on several projects inspired by genre movies such as the James Bond film franchise, and the Hammer Horror movies. The technological limitations of Jackson’s Super 8 camera, however, meant that none of these film projects was ever completed. In 1982, Jackson and Ken Hammon took a three-week trip to Hollywood where they visited a sci-fi convention, local movie theatres and Disneyland. The Hollywood trip strengthened Jackson’s film-making ambitions and shortly after his return to Wellington he purchased a $2,500 16 mm camera with a loan from his parents. Referring to the crucial role played by his parents in supporting his passion for film making, Jackson said: ‘that kind of support from your parents is so important, and that loan was the most significant thing my mum and dad did to help me become a film-maker’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 69). The new Bolex camera, which allowed Jackson to shoot up to thirty seconds of 16 mm footage at the time, represented a significant step up from his old Super 8. The new camera produced professional results; however, it also involved a more serious financial commitment: while three minutes of Super 8 film costed around $3, the equivalent amount of 16 mm film required around $100 (Sibley 2006, 70). Jackson decided to maximize the use of film by abandoning fruitless experiments and focusing on the production of a ten-minute film to enter in the festival circuit. In 1983, Jackson began working on Roast of the Day, a horror short film that would eventually become his first feature: Bad Taste (see A–Z: Bad Taste). The film, which had no script, was shot at weekends with the help of a small group of friends and was funded by Jackson’s job as a photoengraver. Jackson – who directed the film, built the equipment and created the make-up and special effects – applied several times for funding from the newly established Film Commission. Despite the Commission’s declining his grant applications and various drawbacks associated with the departure of some cast members, Jackson persevered, cumulating dozens of minutes of footage. In 1986, while creating props for a New Zealand TV show, Worzel Gummidge Downunder (1986–1989), Jackson met Costa Botes, a local critic and director who introduced him to several film makers, including a young screenwriter called Frances Walsh, who would

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later become Jackson’s life partner (Botes 2014). Encouraged by Botes, Jackson showed some Bad Taste footage to the CEO of the Film Commission, Jim Booth, who, impressed by the quality of the film, decided to grant some funding to complete principal photography and post-production. The making of the film was documented in Good Taste Made Bad Taste (1988), a film directed by Tony Hiles, who also acted as production supervisor for Jackson’s movie on behalf of the Film Commission. In 1987, after four years of filming, Bad Taste was screened in the market at the Cannes Film Festival where it was received positively and sold to several international markets, thereby making a significant profit (Shelton 2005, 90). After the success of Bad Taste, Jackson was in a better position to secure financial backing to make his second feature film. After completing Bad Taste, the Wellington director started working with Fran Walsh and Stephen Sinclair on the development of a script for a zombie film variously titled House Bound or Braindead. In their original proposal to the Film Commission, the screenwriters described the film as ‘a tongue-in-cheek zombie genre movie’ that would achieve ‘that combination of gore and humour which was foreshadowed in Bad Taste, but this time with a script and the backup of a small professional crew’ (Sibley 2006, 155). In 1988, the New Zealand Film Commission invited Hollywood screenwriting consultant Robert McKee to Wellington to deliver a three-day seminar on story structure. Jackson, Sinclair and Walsh, who all attended the seminar, were deeply influenced by the storytelling principles and techniques outlined by McKee. Later, Jackson admitted that McKee’s seminar played a crucial role in his career as he applied his principles of story structure to his future films, including LOTR (Sibley 2006, 158). During this period, Jackson’s career was characterized by a number of other significant developments. Yearning to be involved in the more creative aspects of film making, Jim Booth, the CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission, resigned from his job to set up his own company and become Jackson’s producer. Booth’s insightful knowledge of the national film industry and of the international market represented a significant asset for Jackson: ‘I think Jim [Booth] gave Peter a huge amount of encouragement and confidence [. . .]. [Booth] enabled Peter to focus on what he wanted to achieve without having to worry about the mechanics involved’

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(Shelton cited in Sibley 2006, 161). During the pre-production for Braindead, Jackson also began his professional relationship with two young special effects creators, Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, who would later become the co-founders of Weta. Despite the establishment of important professional collaborations, Jackson still had to face significant obstacles: just six weeks before principal photography for Braindead was scheduled to start, one of the main investors withdrew forcing Jackson to revive an older project. While seeking funding for Braindead, Jackson and his collaborators began working on Meet the Feebles, a dark comedy which followed behind the scenes of a troupe of puppets rehearsing for a TV show. The film, which was clearly inspired by the Muppet Show (1976–1981), featured graphic violence, sex, drug addiction and mass murder, and cemented Jackson’s cult reputation as Kiwi ‘splattermeister’. Following the release of Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, Jackson’s name reached Hollywood where he met Peter Nelson, an entertainment lawyer who in turn introduced him to several American studio executives. In the early 1990s, Jackson met Mark Ordeski, a representative of New Line Cinema, and showed him the script for a fantasy epic called Blubberhead. Co-written with Danny Mulheron, the film treatment brought together Jackson’s interest in stop motion animation, fantasy and Monty Pythonesque humour. Jackson, who hoped to make use of New Zealand landscapes, claimed that the film would appeal to both children and adults: ‘it has another edge to it that goes over children’s heads a bit. It’s action packed and a real rollercoaster ride’ (Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 337). New Line refused to produce the film, but hired Jackson to write the script for one of the instalments of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Although Jackson held numerous meetings with the producers who were impressed by his work, New Line Cinema eventually chose a different screenplay. Meanwhile, Jim Booth had managed to secure funding to make Braindead, with filming scheduled to start in late 1991. Braindead benefitted from a much larger budget compared to Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, and according to film critic Matthew Stephenson, it was ‘a much sturdier and more focused piece of film-making than anything attempted by Jackson before’ (Stephenson 2008). Braindead followed the protagonist’s attempt to stop a zombie epidemic and featured some of the goriest sequences in the history

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of cinema. It was reported that the film’s finale contained dozens of special effects and approximately 300 litres of fake blood (Sibley 2006, 85). The production of Braindead reinforced some of Jackson’s established collaborative relationships (with Fran Walsh, Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger and Jamie Selkirk, who had edited Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles) and represented the beginning of new ones (with story-boarder Christian Rivers and actor Jed Brophy). Braindead proved to be an international success and the period that followed represented an important transition moment for Jackson’s career. Shortly after the release of the film, Jackson hired a Hollywood agent, Ken Kamins, who a few years later would play an important role in the negotiations for the production of LOTR. Jackson’s Hollywood connections, however, did not lure him away from Wellington. Unlike many other New Zealand film makers, who would leave their home country to pursue a better career in Australia, Britain or Hollywood, Jackson decided to stay in Wellington. Referring to his decision to work in New Zealand, Jackson claimed: ‘I figured I want to stay here, and make films now and again. So why not buy one of these old warehouses – and right now it’s a great buyers’ market for old warehouses – and just call it home’ (Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 178). In 1993, Jackson laid the foundation of his empire by purchasing an old warehouse, now known as Camperdown Studios, in the industrial suburb of Miramar. Shortly afterward, Camperdown Studios would become the home of Weta, a special effects company co-founded by Jackson with some of his closest collaborators (see A–Z: Weta). Around the same time, Jim Booth, who had produced Jackson’s last two feature films, was diagnosed with bowel cancer and would die a few months later, just before the release of Jackson’s fourth film, Heavenly Creatures (1994).

The birth of a film auteur Heavenly Creatures was born from an idea by Fran Walsh who had become romantically tied to Jackson in the early 1990s (Barnes 2012). The film was based on the true story of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, two teenage girls responsible for the murder of Pauline’s mother, Honora, in Christchurch in 1952.

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Jackson and Walsh conducted extensive research about the case and won the race against several local and international film makers who were interested in making a film about the same events. The film represented a partial departure from Jackson’s earlier work characterized by gore, splatter and crass humour, but it was still animated by his interest in fantasy and fantastical worlds. Heavenly Creatures was the first film to feature the physical and digital effects produced by Weta, the special effects company co-founded by Jackson, which in the meantime had acquired new computer equipment. Heavenly Creatures marked Jackson’s transition from cult director of splatter movies to ‘respectable’ film auteur. The script for Heavenly Creatures, co-written by Jackson and Walsh, was nominated for a Best Screenplay Academy Award, while Miramax, the American independent company that had distributed the film, signed Jackson to a first-look deal. Jackson’s newly acquired international prestige allowed him and co-director Costa Botes to find funding for Forgotten Silver (1995), a mockumentary about fictional New Zealand filmpioneer Colin McKenzie. In the film, Jackson and Botes (who appear as themselves) claim to have found old film footage proving that McKenzie was one of the greatest innovators in the history of cinema. The film, originally conceived for television, was broadcast in 1995 to unknowing New Zealand viewers, many of whom assumed the events depicted in the film were real (see A–Z: Forgotten Silver). Jackson’s growing influence in the New Zealand film industry transformed him into a reference for many local film makers: between 1992 and 1995 he produced two short films (Valley of the Stereos and Dirty Creature) and one feature film (Jack Brown Genius) directed by various collaborators. In 1995, Weta and Jackson also began providing the special effects for Hercules (1995–1999) and Xena Warrior Princess (1995–2001), two American fantasy TV shows produced in Auckland. During the mid-1990s Jackson kept alive his relationship with Hollywood by selling scripts and movie ideas to the American studios with no view to direct them. In 1993, Jackson and Walsh submitted a treatment for a ghost movie titled ‘The Frighteners’ to Robert Zemeckis, one of the producers of the TV series Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996). Zemeckis felt that the script had the potential to work as a stand-alone feature film and asked Jackson to come on board as a director. In turn, Jackson insisted for the

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film to be shot and post-produced in New Zealand to provide Weta with a steady stream of work. Lured by the cheap labour and infrastructures available in New Zealand, Universal accepted the deal on the condition that the film would be set in the United States. The Frighteners (1996), a dark comedy about an architect who develops the ability to communicate with ghosts, featured A-list stars including Michael J. Fox, and state-of-the-art visual effects. Despite its modest takings at the box office and a lukewarm critical reception, the film was a crucial turning point in Jackson’s career. First, the film required a significant number of digital effects shots and called for the dramatic expansion of Weta and the rapid upskilling of its employees. Secondly, the film also demonstrated the competence of Jackson’s production companies as well as his own ability to combine digital effects with live action performances (Stephenson 2008). Impressed by the quality of the visual effects delivered for The Frighteners, Universal offered Jackson the opportunity to remake King Kong; however, the upcoming release of a number of films featuring apes led to the project being put on hold. In 1997, Miramax acquired the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings on behalf of Jackson, who intended to direct a film adaptation of the novel. Miramax originally planned on producing two films based on Tolkien’s books; however, as the estimated budget for Jackson’s project escalated, the independent production company pulled out – forcing Jackson to find a new studio to support the films. New Line Cinema stepped in, funding three films based on Tolkien’s novels to be shot and post-produced in New Zealand. Jackson’s cinematic adaptations of the LOTR trilogy are considered to be amongst the most important films in the history of cinema in terms of their scale, innovative use of special effects and their critical and commercial success (see A–Z: The Lord of the Rings). Following the release of the trilogy over a threeyear period (2001–2003), Jackson became one of the most popular film makers in the world. The last instalment of the LOTR series, The Return of the King, won eleven Academy Awards, including Best Director for Peter Jackson, equalling the record established by Ben Hur (Wyler 1959) and Titanic (Cameron 1997). During and after the making of the trilogy, Jackson expanded his empire by building more film infrastructures such as Stone Street Studios and

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Park Road Post (a state-of-the-art post-production facility) in the Wellington suburb of Miramar.

Building a film empire After LOTR, Jackson moved straight into the remake of King Kong (2005). For this film Jackson was reportedly paid a salary of US$20 million upfront, the highest fee ever paid to a director in advance of production (Fleming 2003). King Kong, released in late 2005, won several awards and reinforced Jackson’s reputation as director of major blockbusters. In particular, the film was praised for its groundbreaking use of CGI and motion-capture performance, a technique already adopted by Jackson in LOTR. King Kong was an important landmark in Jackson’s career: on the one hand, the film fulfilled Jackson’s long life ambition to remake his favourite movie. On the other hand, Kong was the last large-scale epic directed by Jackson in the 2000s. After King Kong, Jackson decided to take some time off to develop a script for a smaller film project based on Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones (2009). The film combines fantasy elements with murder, violence and the psychological exploration of a female protagonist and bears some thematic and stylistic similarities to Heavenly Creatures. The Lovely Bones made a small profit at the box office, but received mixed reviews and is usually considered Jackson’s weakest directorial performance. In the late 2000s, Jackson worked as producer on a number of projects, including a filmic adaptation of the Halo video games (which was never completed) and on District 9 (2009), an independent sci-fi film directed by Neill Blomkamp that was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. In 2011, Jackson also partnered with Steven Spielberg to develop a film franchise based on Tintin, the popular comic book character created by Hergé. The two film makers intended to use the innovative motion capture technology and computed animated imagery developed by Weta to bring Hergé’s characters to life. Jackson produced and acted as second unit director on the first instalment of the series (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, 2011), which also represented his first large-scale foray into animation and 3D cinema. Jackson has often embraced innovations in film technology and he played a crucial role in the emergence of the Red camera, a revolutionary

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digital video camera that has since become extremely popular in the global film industry. In 2007, the CEO of the Red company, Jim Jannard, offered Jackson the possibility to conduct several tests using prototypes of Red ONE cameras. The test footage became a twelve-minute film, Crossing the Line (2008), which was screened at various industry events to promote the quality and reliability of the Red Camera system (TV Technology 2007). Jackson’s last project to date is The Hobbit trilogy. Speculations about the making of a movie based on Tolkien’s The Hobbit began shortly after the release of the last film of the LOTR series in 2003. In 2006, however, Jackson became embroiled in a legal dispute with New Line Cinema over royalties from the LOTR films. During the wrangle, Robert Shaye, the CEO of New Line, the company that controlled the rights for The Hobbit, declared that he did not intend to work with the Wellington film maker on the adaptation of Tolkien’s book (AFP and NZPA 2007). By 2007, however, Shaye backtracked and attempted to convince Jackson to direct the film (Dominion Post 2007). In late 2007, New Line Cinema finally announced that The Hobbit would be directed by Guillermo Del Toro, with Jackson acting as writer and producer. Following long production delays, however, Del Toro left the project, forcing New Line to find a new director. Following a series of negotiations, Jackson eventually replaced Del Toro as director of the trilogy; however, the beginning of filming was further delayed as Jackson was hospitalized in early 2011 for a perforated ulcer (McNary 2011). Principal photography eventually began in March 2011 with Jackson shooting three Hobbit films back to back in 3D at 48 frames per second. The three films were released between 2012 and 2014 and, despite being a commercial success, received mixed reviews. In particular, the critics disliked the overall effect of the High Rate Frame format (which was often compared to the look of daytime television) and Jackson’s decision to turn the adaptation of The Hobbit (a much shorter book compared to LOTR) into a trilogy. Shortly after completing The Battle of the Five Armies, the last instalment of The Hobbit trilogy, Jackson announced that he did not intend to direct any further film adaptations of Tolkien’s work (Ritman 2014). At the time of writing, Jackson has not confirmed any involvement in future film productions, however, over the past ten years he has expressed his interest in a number of different

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projects. In 2006, he announced he would produce a remake of The Dam Busters (Anderson 1954), a British film about aviation heroes set in the Second World War. The production of the film, which was to be directed by Christian Rivers, was scheduled for 2009; however, it was postponed due to the making of The Hobbit trilogy. In 2009, Jackson stated he would direct a film based on Mortal Engines, a sci-fi novel set in a post-apocalyptic London written by Philip Reeves. Nevertheless, in a 2013 interview, the novelist declared that the project had been abandoned and he considered the prospect of a movie adaptation of the book unlikely. Jackson also bought the film rights for Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, a series of fantasy novels based on dragons fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. However, he never confirmed whether he planned on directing or simply producing the films (K. Thompson 2007, 326). Speculations also surround Jackson’s involvement in the second instalment of the Tintin franchise. Jackson was originally supposed to direct the second film based on The Adventures of Tintin, and in 2013, Spielberg confirmed that the film would be released in 2015. In late 2014, however, Jackson expressed his desire to take a break from major blockbusters and return to smaller-scale projects focusing on New Zealand stories (Lang and Gray 2014). Since the early 1990s, Jackson has entertained a relationship with screenwriter Fran Walsh with whom he has two children, Bill and Kate. After the success of LOTR, Jackson and Walsh have been involved in various charitable activities. The pair saved various Wellington historical buildings from demolition and donated $500,000 to stem cell research (Look to the Stars 2014). Jackson and Walsh also actively contributed to the defence of the West Memphis Three, a group of American men wrongly accused of the murder of three children, and in 2011 produced a documentary, West of Memphis, which shed new light on the case. In New Zealand, Jackson has supported emerging local film makers by offering them the services of his production and post-production services at discount rates. More broadly, the production of his films has had a serendipitous effect on New Zealand’s economy by developing the local film industry, creating new employment opportunities and enhancing the international profile of the country both as a tourism destination and as a film location. The global success of Jackson’s films has reinforced Weta Digital’s reputation as one of the best special effects companies in the world and has

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transformed Wellington into a major hub of global film production. The industrial complex created by Jackson and his collaborators in Wellington has been instrumental in attracting major international film makers such as Andrew Adamson and James Cameron to New Zealand. The latter has purchased several properties in the Wairarapa, on the outskirts of Wellington, and plans to make three Avatar sequels in Jackson’s studios between 2016 and 2018 (Dominion Post 2014). Jackson is one of the most influential people in the history of New Zealand and the National Business Review has estimated that the Wellington-based film maker has a net worth of around NZ$600 million (The National Business Review 2014). The cultural and economic significance of Jackson’s achievements for his home country was recognized in 2002 when Jackson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. A few years later, in 2010, Jackson was also knighted for his services to the arts in New Zealand, and in 2012, he was finally appointed to the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), the country’s highest honour with full membership restricted to twenty people at any one time (Dastgheib 2012). Jackson’s success was also honoured in Hollywood, where in 2014 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Rutledge and Rodger).

Auteur as entrepreneur Auteur theory While the commercial success of Jackson’s films is unquestionable, several commentators have debated his artistic status: should he be considered an auteur (author), an artist with a personal creative vision or as a mere ‘maker of Hollywood films’ (Beatty 1998, 1), a director endowed with technical and business skills who simultaneously serves and profits from the studios’ commercial imperatives? Jackson’s films, from Bad Taste to The Hobbit trilogy, are characterized by considerable variety in terms of storylines, style and production conditions. However, despite its heterogeneity, Jackson’s oeuvre also expresses significant consistency to the extent that many film critics and scholars have identified an authorial

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dominance over his films. Jackson has often been able to impress his own unique cultural and cinematic vision onto his films and it is possible to consider his oeuvre as the work of a film auteur. Auteur theory is a branch of film studies that seeks to explain the nature of the director’s artistic signature and to find meaning in the stylistic, technical and thematic characteristics of his or her films. According to Lapsley and Westlake, the notion of auteurism was founded upon the belief that cinema was an art of personal expression, and that its great directors were as much to be esteemed as the authors of their work as any writer, composer or painter (Lapsley and Westlake 1988, 105). Auteur theory emerged in France during the post-war period, and it was promoted by a number of critics who orbited around the most prestigious magazine of film criticism of the time; Cahiers du Cinema. One of the first proponents of this theory, Alexandre Astruc, explicitly compared film and writing by coining the term ‘le camera-stylo’ to describe film making’s power as a means of poetic or artistic expression (Astruc 1968). Similarly, another Cahiers critic, Francois Truffaut, claimed that the true auteur is a film maker who is able to exploit the specificity of cinema as a visual medium in order to create his or her own artistic style and vision (Truffaut 1976). Andrew Sarris, who imported the auteur theory to the United States, argued that the three main premises of the auteur theory are the technical competence of the director, his/her distinguishable personality, and interior meaning (the extent to which their vision transcended the system in which they worked). The assignation of the film maker’s status was often based on a personal decision with little discernible method and it often entailed the celebration of the auteur’s personal artistic vision (Sarris 1996). The popularity of the auteur theory declined in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a result of several factors. On the one hand, the emergence of audience theories, which emphasized the way in which audiences construct and negotiate meaning, resulted in a shift from the study of the author to the examination of media reception (the way in which texts are received and understood). On the other hand, the work of intellectuals, such as Barthes and Foucault, questioned the centrality of the author and argued against traditional practices of literary criticism, which considered the author’s intentions (and/or biographical context) in the examination of a text (Barthes 1977). Furthermore, film critics such as Pauline Kael have criticized the

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notion of auteur by pointing out how film making is essentially a collaborative activity that is reliant on the creative and technical skills of many different people (Kael 1994). Although the study of the auteur, as intended by the critics of Cahiers du Cinema, is no longer a common practice in the academic world, auteurism is still alive as many scholars and critics continue to focus on the discussion of the work of individual film makers. More recent approaches to film authorship are concerned with the consideration of film as an intersection of personal and social history; these studies are also more aware of the ways in which individual subjectivity is ideologically constructed within culture. The examination of Jackson’s oeuvre from an auteurist perspective sheds new light on a number of broader issues, including the tension between personal creative vision and industrial modes of film making. Scholars such as Timothy Corrigan have noted how the film industry has appropriated the notion of auteur for economic purposes by producing marketable packages that capitalize on the popularity of the director’s name. According to Corrigan, the function of the auteur ‘has rematerialised in the eighties and nineties as a commercial performance of the business of being an auteur’ (Corrigan 1991, 101). Jackson himself has always been conscious of the importance of a distinctive authorial style for promotional purposes. Since the beginning of his career he emphasized the consistency of his own personal creative vision in both interviews with the press and negotiations with potential funders (Robinson 1998, 29). Jackson’s attempt to pursue an ‘auteur status’, however, should not be understood as to be the result of disingenuous calculations, but rather as to be a genuine fascination with certain stylistic and thematic aspects of film making. Jackson meets the three criteria set by Andrew Sarris to identify a film auteur: he is technically competent (as demonstrated by the technical achievements of films such as LOTR and King Kong); his body of work displays a distinguishable personality and his personal vision has transcended the different production contexts in which he has worked. Jackson’s evolution as a film auteur can be roughly classified into three periods which correspond to three important stages in his career: •

The early period (1988–1993) in which Jackson developed a discernible style and acquired the status of cult director

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of ‘splatstick’ movies. During this stage of his career, Jackson made a number of low-budget films funded by the New Zealand Film Commission that allowed him great creative freedom and gave him the reputation of ‘kiwi splattermeister’. •

The maturity period (1994–2000) characterized by a shift in his reputation: from a cult director of subversive lowbrow films to a respectable film maker responsible for the making of more serious and mainstream productions such as Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners. Despite the departure from the tone of Jackson’s early productions, Heavenly Creatures still presented elements of stylistic and thematic continuity. During this period, Jackson developed stronger relationships with producers in Europe and Hollywood and began to lay the foundations of his film empire by establishing Weta and the Camperdown Studios.

•

The international period (2001–2014) marked by the global success of the LOTR. During this stage of his career Jackson became internationally known as the director and producer of major blockbusters such as LOTR, King Kong, The Adventures of Tintin and The Hobbit. His film companies expanded dramatically and came to rely on the workflow provided by major productions directed by Jackson and other prominent Hollywood film makers such as James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. During this period, Jackson’s creative vision was partially constrained by the commercial imperatives of the Hollywood studios that backed his projects. He also moved away from the New Zealand themes that characterized most of his films until the late 1990s to focus on the adaptation of stories created by international authors, such as Tolkien (LOTR and The Hobbit), Merian C. Cooper (King Kong) or Hergé (Tintin).

Despite the fact that Jackson’s films have encompassed different genres and approaches to film making (i.e. low-budget versus blockbusters), his oeuvre has been characterized by a consistent set of thematic and stylistic elements.

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Themes Jackson’s distinguishable film personality is characterized by an interest in a relatively small number of themes that appear in most of his films: the humble but resourceful hero; the focus on New Zealand icons and history; the subversion (in some cases destruction) of authority and authority figures; the opposition between romantic love and grotesque sexuality. The most distinctive theme that recurs in all Jackson’s films, however, is his fascination with fantasy and the paranormal. All the films directed or produced by Jackson from Bad Taste to The Hobbit feature fantastic elements in the form of aliens, ghosts, zombies, monsters, imaginary worlds and landscapes. His first feature film Bad Taste tells the story of an alien invasion, while Braindead revolves around the protagonist’s attempt to stop a zombie epidemic. Films such as The Lovely Bones and Heavenly Creatures focus on the exploration of the parallel universes (Borovnia and ‘The In-Between’) created by the protagonists’ imagination. Both the LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies are set in Middle Earth, the fantastic world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. This interest in fantasy originated from Jackson’s love for films and TV shows such as Thunderbirds, Jason and the Argonauts, King Kong, Monty Python, the early Romero and Raimi zombie films, which played a significant role in his decision to pursue a film-making career. Many of Jackson’s films feature similar main characters. Jackson’s heroes are humble, but endowed with surprising tenacity and resourcefulness. They possess the same DIY spirit that inspires Jackson’s experimentation with film technology. In Bad Taste, after he falls off a cliff, Derek straps his brain back into his skull to continue his fight against the aliens. Lionel, the protagonist of Braindead, exterminates a posse of zombies using an ordinary lawnmower. Similarly, Colin McKenzie, the hero of Forgotten Silver, invents several new film techniques using everyday objects and tools. Jackson’s protagonists are also unassuming and, in most cases, do not conform to traditional ideas of masculinity. At the beginning of Braindead Lionel is a timid, passive character oppressed by an overbearing mother; however, throughout the film he manages to overcome his fears and triumph against all odds. Frodo and Bilbo are the least likely people to succeed in their respective quests, they are not warriors and they often question their own abilities.

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Resilience and resourcefulness are the qualities that allow them to successfully complete their respective missions. Jackson’s films are also filled with references to New Zealand history and culture: from the themes of rugby and meat processing in Bad Taste to the iconic Flymo lawnmower used by Lionel to exterminate zombies in Braindead. Heavenly Creatures is based on one of New Zealand’s most infamous murder cases, while Forgotten Silver is an ironic celebration of ‘kiwi ingenuity’. New Zealand landscapes feature prominently in films such as The Frighteners, LOTR, The Lovely Bones and The Hobbit, which are all filmed in New Zealand, but set elsewhere (either the United States or Middle Earth). Promotional materials about LOTR or The Hobbit have often emphasized the centrality of the New Zealand film locations and Jackson himself regularly expresses his allegiance to his home country: ‘I’m a New Zealand film-maker, not an American filmmaker. I like to work at home’ (Jackson cited in Robinson 1998, 1). Many of the early films directed or produced by Jackson (Meet the Feebles, Braindead, Forgotten Silver, Jack Brown Genius) are filmed and set in Wellington, Jackson’s hometown. In some cases, the references to New Zealand humour and culture are quite specific. In Bad Taste, Derek responds to the suggestion that the aliens might destroy Auckland with ‘Auckland? Well, that wouldn’t be so bad’ (a reference to the rivalry between Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand’s two major cities). Many of Jackson’s early films open with references to the lingering influence of the British Empire on New Zealand life: images of Queen Elizabeth in Bad Taste and Braindead or old footage of colonial Christchurch in Heavenly Creatures. New Zealand was a British Dominion until 1947 and even after the formal end of the colonial period it entertained a privileged relationship, from a cultural and economic point of view, with its mother country. For a long time, Britain was the main buyer of New Zealand raw materials (wool, lamb and dairy products), thereby guaranteeing the economic wealth of its former colony. The entry of the UK into the European Economic Community in the 1970s, and the consequent loss of free entry into British markets, resulted in New Zealand’s rapid economic decline and growing resentment against its former mother country. The conflictual relationship between the main characters and both Britain (the mother country) and the mother is one of the central themes of Jackson’s early films. Bad

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Taste, Braindead and Heavenly Creatures all begin with a clear reference to the British Empire and follow a narrative trajectory that relishes the ironic destruction of its major icons: good taste, civilized lifestyle, the queen and her suburban representative, the mother (Creed 2000). In Bad Taste, Jackson draws a humorous parallel between the aliens and British colonizers. The aliens have disguised their spaceship in a British-looking heritage house that, at the end of the film, soars through space in search of another colony. In Braindead, Lionel’s zombie-mother is associated with ‘Britishness’ and the queen. She speaks with a proper English accent and lives in a historic homestead, which (like in Bad Taste) is destroyed in the last sequence of the movie. By killing his mother, Lionel symbolically eradicates the outmoded and rigid British culture she embodies. Similarly, Heavenly Creatures conflates matricide and anti-colonial sentiments. The two protagonists kill Pauline’s mother who, once again, represents the conformity and repression of the British colonial mentality. The film establishes a clear contrast between the repressed, Christian and British world of Christchurch and the promiscuous, pagan, exotic realms of Borovnia, the fantastic universe created by the protagonists’ imagination. The symbolic and physical destruction of authority figures (particularly the mother) often represents the climax of narratives that revolve around the contrast between a superficially pleasant and law-abiding place and the sinister and horrifying reality that lurks beneath the surface. The opening sequence of Heavenly Creatures juxtaposes idyllic images of Christchurch with the disturbing moments that follow the brutal murder. In Braindead, Lionel does his best to save the appearances by hiding his dead mother in the basement of his house, thus involuntarily contributing to the spread of the zombie epidemic. In LOTR, the inhabitants of the Shire ignore the threat to their peaceful, bucolic existence posed by Sauron’s armies and emissaries. Mr Harvey, the villain of The Lovely Bones, conducts his heinous crimes in a quiet, seemingly ordinary, suburban neighbourhood. Similarly, in Bad Taste, the invading aliens have taken the shape of normal human beings. More broadly, many of Jackson’s films explore the contrast between appearances and reality. While most human characters consider Kong only as a brutal monster, Ann Darrow discovers that the giant ape is able to nurture and express complex emotions. In The Hobbit trilogy, some of the dwarves initially dismiss Bilbo as a timid, unheroic hobbit;

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however, he later rescues his companions on several occasions and accomplishes some extraordinary feats in the process. The relationship between reality and the perception of reality is even more complex in The Frighteners where the protagonist is forced to actually become what he originally only pretended to be: a ghostbuster. The premise of Forgotten Silver is based upon the tension between the documentary-like, realistic aesthetic of the film and the fictional nature of the story. Romantic love is one of the main themes of many Jackson films, from Meet the Feebles to Heavenly Creatures and The Lovely Bones. In most of these films romantic lovemaking is contrasted with grotesque sexuality. As Robinson points out, in Heavenly Creatures, Pauline’s painful heterosexual experience is constructed as grotesque sexuality, while her lovemaking with both Juliette and The Saints (the imaginary characters created by the girls) is portrayed as emotionally satisfying (Robinson 1998, 69). In Meet the Feebles, the developing romance between Robert and Lucille, which culminates in their marriage, contrasts both the grotesque sexuality of Madame Bovine’s pornographic routines and Bletch’s and Harry’s playboy antics. This contrast is even more apparent in Braindead where the healthy love relationship between Lionel and Paquita is contrasted with the repeated copulation between zombie Father McGruder and zombie Nurse McTavish (which eventually results in the birth of the aberrant Baby Selwyn) (Robinson 1998, 49). This thematic opposition also shapes the narrative of a more recent Jackson film, The Lovely Bones, which juxtaposes Mr  Harvey’s perverted sexuality with the platonic love affair between Susie and her classmate Ray Singh.

Style Jackson’s interest in certain themes such as the exploration of fantastic worlds and characters is reflected in his own cinematic style. A constant feature of his stylistic signature is the blending of fantasy and photorealism: ‘I like doing things that are pure to film, that have no actual existence outside cinema. That’s what I find the challenging thing – making these little daydreams look convincing and real’ (Jackson cited in Bogstad and Kaveny 2011, 141). One of the strengths of Jackson’s oeuvre lies in the realism

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of the fantastic creatures, landscapes and props that appear in his films. Some commentators have claimed that the tactile, immersive nature of Middle Earth as recreated by Jackson and his team was one of the main appeals of the LOTR trilogy (Leotta 2012). Jackson repeatedly claimed that he wanted to make the world of Middle Earth as faithful to the original novels as possible and the authenticity of the artefacts used in the films (swords and armours, costumes, sets, Elvish dialogues) was central to this faithfulness to Tolkien’s world. As Jones and Smith pointed out referring to the making of LOTR: The believability of a real, recreated world is based on a combination of exhaustively researched historical details – into medieval weaponry and the techniques for making it and finishing it for instance – and twenty-first century high technology special effects – specially designed software, the latest digital imaging and even the creation of a digital ‘character’. (D. Jones and Smith 2005, 934) Jackson’s interest in the authenticity and photorealism of the fantastic worlds he has depicted is in line with his passion for special effects. At the beginning of his career, Jackson aspired to become a special effects developer (see A–Z: Special Effects) and all of his films have made extensive and, in many cases, groundbreaking use of visual effects. Jackson co-founded Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, two world leading production companies, which have provided large quantities of cheap visual effects for his films. Jackson’s recent adoption of 3D technology and High Frame Rate is consistent with his fascination with both film technology and photorealistic, immersive film aesthetics (see A–Z: 3D and A–Z: HFR). Other important features of Jackson’s style include ‘excess’, a peculiar sense of humour, the use of parody and pastiche, cameos, fight scenes and spectacular camera movements. Jackson’s films are characterized by ‘excess’ in both aesthetic and material terms. His earliest films are marked by the ‘excess’ of special effects and ‘bad taste’: Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, for example, are characterized by excessive violence, excessive gunfire and excessive vomiting. Similarly, during the last thirty-five minutes of Braindead, the protagonist engages in one of the goriest zombie battles in the history of cinema, featuring mutilated limbs, severed heads and

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animated intestines. ‘Excess’ takes a different form in Heavenly Creatures, a film that represented a significant development in Jackson’s style. Referring to their vision for Heavenly Creatures, Jackson and Walsh claimed that: When you’re 15 years old, everything’s a melodrama. Everything’s heightened. That’s what we set out to do with the film. We deliberately styled the film in a heightened way. Everyone was a little exaggerated, a little larger than life. (Jackson and Walsh cited in Morris 2007, 46) The LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies as well as King Kong and The Lovely Bones are ‘excessive’ in terms of both running time and use of special effects. Several critics have argued that lengthy, convoluted narratives and over-reliance on visual effects represent the two major pitfalls of Jackson’s style (see A–Z: The Lovely Bones). At the same time, however, the ‘excessive’ length of the LOTR/Hobbit films has not constituted a problem for most of Jackson’s fans as demonstrated by the success of the Extended DVD Editions of both franchises. Jackson’s films reflect his love and extensive knowledge of American films and television through parody, pastiche and intertextual references (Morris 2007, 46). While Meet the Feebles is clearly inspired by The Muppet Show and features references to Rambo (Kotcheff 1982) and The Deer Hunter (Cimino 1978), Braindead mixes pastiches of Re-animator (Gordon 1985) (liferestoring syringes, morgue scenes and zombie blood lust), Psycho (Hitchcock 1960) (the mother in the basement) and King Kong (the opening sequence set in Skull Island). In The Frighteners, the dinner sequence in which Frank acts as intermediary between Lucy and her recently deceased husband is an obvious nod to the film Ghost (Zucker, 1990). Lawrence McDonald noted that this tendency towards pastiche and parody was already apparent in Jackson’s childhood film experiments shot using 8 mm stock: An excerpt from The Dwarf Patrol (1971) looks like nothing so much as a child’s version of Revolt of the Zombies (1936, U.S.A., Di.: Victor Halperin); The Valley (1976), a tribute to special effects master Ray Harryhausen who effectively authored the Sinbad/Jason and the Argonauts films; James Bond (1977),

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with Jackson himself as 007, displaying some swish flick knife technique on the Kapiti Coast, and finally, The Curse of the Grave Walker (1981), a fully-fledged homage to Roger Corman’s brand of horror film making, shot in a primitive letter-box form of cinemascope! (L. McDonald 1993, 11) The intertextual references that characterize Jackson’s early oeuvre should not be considered as simple homages to his favourite film makers, but rather as part of a playful reworking of American genre conventions. Jackson grew up in a country, New Zealand, which was characterized at once by the paucity of local production and a wealth of imported American and British media products. New Zealand film makers have traditionally drawn upon Hollywood generic conventions, adapting them to the cultural specificity of the country. Jackson is one the most successful New Zealand directors in this enterprise of cultural bricolage as his work is characterized by a complex mixing of genres. This stylistic trait is already evident in Bad Taste, which combines elements of the horror genre (chases, blood and death); action films (Ramboesque sequences where the characters use heavy weaponry); science fiction and Western (particularly the final shootout). Jackson’s flirtation with genre blending characterizes his entire oeuvre: Heavenly Creatures and The Lovely Bones mix horror, psychological drama and fantasy; similarly, the LOTR films and King Kong bring together fantasy, action and horror. Jackson’s innovative reworking of existing film conventions, however, was particularly apparent in his first three feature films (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead), which have often been dubbed as ‘the splatstick trilogy’ (see A–Z: Splatstick). The distinguishing feature of the splatstick genre is the combination of horrific gore (splatter) and physical, slapstick comedy. The exploration of ‘splatstick’, and dark comedy more broadly, is one of the main stylistic features of the first half of Jackson’s career from Bad Taste to The Frighteners. The obsession with the absurd and the comically grotesque in Jackson’s splatstick films is a deliberate attack on both the dominant Hollywood industry and the serious, highbrow tone of the New Zealand national film production, which during the 1980s and 1990s was attempting to position itself as the producer of art films such as Vigil (Ward 1984), The Piano (Campion 1993) or Once Were Warriors (Tamahori 1994). Jackson’s insistence on black

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comedy and bad taste in his early films allowed him to develop a stylistic individuality and find a niche in the ever-expanding and competitive international marketplace. Jackson’s cameos in his own films can be interpreted at once as a parodic form of intertextuality (a nod to Hitchcock’s iconic cameos) and an ironic attempt to inscribe himself in the pantheon of film auteurs (see A–Z: Cameos). Another important visual mark of Jackson’s style is constituted by the camera’s tendency to penetrate closed spaces. This stylistic device is usually employed to simultaneously create spectacular interludes and enhance the viewer’s understanding of the narrative. In Heavenly Creatures, a dollying camera crashes through the doors of the Borovnians’ sand castle continuing up the stairs. In The Frighteners, a similarly joined series of shots allows the viewer to enter Patricia Bradley’s attic window like the ghost of her boyfriend Johnny Bartlett. A more grotesque version of this spatial transition occurs in Braindead where the camera enters the Mother’s monkey bite to see the infected blood pushing through her veins (Robinson 1998, 67). In The Fellowship of the Ring, the camera follows the vertiginous (and spectacular) descent of a moth from the top of the Orthanc tower to the caverns where Saruman is building his army of Uruk-hai. Nearly all Jackson’s films begin with a prologue which establishes the setting and provides background details about the narrative. The LOTR trilogy opens with a sequence which briefly summarizes the history of the ring. Similarly, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey begins with Bilbo writing down the story of his adventure (a reference to The Fellowship of the Ring in which Bilbo just completed his book). In some cases the prologue functions to create a contrast with the tone of the following sequence. In Meet the Feebles, a well-choreographed rehearsal is followed by a sequence which reveals the various conflicts within the eponymous troupe. As mentioned earlier, in Heavenly Creatures, the early propaganda film about Christchurch is juxtaposed with the moments that follow the shocking murder sequence. Another common stylistic trait visible in all of Jackson films is the presence of fight scenes. In Bad Taste The Boys massacre the aliens, while in Meet the Feebles Bletch and his crooners fight against the rival gang. Both the LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies are characterized by a proliferation of acts of physical violence including spectacular battle sequences. Even Heavenly Creatures

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features several episodes of fantasized violence to demonstrate the vividness of the protagonists’ imagination. In some cases the fighting style of the characters references the martial arts film genre. In Braindead the priest (Father McGruder) is an experienced Kung Fu practitioner, while in LOTR Gandalf’s and Legolas’s fighting techniques are reminiscent of those of wuxia-style heroes. In line with Jackson’s fascination with gore and splatter, decapitations and mutilations are also common occurrences. The decapitation of the vicar in Heavenly Creatures is matched by the mutilation of Stewart’s bitten limbs in Braindead. Decapitation is also a recurring motif in Forgotten Silver (the sequence featuring John the Baptist), Meet the Feebles (during Heidi’s killing spree), LOTR and The Hobbit (several characters, including orcs, men, dwarves and elves, are decapitated). In terms of his approach to filmmaking, Jackson often makes use of previsualization (previs), a technique in which digital technology is deployed to aid the planning and efficiency of the shot. The Wellingtonian is also considered to be a perfectionist, often demanding several takes of the same scene and shooting it from as many angles as possible, in order to have more options during the editing stage (Universal Studios 2005). Jackson is renowned for documenting the making of his films and sharing the experience with his fans. The first ‘behind-the-scenes’ documentary about a Jackson film was Good Taste Made Bad Taste (1988). The film, directed by Tony Hiles (a consultant producer on Bad Taste) documents the DIY tricks devised by Jackson to make his first feature. During the making of LOTR, Jackson regularly communicated with online fan communities, revealing some secrets about the production process. Two film crews (directed by Michael Pellerin and Costa Botes, respectively) documented the making of the LOTR trilogy and produced several ‘making-of-documentaries’ and interviews with Jackson, which were subsequently released for the home media market (see A–Z: LOTR). During the production of King Kong and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Jackson made several video production blogs which were published online before the release of the films. Jackson has been able to safeguard his creative freedom and relative independence from the Hollywood studio system by working in New Zealand, building his own studios and postproduction facilities and establishing his own production companies

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(Weta, Wingnut Films, etc.). He is often credited in more than one key film-making role in his movies. The limited budget of Bad Taste forced him to be involved in virtually all aspects of the film-making process (from acting and directing to cinematography and editing). This heavy involvement has continued in his subsequent projects as Jackson usually writes and produces the films he directs. Jackson also often prefers using the same collaborators on different productions and some of them, including Richard Taylor, Jamie Selkirk and Fran Walsh, have worked with him for more than twenty years (see Chapter 2). The continuity of crew contributes to the consistency of Jackson’s style in two ways. First, he tends to select film makers whose style and interests are complementary to his own creative vision. Secondly, his different films feature elements of aesthetic continuity (in terms of cinematography, editing, set design, etc.) as the same collaborators carry out these tasks (Morris 2007, 49). Jackson’s relationship with actors is quite different from the one he entertains with his crew. Despite having worked with famous stars such as Michael J. Fox, Kate Winslet, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts, he has rarely used the same performers in more than one film. Notable exceptions include some of the LOTR cast members (Ian Mckellan, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving) who have come back to play the same characters in The Hobbit films; New Zealand actors such as Mark Hadlow and Jed Brophy (who has featured in various supporting roles in most of Jackson’s films); and Andy Serkis, a specialist of motion capture performance who has appeared in all of the films (apart from The Lovely Bones) directed or produced by Jackson since LOTR (see A–Z: Motion Capture). Despite the fact that his oeuvre encompasses considerable variety, Jackson has a distinguishable personality that has often transcended the production context in which he has worked. The comparison of Bad Taste (Jackson’s first feature film) and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (his latest to date) reveals that despite the huge differences in terms of budget, technical proficiency and commercial expectations, the two films share a number of significant thematic, narrative and stylistic elements: fantastic settings and creatures, spectacular fight scenes, ingenious special effects, intertextual references, dark humour and the use of New Zealand film locations. Peter Jackson’s name has become a distinctive brand associated with fantasy and innovative film technology. The authorial status

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of Jackson’s name has been used to promote videogames (Peter Jackson’s King Kong), ancillary products (books and production diaries) and films directed by collaborators or protégés (Jack Brown Genius, District 9, The Adventures of Tintin). The New Zealand 48Hours film-making competition features a special award category called the ‘Peter Jackson Wildcard’, which is given to films (usually featuring original stories and inventive special effects) selected by Jackson himself (Kara 2012). It would be reductive, however, to label Jackson as merely an auteur since his artistic merits are strictly interconnected to his entrepreneurial skills. The success of his companies has simultaneously guaranteed a relative freedom from Hollywood and led to the development of cutting-edge skills and technology that made his films possible. His ability to negotiate with commercial and political entities both in New Zealand and in Hollywood has been crucial to his artistic and economic success. By transforming New Zealand into a popular film location Jackson has contributed to the repositioning of the country in the global market. Furthermore, the prominence of his production companies has reshaped the entire global media system as Hollywood film makers can now bypass American visual effects firms to make their films in Wellington. Jackson’s commercial success, however, has come at a cost as the colossal budgets of his post-LOTR films and the consequent need to target broad audiences has forced him to dilute some of the most subversive and original stylistic elements that characterized his early production. It is yet to be seen whether the end of The Hobbit trilogy (and presumably of the Middle Earth franchise) will correspond to the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of his authorial vision.

2 Collaborative Relationships

Over the course of his career, Jackson has developed a number of significant collaborative relationships. Like many other film auteurs, Jackson often prefers to use the same collaborators on different projects and some of them, including Richard Taylor, Jamie Selkirk and Fran Walsh, have worked with him for more than twenty years. In many cases, the success of these film makers has been inextricably tied to the popularity and critical acclaim of Jackson’s films. At the beginning of his career, Jackson made several amateur films that required his involvement in many areas of the film-making process: from acting to cinematography, from special effects to editing. Jackson has managed to use his extensive knowledge of different aspects of film making to bring out the best in his crews’ work. Similarly, he has also been able to surround himself with trusted collaborators able to effectively complement his creative skills. The majority of Jackson’s collaborators (including Richard Taylor, Jamie Selkirk and Andy Serkis) have accomplished their most significant career achievements while working under his direction. Even those collaborators who were established film makers before meeting Jackson (i.e. Andrew Lesnie, Joe Letteri and Grant Major) seem to have reached the peak of their success while working in Wellington on films such as LOTR and King Kong. The main factors behind the success of Jackson’s creative team are to be found in both his directing style and the production environment that he has created around him. Jackson has a collaborative approach to film making. Many of his companies and enterprises (i.e. Weta Digital and Weta Workshop) are co-owned by some of his closest collaborators. He often seeks and takes into account the input of his collaborators

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when developing his creative vision. According to Weta Digital CEO Joe Letteri: ‘He [Peter Jackson] is really collaborative, really open to ideas’ (Letteri cited in TheOneRing.net 2015). Similarly, former collaborator Costa Botes notes that: Pete never imposes the selfish limits a lot of directors enforce: ‘I have imagined it, I’ve drawn it up on my storyboard and there is no room for you to come in and change it, because I want it exactly I want it!’ He’s not like that. He does what truly great directors do: no matter how well he has worked it out he always leaves room for other people to bring their imagination into the project. (Botes cited in Sibley 2006, 563) Jackson has developed long-lasting personal relationships with most of his key collaborators. Some of the closest members of his entourage such as Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have even influenced Jackson’s decisions to select certain film projects (see Heavenly Creatures and The Lovely Bones). Jackson’s openness to the input of his collaborators is often cited as both a characteristic of his directing style and the reason behind the success of his team. Another important factor lies in the production environment he has managed to create. Most of his close collaborators are based in Wellington, where he operates, and tend to work exclusively for him. Furthermore, the spatial configuration of the industrial district developed by Jackson in the Wellington suburb of Miramar is characterized by the close proximity of companies that specialize in different aspects of film making. The film makers who work with Jackson interact extensively with each other, becoming involved in different aspects of production, pre-production and postproduction, including storyboarding, the development of physical and digital effects, and the supervision of actors’ performances. LOTR represented a crucial turning point in Jackson’s career not only because of its global success, but also because of the emergence of a set of new artists and film makers who joined Jackson’s inner circle of collaborators. From this point of view, it is possible to identify two types of collaborators with whom Jackson works: those who have worked with him since the very beginning of his career on films such as Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles or Forgotten Silver (Fran Walsh; Richard Taylor; Jamie Selkirk; Costa Botes and Grant Major) and those who joined him during the making of the

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LOTR project (Philippa Boyens; Andrew Lesnie; Andy Serkis and Joe Letteri). The Hobbit trilogy has become another important crossroad as some of his older partners such as Jamie Selkirk and Grant Major did not participate in the project. This created space for a new wave of key collaborators, including Jabez Olssen (editor) and Dan Hennah (production designer), who had played secondary roles in LOTR. The list of artists who have worked with Jackson is extremely long and the following section only includes a limited selection of key collaborators who have played a vital role in the development of Jackson’s career. The selected collaborators are also representative of the different roles within the film-making process (editor, writer, cinematographer, set designer, producer, digital effects, physical effects, prosthetics, actors). The following list does not include major film makers or producers such as Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis or Guillermo Del Toro who have collaborated with Jackson on oneoff projects. Similarly, the work of some important collaborators not featured in this section is discussed in other parts of the book with reference to specific projects or aspects of Jackson’s films.

Costa Botes Costa Botes was one of the first film makers to discover Jackson’s talent and played a crucial role in his early career. The collaboration between Botes and Jackson culminated in 1995 when the two film makers co-directed Forgotten Silver, a mockumentary about a fictional New Zealand film pioneer (see A–Z: Forgotten Silver). Born in Turkey to Greek parents, Botes moved to New Zealand as a child. His passion for film making developed as a schoolboy when he was able to get access to a Bolex 16 mm camera (Botes 2014). During the late 1970s, Botes studied film at Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch with other prestigious New Zealand film makers including Vincent Ward, the director of Vigil, New Zealand’s first entry at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1978, the New Zealand Film Commission (the government agency responsible for the funding of local films) was established and provided young film makers like Costa Botes with the opportunity to pursue the dream of a career in film. After graduating, Botes alternated personal projects with work

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on TV drama series. He debuted on TV in 1983 as assistant director on a one-hour children’s show produced by Gibson Group titled Nearly No Christmas. In the mid-1980s, he directed The Lamb of God, an episode of a New Zealand TV drama series called About Face (1985). This Sunday night horror in which the protagonists find themselves trapped in the countryside surrounded by ominously restless sheep, anticipates by several years Black Sheep (King 2007), a New Zealand splatter comedy in which sheep turn into bloodthirsty predators. Botes was able to pursue his interest in fantasy, horror and science fiction by directing four episodes of the Ray Bradbury Theatre (an anthology series created by the famous American sci-fi writer in 1985) and the Worzel Gummidge Down Under Show based on the eponymous British children’s book series. It was during this period of his career, in 1986, that Botes met both Fran Walsh, who was a script editor on the show, and Peter Jackson, who was called in to create some special effects. This is how Botes recalls his first encounter with Peter Jackson: The props guy had met Peter at a party. One day he needed someone to make these little dolls that burst into flames and he thought of Peter. The props guy introduced him (Jackson) to me and he said ‘he’s a guy you might enjoy talking to’. (Botes 2014) During their conversation Botes and Jackson discovered a shared passion for film making, which soon developed into a professional collaboration, the former assisting with the making of Bad Taste. Furthermore, shortly after their first encounter, Botes played a crucial role in Jackson’s personal and professional career by introducing him to his future wife and life-long collaborator, Fran Walsh. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, while Jackson and Walsh were working on Meet the Feebles and Braindead, Botes continued to write and direct original work for film and TV. In 1986, he directed one of his last short films, Stalin’s Sickle. Based on a story by New Zealand writer Michael Morrissey, the film revolves around a youngster who imagines his neighbour is Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Stalin’s Sickle, which won the Jury Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival in 1988, is, according to Botes himself, one of the most significant films in

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his career: ‘that was the first film I’d made where I felt that I’d actually come up with a coherent and strong piece of drama that I was fully confident in’ (Botes 2014). By the early 1990s Botes had formulated the idea behind Forgotten Silver. In the meantime, his relationship with Peter Jackson had become stronger, with Botes becoming part of a circle of Wellington writers and film makers that included Jackson, Walsh, and New Zealand film makers Harry and Stephen Sinclair. Jackson became interested in the project and shared Botes’s enthusiasm for the story. Originally, Botes was to direct the film, while Jackson would act as second unit director. However, following the release of Heavenly Creatures, Jackson’s new-found prestige and reputation became essential to attract funders and Jackson became co-writer, co-director and producer of the film. The made for television mockumentary purports to tell the story of ‘forgotten’ New Zealand film maker, Colin MacKenzie. The film claims that McKenzie was the greatest innovator of cinema and the first film maker to introduce colour and sound as well as the tracking shot and the close up, years before their documented implementation. The film gave avid film fans such as Botes and Jackson the opportunity to play with film history references and accurately recreate the look of old movies through elaborate techniques and special effects. The day after the film premiered in a Wellington theatre it was broadcast on New Zealand television. A number of cooperative journalists had written reviews implying that the story told in the film was true and many television viewers actually believed it (Shelton 2005, 151). When the hoax was eventually revealed, many viewers reacted by flooding New Zealand newspapers with angry letters. Costa Botes was, however, unapologetic, and in Behind the Bull, a documentary about the Forgotten Silver, he claimed that: To my mind a hoax is something you keep up, and we never had any intention of not coming clean (. . .). We thought the next day it would all come out. And it’s actually come out with very little help from us. (Botes 2014) Forgotten Silver was selected by the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Critics’ Prize, while at home the film won the Best Director Prize at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards.

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After Forgotten Silver, Botes directed his first feature film, Saving Grace (1997), which focuses on the relationship between a troubled teenager and an unemployed carpenter who claims to be Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, Jackson was completing The Frighteners and his focus shifted more and more towards Hollywood. The relationship between the two film makers gradually waned until Jackson and Walsh announced they had secured a contract to film The Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand. After the official announcement, Botes immediately told Jackson about his desire to be involved in the project. By the late 1990s, Botes had become interested in documentary and he thought that the production of LOTR would provide him with the opportunity to record one of the greatest undertakings in the history of film making. Jackson shared Botes’s enthusiasm for the idea of a documentary about the making of LOTR and granted Botes the permission to shoot every aspect of the film-making process: Peter’s only direction to me with that was ‘I don’t care what you do but just show it all, warts and all’, that was his words ‘warts and all’, by which he means ‘just tell the truth about it’, and I thought ‘yeah, absolutely, that’s what I want to do’. I wasn’t about to dish the dirt or find out horrible stories, and I didn’t, I just thought ‘I’m sick of seeing behind-the-scenes documentaries that don’t actually tell you anything’, they have no human flavour to them. (Botes 2014) However, Jackson’s support alone was not enough to grant Botes access to the film production and he had to sign a contract with the producers of the trilogy, New Line Cinema. Soon the commercial imperatives of the producers clashed with Botes’s desire to provide an independent point of view about the making of LOTR. This led to a conflictual relationship between Botes and the producers, who eventually hired an American crew to shoot the behind-the-scenes footage of the trilogy. Botes was, however, allowed to complete his series of documentaries; an edited version of which was released in the late 2000s on both the LOTR Limited Edition DVD and Blu-ray sets. Botes’s involvement in the LOTR documentaries represented the end of his professional relationship with Peter Jackson. However, despite the fact that Botes’s and Jackson’s paths have not

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crossed since the early 2000s, Botes emphasizes the fact that their relationship played a crucial role in his film-making career: I learnt a lot from him [Jackson], through example. [. . .] My tolerance for pain was lower than his and my sense of something being ready and finished was a lot lower than his. And he showed me that the bar is actually a lot higher than you think it might be, and I’ve tried to carry that forward. [. . .] My sense of what it actually takes to develop a story, I think, is much more acute because of having worked with Peter. (Botes 2014) Botes continues to develop independent drama and documentary projects such as The Last Dogs of Winter (2011), which chronicles the efforts to preserve the Canadian Eskimo Dog and gained a standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival in 2011. Botes’s last film Daytime Tiger (2011), which focuses on the life of New Zealand writer Michael Morissey, has been considered by New Zealand film critics his best film to date (NZ On Screen 2008).

Philippa Boyens Philippa Boyens is a relatively late addition to the circle of Jackson’s close collaborators, joining his creative team in the late 1990s to work on the adaptation of the LOTR trilogy. Since then, however, Boyens has played a key role in all the subsequent films directed by Jackson, co-writing and co-producing King Kong, The Lovely Bones and The Hobbit trilogy. Boyens graduated in English and History from the University of Auckland in 1994. Early in her career she worked in Auckland as a playwright, teacher, producer and editor. In the mid-1990s, she was the executive director of the New Zealand Writers Guild, an organization created to represent the country’s scriptwriters (NZ On Screen 2013). During this period, Boyens formed a relationship with Stephen Sinclair, a prominent film and theatre writer, who had previously collaborated with Jackson and Walsh on Meet the Feebles and Braindead. When Jackson and Walsh began working on the screenplay for the three LOTR films, they enlisted the help of Sinclair who was now based in Auckland. Sinclair would

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show Boyens, a fan of Tolkien’s novels from a young age, parts of the script and in turn she would provide her fan-based reactions (Sibley 2006, 354). Sinclair regularly reported to Jackson and Walsh about both his progress and his collaboration with Boyens. Eventually, the pair invited her to Wellington hoping to receive valuable feedback on the first draft of the screenplay. Peter Jackson thus recalls his first encounter with the aspiring writer: We thought the criticism that she was giving us was smart and useful. In fact we liked everything she had to say – not because she liked our script, because as the conversation wore on, it was very clear that she felt we had quite a few shortcomings! – but because her opinions and insights were very good and sound, and where she’d criticize something we’d done, she always had a suggestion of how we should fix it. We very quickly gained a huge respect and affection for Philippa. In hindsight, it was a major turning point for the project. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 355) Boyens was made script editor on the project and initially the team of writers would look upon her as someone able to effectively represent the film audience. Boyens’s contribution to the screenplay, however, gradually became more significant and vital, and eventually she was nominated as a full member of the writers’ team. While Jackson was mainly interested in and responsible for the graphic realization of the action sequences, Walsh and Boyens would focus more on dialogue and the development of the broader narrative structure. Jackson’s decision to hire Boyens as a member of the writing team was particularly surprising as she had no experience in the film industry and she had never been involved in the development of a film screenplay before. Describing her atypical debut as a screenwriter, Boyens claimed that: What should happen is that you don’t get to write three films at once, they don’t get green-lit, you go through development hell and the studio executives are horrible. In my case not only did I get to see the scripts become films but the studio was a joy to work with. (Boyens cited in Beattie 2001) For her work on LOTR Boyens won an Academy award, a BAFTA and several other nominations including a Writers Guild

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of America Award. In 2000, Variety nominated her as one of the best writers to watch in the industry and in 2004 she became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the film industry. After LOTR Boyens rejoined Walsh and Jackson to work on the remake of the 1930s film classic King Kong. In this case the main challenge for the screenwriters was adapting the story to a contemporary audience who might find the original version of the film dated (NZ On Screen 2013). King Kong was followed by the adaptation of a novel by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones. While Jackson was still in post-production on LOTR he was given the book by Walsh and Boyens, who were ardent fans of the novel. Referring to her work on The Lovely Bones, Boyens stated that: ‘It’s an especially tricky story to adapt, it’s so incredibly layered and emotional and it’s not linear, so it was an ongoing process, step by step of finding our way through’ (Dreamworks 2009). Jackson and his team of writers, including Boyens, returned to Middle Earth with The Hobbit trilogy. As a devoted Tolkien fan, Boyens was particularly looking forward to the making of the new trilogy. The prospect of collaborating with Guillermo Del Toro was also appealing to Boyens: ‘he [Del Toro] helped us fall back in love with that world. Seeing through his eyes kept it fresh’ (Boyens cited in Lambie 2014). Del Toro eventually pulled out of the project, which was directed by Jackson instead: I would have loved to have seen that film because I think he [del Toro] is an incredible film-maker. But once Guillermo made the decision that he couldn’t do it and Pete made the decision that he would step up and do it, we had to start again. You need to write for the director, or in this instance, a vision that the director has. (Boyens cited in Cardy 2013) After her extensive involvement in LOTR, King Kong and The Lovely Bones, Boyens has become extremely familiar with Jackson’s vision and approach to film making. Boyens moved into Jackson’s neighbourhood in Wellington to facilitate her work relationship with Jackson and Walsh. Apart from a brief stint as the writer for a mini-series of the Ursula Le Guin classic, A Wizard of Earthsea, Boyens has never worked with directors other than

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Peter Jackson.1 Boyens is often considered to be one of Jackson’s and Walsh’s closest collaborators. Her importance within Jackson’s empire is also demonstrated by the fact that she has co-producer credits on all of the films directed by Jackson since LOTR as well as Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 (made in Wellington with Jackson’s support).

Andrew Lesnie Australian-born Andrew Lesnie has been the cinematographer for all the feature films directed by Jackson since the LOTR trilogy.2 Lesnie was already an established director of photography before meeting Jackson. In the 1990s, he had received international praise for his work on both Babe (Noonan 1995) and its sequel Babe: Pig in the City (Miller 1998) – two major blockbusters produced by Australian film maker George Miller (best known for the Mad Max franchise and the Happy Feet film series). In the early 2000s, however, Lesnie surpassed his previous achievements, receiving an Academy Award for his work on the first episode of the LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring. Lesnie studied at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where he shot and directed several short films (Hare 2007, 134). Whilst studying, he also freelanced as a camera assistant in various Australian productions including Patrick (Franklin 1978). After graduating in the late 1970s, Lesnie alternated film and television jobs, getting involved in a range of different projects, including documentaries, TV dramas and feature films. In 1981, Lesnie was hired to shoot a behind-the-scenes documentary for Mad Max 2 (1981), directed by George Miller (Hare 2007, 134). The documentary proved to be a crucial opportunity for the aspiring cinematographer, as during the making of the film he was introduced to both Miller and director of photography Dean Semler. After collaborating with Semler on a number of projects, Lesnie was hired by Miller to shoot Babe, a film about a pig who wants to

1

Boyens originally signed as principal script writer for the series, however, due to production delays she left during the pre-production stages (Le Guin 2004). 2 Andrew Lesnie died of heart attack in 2015 just before the publication of this book.

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be a sheep dog. In Babe, Lesnie created camera compositions that gave the illusion of the animals talking and used lighting to express the inner turmoil of the characters. Lesnie received several awards for his work on the Babe films and he was noticed by Jackson who was looking for a cinematographer for LOTR. Referring to Lesnie, Jackson claimed that: I love the photography Andrew did on the Babe films. I like the heightened feel, saturation and the colours, and I love his use of natural light to create amazing bits of backlight, which I always find to be a very effective look . . . I didn’t necessarily want the exact look of the Babe films for our movie but I liked their stylization. (Jackson cited in Magid 2001, 53) Jackson had originally invited prestigious New Zealand cinematographer Alun Bollinger to be the director of photography on the project. However, despite their previous collaboration on Heavenly Creatures, Forgotten Silver and The Frighteners, Bollinger did not want to commit to the lengthy schedule of LOTR and Jackson offered the job to Lesnie instead (Sibley 2006, 420). Given the large scale of the LOTR trilogy, which involved several units and many different elements of film making (liveaction photography, CGI animation, miniature photography and so on), the film makers decided that consistency in photography was paramount. In particular, Lesnie’s role as supervisor of all the other cinematographers was seen as essential: ‘Andrew was involved in the lighting of every single scene, regardless of whether he was actually on a given set. He talked to the other cinematographers and looked at the dailies’ (Jackson cited in Magid 2001, 55). Lesnie also helped create the complex LOTR colour scheme, defining each realm of Middle Earth with a distinct palette. The warm pastels that dominated Babe were used to convey the comfortable Hobbiton lifestyle. These colours were used to form the basic palette for the film and were manipulated slightly in order to create the appropriate mood of other scenes or locations (Hare 2007, 136). Lesnie received an Academy Award for his photography on the Fellowship of the Ring, while the following episodes of the trilogy earned him several BAFTA and ASC (American Society of

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Cinematographers) nominations and awards. After LOTR, Lesnie returned to work with Jackson on King Kong, The Lovely Bones and the Hobbit trilogy. Lesnie has often contributed to the implementation of the technological innovations advocated by Jackson. Jackson was one of the first film makers to adopt the Red Camera, a groundbreaking digital camera known for its quality and modularity, and he asked Lesnie to use it to shoot some of the sequences in The Lovely Bones. Jackson and Lesnie also used Epic Cameras (a more advanced version of the original Red Camera) for the Hobbit trilogy, thereby reinforcing their association with the Red Camera company. The Hobbit films represented an important turning point for Lesnie as it was his first foray into 3D. Lesnie, Jackson and their collaborators adapted the original stereoscopic rigs (each containing two cameras) built by 3ality Technica to develop an innovative wireless system that provided the director with extraordinary flexibility. The Hobbit trilogy was also shot at the rate of 48 frames per second (fps; as opposed to the industry standard of 24 fps) in order to enhance the clarity of the image and to make 3D easier to watch. Lesnie thus became the first cinematographer to employ the higher frame rate format in a digital film: 48 fps is another addition to the cinematographer’s palette. It reduces motion blur and strobing in some situations. I always stage a scene with priority to the storytelling, always looking for ways to illuminate the subtext of a scene. If the increased capture rate can enhance that prospect, then it can be put into play. Like all techniques it should support but not dominate the drama. (Lesnie cited in Egan 2012) The 48 fps format received mixed reviews, with some critics calling it too ‘realistic’; however, other film makers, including Avatar’s director James Cameron, have expressed their interest in experimenting with the higher frame rate. Lesnie and Jackson often start collaborating at the pre-production stage and make extensive use of previsualization programmes to help plan frame sizes and angles as well as the building of sets. Lesnie has become one of Jackson’s key collaborators since the LOTR; however, he remains based in Sydney, Australia. While collaborating with Jackson, Lesnie has also managed to entertain

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professional relationships with other prestigious film makers such as George Miller and M. Night Shyamalan, and has been the director of photography on several major productions including Happy Feet (Miller 2006), I Am Legend (Lawrence 2007) and The Last Airbender (Shyamalan 2010).

Joe Letteri Digital technology and effects played a crucial role in Jackson’s latest films, particularly The Hobbit, and this is why the contribution of Weta Digital has recently become even more essential for Jackson’s projects. As the director and senior visual effects supervisor of Weta Digital, Joe Letteri is currently one of Jackson’s closest collaborators. Letteri, a specialist in lighting design and computer graphics, joined Weta during the making of The Two Towers in 2001. Letteri’s interest in special effects began as a young student in the United States: I originally thought I was going to be an astrophysicist. The focus of my studies was math and physics and astronomy. The mystery of space and how it all worked captivated me as a child. Later, the early promise of computers caught my attention. The ability to use math to create images that nobody had ever seen before was exciting but the idea of working in film was never something that occurred to me. I wasn’t hooked until I began to see that the mystery and sense of discovery that had always been at the heart of my fascination with space was also present in this new field of visual effects. (Letteri, cited in Burgess 2014, 8) In the early 1990s, Letteri was hired by George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic, where he was asked to create the explosion of a planet on the first shot of Star Trek VI (Meyer 1991). Letteri’s next major project was Jurassic Park (Spielberg 1993). Spielberg’s film was a turning point in the history of film making as it demonstrated digital technology’s ability to effectively recreate fantastic worlds that could not have been possibly brought to life otherwise. In Jurassic Park, Letteri applied his knowledge of physics and natural phenomena (which he used previously while working on Star Trek VI)

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to enhance the realism of the dinosaurs’ skin. Spielberg’s film was a crucial stepping stone in Letteri’s career as he started experimenting with some of the techniques that would later be perfected in films such as LOTR, King Kong and The Hobbit. In 2001, Letteri moved to New Zealand to work on The Two Towers, the first film of the LOTR trilogy to truly feature the digitally generated character of Gollum. Letteri’s main challenge in LOTR was to transform a digital creature like Gollum into a realistic, credible performer. To properly take advantage of the performance Andy Serkis was giving as Gollum, Letteri collaborated with Peter Jackson to build tools that made motion capture viable in production, which before LOTR had not been fully developed. Similarly, Letteri developed a technique that better represents the subsurface scattering of light to enhance the realism of the skin in digitally generated characters such as Gollum and King Kong. Joe Letteri’s work on The Two Towers, The Return of the King and King Kong was rewarded with three Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. Letteri received his fourth Oscar when he collaborated with James Cameron on Avatar (which was partially shot in Wellington) to recreate the fantastic world of Pandora. Between 2012 and 2015, he was nominated four consecutive times for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award,3 contributing to increase Weta’s prestige in Hollywood. Letteri credits part of Weta Digital’s success to the spatial configuration of the Miramar industrial district characterized by the close proximity of companies that specialize in different aspects of film making (Letteri cited in Poland 2009). By working in Wellington with Jackson, Letteri has gradually become more involved in different aspects of production and preproduction. Letteri and his collaborators played a much more crucial role in The Hobbit trilogy as Weta Digital was often asked to devise visual effects and fantastic environments that would have been too expensive and time consuming if they had to be physically created. The Hobbit brought new technical challenges, including the use of 3D and 48 frames per second (see A–Z: 3D and A–Z: High Frame Rate) and the large scope of the project, which required thousands

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Letteri received Oscar nominations for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

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of visual effects. According to Letteri, who will also be involved in the making of James Cameron’s Avatar sequels (scheduled to be shot in Wellington), Weta Digital’s approach to film making has remained unchanged: You have to keep asking yourself: “If I were sitting in the audience watching a scene, would I feel that I am in the world for every single frame of film?” Nothing must ever take you out of the story. That has to be our focus and motivation. (Letteri, cited in Sibley 2013, 33) Letteri and Weta Digital are now universally acknowledged as world leaders in the visual effects industry. Letteri’s key skill lies in his ability to apply the laws of physics to imaginary worlds such as Middle Earth, Skull Island and Pandora, thus enhancing their realism and believability. From this point of view, Letteri’s interest in a transparent representation of natural phenomena converges with Jackson’s creative vision that is often characterized by the desire to combine fantasy and photorealism.

Grant Major Grant Major was one of New Zealand’s best-known production designers even before the beginning of his collaboration with Peter Jackson. Major studied graphic design in Auckland during the mid-1970s, just before the emergence of a significant film industry in New Zealand. Like many other future New Zealand film professionals of his generation, Major began working for the state television broadcaster, designing sets for various TV shows. After three and a half years working for the national television in New Zealand, Major was offered the opportunity to work for the BBC in London and Belfast (‘Grant Major|NZ On Screen’ 2013). The BBC years represented an important opportunity for his professional development as he studied and learned about set design by working on some of the major British TV shows of the time. Major returned to New Zealand in the mid-1980s, a period which corresponded with the coming of age of the local film industry. The boom in the New Zealand film industry had been initiated, on the one hand, by the establishment of the Film

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Commission in the late 1970s, and on the other hand, by various government tax incentives that attracted international film producers to the country. The plethora of films produced in New Zealand during the 1980s provided Major with an important training ground. During this period he also worked in other fields, designing the New Zealand pavilions for the Brisbane and Seville World Expo, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth games. In the late 1980s, Major collaborated with a number of emerging film makers including Alison MacLean, the director of Kitchen Sink, one of the first New Zealand short films to be selected at the Cannes Festival. Through his collaboration with MacLean, Major met Bridget Iken and John Maynard, who would later become the producers of Jane Campion’s second feature film, An Angel at My Table (1990). An Angel at My Table achieved huge success, both at home and overseas, and provided Major with significant international exposure. During the 1990s, he worked both in art films, such as Memory and Desire (Caro 1998), and in other sci-fi or fantasy productions including The Ugly (Reynolds 1997) and the American runaway tele-series production, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. The American TV show provided New Zealand film workers, particularly special effects creators and set designers, with an important training ground that paved the way for the success of LOTR. Major began his long collaboration with Jackson in 1993. The opportunity arose when Jim Booth, Jackson’s producer, asked Major to work on his latest film, Heavenly Creatures. Major knew of Jackson through films such as Braindead and Meet the Feebles, which he had particularly appreciated. At the time, Auckland and Wellington were characterized by a limited exchange in terms of film production and Major had never met Jackson in person. When Booth described the story behind Heavenly Creatures, Major was particularly curious to find out how a ‘splatter-meister’ like Jackson would deal with such a topic. During the making of Heavenly Creatures, Jackson and Major established a strong collaborative relationship based on the mutual appreciation of their respective skills: He was enjoying working with [. . .] a designer who had some amount of experience at the time I guess. I had been working

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as Production Designer for about 6 or 7 years before Heavenly Creatures came along and I was one of 3 or 4 people in the country who had the same experience. He got a kick out of being able to design these sets to a reasonable standard and I think likewise, I got a kick out of his film style, and his experience and his creative way of doing things. He was very much the ‘do-ityourself’ and ‘we can do this just as well as anyone else can’ sort of person. So I’d like to say that we sort of learnt a lot from each other, or I learnt a lot from him. (Major 2014) Major enjoyed his first collaboration with Jackson and Fran Walsh, and decided to come back for The Frighteners. For this film, Jackson intended to work with large sets built from the ground up and granted Major a relatively large budget. The scale of the following project, the LOTR trilogy, represented a significant leap forward for Major and Jackson’s other collaborators. The vast number of locations to find, sets to build and crew to manage was both challenging and an opportunity for developing new skills. Major worked with prestigious illustrators John Howe and Alan Lee to bring the world of Middle Earth to life. The main characteristics of the sets designed for LOTR were realism and attention to detail. Referring to Jackson’s vision of the LOTR trilogy, Major claims that ‘Middle Earth would be a real place for him, just a different time, a different “parallel” world and I subscribe very much to that. Obviously it came from Peter to start off with, but it’s very much affected what I do, and it’s part of my modus operandi’ (Major 2014). For LOTR, Major built life-size, exterior filmable sets such as Rivendell, Hobbiton and Edoras, characterized by realism and durability. He also had to learn to work with and around digital technology, an aspect of film making that Peter Jackson had embraced since Heavenly Creatures. Despite the fact that Major received several awards for his work on LOTR, including an Academy Award for the last episode of the trilogy (The Return of the King), he believes that the big and complex sets of King Kong represented the high point of his career (Major 2014). In particular, Major mentions the challenge of building the multiple sets necessary to recreate the Venture, the ship used by the protagonists to reach Skull Island. King Kong would also be the last collaboration between Major and Jackson.

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Even though he was asked to join the production team for The Hobbit, Major declined in order to dedicate more time to his Auckland-based family. Since King Kong he has participated in a number of ambitious New Zealand and international projects such as The Vintner’s Luck (Caro 2009), Green Lantern (Campbell 2011), Mr. Pip (Adamson 2012), The Emperor (Webber 2012) and Beyond the Edge (Pooley 2013). In 2009, Major wrote and directed his first short film, Undergrowth, which revolves around the life of an agoraphobic man trapped in his own house.

Jamie Selkirk For a long time, Jamie Selkirk was one of Peter Jackson’s closest collaborators. Selkirk has been involved, mostly as an editor, in all the films directed by Peter Jackson, from Bad Taste (1987) to King Kong (2006). Selkirk started his career in 1966 when he began working for the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) in Wellington. After working as a camera operator for a few years, he was involved in a car accident that affected his mobility and forced him to switch to editing. Selkirk went from splicing commercials to editing The Governor (1977), one of the most popular New Zealand TV shows of the time. At the end of the 1970s Selkirk decided to set up his own company, Mr Chopper, with another editor from NZBC. During this period, Selkirk began working in the film industry editing a number of New Zealand films, including Yvonne Mackay’s The Silent One (1985), the first New Zealand feature film directed by a woman, and Sam Pillsbury’s The Scarecrow (1982). In September 1986, the Film Commission’s CEO, Jim Booth, asked Jamie Selkirk and his colleague Tony Hiles to evaluate the footage produced by a young director who had submitted several funding applications to the Commission, Peter Jackson. Both Hiles and Selkirk were impressed by the early footage of what would later become Bad Taste, writing a report for the Film Commission in which they highly recommended Jackson and his work: I’d like to say that I helped him start his career. I mean, if it hadn’t been me looking at it, it could have been another editor. But at the end of the day, it was certainly helped by us giving Jim

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[Booth] the thoughts that this guy needed to be backed. That gave Peter the opportunities at that stage anyway. (Selkirk 2014) The Film Commission decided to support Jackson’s first film on the condition that he hired Hiles and Selkirk as consultants. The latter supervised Bad Taste’s post-production and ended up co-editing the film with Jackson. Selkirk’s encounter with Jackson proved to be crucial for the careers of both film makers initiating a collaboration that was to last for almost two decades. After Bad Taste, Selkirk also edited Meet the Feebles and Braindead, reinforcing his collaborative relationship with Jackson: We got on really well, we had a good relationship in the cutting room. He understood my skills and I understood his skills. I think that’s why we ended up being a steady duo [. . .]. When he put Bad Taste together, he chopped that together on his own bat, in his bedroom at home. He knew what he had to do, but he did not necessarily understand the reason for it. As we went through and did other films he evolved and probably understood the process better. Yeah we got on well [. . .] we even got to the stage when we shot Braindead, to sit together with a storyboard out and storyboard the movie. Between us we would talk about how to script, and how it would be put onto film. What sort of shots would be best fit with the story. (Selkirk 2014) As Jackson’s films expanded in size and budget, Selkirk started taking on more roles and responsibilities. He began as associate producer in Braindead and went on to become executive producer for Forgotten Silver and producer for The Frighteners. In 1994, Selkirk, along with Jackson and some of his closest collaborators, cofounded the special effects company Weta Limited in the Wellington suburb of Miramar. After Weta, Jackson and his collaborators kept accumulating properties in the area, including the Camperdown Studios where Selkirk is currently the facilities manager. After editing Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners, Selkirk was enlisted to both co-produce and supervise the editing of LOTR. LOTR required Jackson and his collaborators to upskill and familiarize themselves with the digital technology necessary to recreate the fantastic worlds and creatures that featured in the

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trilogy. After supervising the digital editing of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, Selkirk became the main editor for the third and last instalment of the LOTR trilogy, The Return of the King, a very challenging job as the extended edition of the film lasts 251 minutes. I always wanted to do the third film anyway. It was fun . . . I always thought it was going to be the best, one of the most exciting films to do. And so that was a great thing. It really was one of the highlights of my career, being involved in The Lord of the Rings. And also the rewards you got at the end of it. (Selkirk 2014) For his work on The Return of the King, Selkirk received an Oscar and an award from the American Cinema Editors Society. Selkirk performed similar duties for Jackson’s next film, King Kong, which also required complex digital effects. King Kong was the last creative collaboration between Selkirk and Jackson as the editor decided not to be involved in Jackson’s subsequent projects. Jabez Olssen, who first started working with Jackson as an assistant editor in the LOTR trilogy, replaced Selkirk for The Lovely Bones and the Hobbit trilogy. Instead, Selkirk has decided to focus on other areas of production such as the career development of young film makers: I had no involvement on The Hobbit. I mean, it would have been quite fun. But I’ve moved on from there. Now I’m doing things I like doing, like helping other young filmmakers. Giving them opportunities, I have to put a little bit of my skills towards what they’re doing. I look at these young filmmakers, there’s a lot of very talented young filmmakers out there. And once given the opportunity . . . it’s a bit like another Peter Jackson. We need another Peter Jackson to come through the ranks, and to keep the industry alive. (Selkirk 2014) After his work on King Kong, Selkirk was the executive producer for a number of low-budget New Zealand productions, including Predicament (Stutter 2010), Good for Nothing (Wallis 2012) and Romeo and Juliet – A Love Song (Van Dammen 2013). Despite his decision to step back from editing any future projects directed

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by Jackson, Selkirk retains an important role in the Miramar industrial complex as he is the facilities manager for Camperdown and Stone Street Studios, which are often used by either Jackson or other international film makers, including James Cameron. Selkirk is also the co-owner and manager of one of many Jackson’s filmrelated enterprises, the Roxy Cinema. With the help of some of Jackson’s collaborators, Selkirk rebuilt the theatre in an Art Deco style and transformed it into one of the hubs of the Miramar film community.

Andy Serkis Jackson has seldom worked with the same actors on different productions. The decision to employ some of the same performers in The Hobbit and LOTR was dictated by narrative consistency (as characters such as Frodo and Gandalf appear in both trilogies) rather than by a conscious stylistic choice. Aside from LOTR and The Hobbit, there are few instances where lead actors have appeared in more than one Jackson film. Andy Serkis, however, is a notable exception as he has featured in several films (either directed or produced by Jackson) including LOTR, The Hobbit, King Kong and The Adventures of Tintin. Serkis was born in London, however, spent the first ten years of his life travelling between the English capital and Baghdad with his father, an Iraqi doctor of Armenian origin (Lewis 2012). Serkis’s early ambitions lay in painting and he studied visual culture at Lancaster University. During this period, Serkis was cast as a lead actor in a theatre play (for which he was originally meant to be the set designer) and he decided to change his major to drama. After his graduation, Serkis pursued his acting career in England, alternating between work in theatre and television. One of his first breakthrough roles in theatre was in the 1992 April De Angelis play, Hush (Shoard 2014). Serkis played the role of Dogboy, a schizophrenic tramp who takes on the spirit of his dead dog and breaks into the house of a middle-class family, challenging their prejudices. As Dogboy, Serkis did not utter a decipherable word and spent the play entirely naked,

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communicating through barks, yelps and growls. Hush was an important moment in Serkis’s career as elements of Dogboy’s character would later influence his performance as Gollum and Kong. Shortly after Hush, Serkis played a number of minor roles in several low-budget British films and achieved some international recognition in Mike Leigh’s Career Girls (1997). In January 1999, Serkis participated in an audition for LOTR. Initially, Serkis was only asked to provide the voice for the animated character of Gollum; however, after watching his audition Jackson decided to use Serkis’s performance to provide Gollum with more realistic movements and facial expressions. The film makers based the facial features of the computergenerated character of Gollum on Serkis, bringing the creature to life through an innovative motion capture technology developed by Weta Digital during the making of the film (see A–Z: Motion Capture). Serkis’s performance as Gollum sparked a debate regarding the legitimacy of CG-assisted acting. After the release of The Two Towers, Jackson and New Line Cinema emphasized Serkis’s unique contribution to the motion-capture-generated character of Gollum, however, even though many critics argued that Serkis deserved an award for Best Supporting Actor, he failed to achieve recognition at the 2003 edition of the Oscars. To justify its decision, the Academy Awards panel argued that since Serkis did not physically appear on screen, he was not eligible for the award (Shoard 2014). Even though his work on LOTR was originally supposed to last only three weeks, Serkis ended up spending almost two years in the New Zealand post-production studios, establishing a strong collaborative relationship with Jackson. His work on LOTR is described in his memoir Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic (Serkis 2003). Weta Digital and Serkis used and further refined some of the motion-capture techniques developed during the making of LOTR in Jackson’s following project, King Kong. During the pre-production period, Serkis was also involved in the creation of Kong’s screen persona and he carried out extensive research to prepare for the role. As part of this process, Serkis studied gorillas’ behaviour, both at the London Zoo and in the wild in Rwanda where they were first discovered in 1902 (Sibley 2006, 529). After King Kong, Serkis reinforced his reputation as a motion-capture performer by playing Captain Haddock

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in The Adventures of Tintin and Caesar (the leader of the ape revolution) in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Wyatt 2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Reeves 2014). Serkis continued the development of performance capture while expanding his career on computer games, providing the in-game face for King Bothan in Heavenly Sword (2007), a Playstation 3 drama. When the filming of The Hobbit trilogy began in 2011, Serkis was cast again as Gollum. Thanks to advances made in capturing facial performances, the new Gollum (who in The Hobbit is sixty years younger than he was in the LOTR trilogy) is more lifelike and expressive than his digital predecessor. Serkis has alternated motion capture performances with more traditional acting roles in both British and Hollywood movies, including Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige (2006). He has also physically appeared on screen in LOTR as Smeagol (Gollum’s original persona) and in King Kong as Lumpy (the ship’s cook). Recently, Serkis’s ambitions have shifted to film making. In 2011, drawing upon his extensive experience in motion capture performance, Serkis and producer John Cavendish founded The Imaginarium, a creative digital studio dedicated to the invention of believable digital characters using motion capture technology. Because of his extensive knowledge of both Middle Earth and film making, Serkis also acted as second unit director for Jackson’s The Hobbit. He is set to make his directorial debut in 2016 with a live-action version of The Jungle Book, which will be produced by Warner Brothers, the same studio that funded The Hobbit trilogy (Pulver 2014). Serkis made an essential contribution to the creation of the first photorealistic movie character (Gollum) created using the technique of motion capture. Serkis has become Jackson’s favourite performer because of his ability to transform fantastic creatures such as Gollum and Kong into believable and emotionally engaging characters. Serkis’s skills have allowed Jackson to realize his creative vision, which is often concerned with the attempt to reconcile fantasy and photorealism. During his fifteen-year-long involvement with Jackson’s projects, Serkis has also acquired an in-depth knowledge of the film-making process, which has turned him into one of Jackson’s closest collaborators not only at the level of dramatic performance, but also in terms of film production and post-production.

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Richard Taylor As the co-founder and co-director of Weta Workshop, Sir Richard Taylor is one of Peter Jackson’s closest friends and collaborators. Taylor is currently one of the most prominent figures in the New Zealand film industry and his name is associated with the creation of props, costumes, prosthetics and miniatures for most of the major film productions made in the country over the last two decades or so. Taylor’s prestige within the industry is reflected by the number and calibre of his achievements. Taylor has won five Academy Awards and four BAFTAs for his work on LOTR and King Kong, and received the supreme award at the 2009 World Class New Zealand Awards. In 2010, he was appointed Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film and in 2012 he was named New Zealander of the Year (NZN 2012). Taylor grew up on a farm south of Auckland and moved to Wellington in his teens with future wife and long-term collaborator Tania Rodger. In Wellington, Taylor studied graphic design at the former Wellington Polytechnic and started making props and sets for television advertisements and stage plays. In 1987, Taylor and Rodger founded RT effects with the goal to service the New Zealand screen industries with their model and prop work. In 1988, the two artists achieved their first major break by creating sixty-eight puppets for Public Eye, a New Zealand satirical TV show produced by prominent Wellington film maker David Gibson (Pryor 2003, 98). Shortly afterwards, Rodger and Taylor were hired by Peter Jackson to create the puppets for Meet the Feebles, Jackson’s second feature film after Bad Taste. Meet the Feebles was the first of a long series of collaborations with Jackson. A few months after the completion of the Feebles, Taylor returned to work with Jackson on Braindead, a film which featured extremely gory sequences and required hundreds of special effects. For Jackson and Taylor, the main challenge was to maximize the quality and number of the effects while dealing with both a limited budget and a relatively unskilled crew. Referring to the making of Braindead, Taylor claimed that: On one level the FX in this movie are completely low tech. They are not likely to set the FX world on fire [. . .]. We are not making

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something with a huge budget, but we are doing something with a huge amount of FX. What we’ve got here is a film on the lines of, say, a Frank Henenlotter project, or something that is built on energy, enthusiasm and number eight fencing wire. (Taylor cited in Helms 2004, 41) Braindead represented an important stepping stone in the development of skills by Taylor, Rodger and the future crew of Weta Workshop. In 1994, RT effects was reborn as Weta Ltd. to provide the visual effects for Heavenly Creatures, Jackson’s fourth feature film. Taylor and Rodger (along with Jackson and other Wellington film-makers) were among the co-founders of the new company that would subsequently split into Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. Taylor and Rodger became co-directors of Weta Workshop and provided special effects for some of the best New Zealand films of the 1990s, including Forgotten Silver and Once Were Warriors. During the mid-1990s, Taylor also began working as the Prosthetic and Creature Effects supervisor on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess, two US television shows produced in West Auckland. The two series would eventually run for seven years, providing Weta with both a steady flow of work and a significant opportunity to refine production skills. The skills and expertise acquired during the production of Hercules and Xena proved to be particularly useful for the making of LOTR. The scale of LOTR, which required thousands of props, special effects and prosthetics to recreate the fantastic world of Middle Earth, provided Taylor with the biggest challenge in his career. During the making of the LOTR trilogy, Taylor coordinated a team composed of hundreds of artists to design the creatures, special effects, prosthetics, armours and weapons, and miniatures required for the project (see A–Z: The Lord of the Rings). For his work on LOTR, Taylor gained international recognition and won Academy Awards for best visual effects, costume design and make up (two awards in this latter category). In 2006 Taylor went on to win another Oscar (shared with Weta Digital effects supervisors) for King Kong. The technical achievements displayed in both LOTR and King Kong attracted, in turn, several international productions to Wellington and contributed to the expansion of Weta. After King Kong Taylor alternated work on major international productions, such as Master and Commander (Weir 2003), District 9 and The Legend of Zorro

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(Campbell 2005), and smaller New Zealand films such as Perfect Strangers (Preston 2003) and The Devil’s Rock (Campion 2011). Taylor and the Weta team also built the animatronic puppets for the zombie sheep of Black Sheep, a New Zealand feature explicitly inspired by the early splatstick films made by Jackson and Taylor. In the late 2000s, Taylor was also part of the team that worked on The Hobbit trilogy. While The Hobbit films were comparable in scale to LOTR, they presented Taylor with a different set of challenges. First, Taylor had to adapt his work to the creative style of Guillermo del Toro (who was originally supposed to direct the project and was eventually replaced by Jackson). Secondly, due to issues that marred the pre-production stages of The Hobbit, Taylor and his collaborators had less time to prepare for the trilogy. At the same time, however, they were asked to create new effects that would equal, if not surpass, the levels of amazement generated by LOTR. The Hobbit trilogy was a commercial success, however, Taylor’s work failed to gain the same critical acclaim it had achieved for LOTR and King Kong. As well as collaborating on projects of epic scale such as LOTR and The Hobbit, Taylor has also created television shows for children. In 2005, Taylor and Rodger produced Jane and the Dragon (2005–2006), a show based on a series of books by Martin Baynton. In 2008, in collaboration with Baynton, they also established Pukeko Pictures producing The WotWots (2009–2012), a pre-school series that follows the adventures of two aliens, and Thunderbirds (2015), a remake of the famous 1960s sci-fi puppet show. Taylor and Rodger have also supervised the expansion of Weta Workshop into several other creative ventures, including the production of high-end art pieces for collectors, a chainmail manufacturing company, a publishing arm and a retail outlet called ‘The Weta Cave’. Taylor can be considered Jackson’s closest collaborator. The two artists have worked on all the films directed by Jackson since Meet the Feebles and share a common passion for special effects. At the beginning of his career Jackson aspired to becoming a creator of special effects, and in his earlier productions he physically collaborated on the making of prosthetics and props. Jackson’s deep understanding of and interest in the making of special effects explains, to some extent, his affinity and close relationship with Taylor’s work. Furthermore, Jackson’s reliance on large quantities

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of sophisticated special effects justifies Taylor’s prominent role within Jackson’s empire. Like Jackson, since the beginning of his career, Taylor has often credited his success to a quintessentially ‘Kiwi DIY spirit’, thus contributing to his popularity among the New Zealand public. Today, both Taylor and Jackson embody the creative and economic success that the New Zealand film industry has been able to achieve since the early 2000s.

Fran Walsh Fran Walsh is Peter Jackson’s life partner and one of his main collaborators since she has worked on all of Jackson’s films since 1989. Walsh usually shares writer and producer credits with her partner, however, occasionally she has also served as second unit director on some of their films. While Walsh has played a crucial role in the development of Jackson’s empire, she has often kept a low profile, rarely conceding interviews about her work and private life. Frances Rosemary Walsh was born in Wellington in 1959. After completing high school, Walsh studied English literature at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating in 1981. During this period, Walsh became interested in music and performed in various local bands including Naked Spots Dance and The Wallsockets (Barnes 2012). After graduating from university, Walsh travelled to England, where she worked as a nanny for investigative writer David Yallop, the author of Beyond Reasonable Doubt, a book that examined the murder conviction of New Zealand farmer Arthur Allan Thomas (Pryor 2003, 61). After returning to New Zealand, Walsh found her first job as a professional writer when producer Grahame McLean enlisted her to do some rewrites for the television drama, A Woman of Good Character (1983). More scriptwriting work followed as Walsh was asked to write for another McLean television production, Worzel Gummidge Down Under. Referring to her professional relation with McLean, Walsh claimed that ‘I feel hugely indebted to Graheme because he employed me at a time when I really needed work experience but I wasn’t experienced enough to be employed’ (Walsh cited in Pryor 2003, 62).

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In 1986, Wellington film critic and film maker Costa Botes introduced Peter Jackson to Fran Walsh and her partner Stephen Sinclair, an emerging New Zealand writer. Jackson showed the pair an early cut of his first film, Bad Taste. Impressed by the quality of the film and Jackson’s passion for film making, both Walsh and Sinclair agreed to collaborate on his next film: puppet black comedy Meet the Feebles. The trio of writers collaborated again on the making of Braindead, which was awarded Best Screenplay at the New Zealand Film and TV Awards in 1992. By the early 1990s, Walsh had ended her relationship with Sinclair and had become romantically involved with Jackson. In 1993, the pair co-wrote Heavenly Creatures, a film based upon the lives of Christchurch teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliette Hulme, who in 1954 murdered Pauline’s mother, Honora. Walsh had been interested in the murder case since her childhood and she played a crucial role in convincing Jackson to make the film. Heavenly Creatures earned Jackson and Walsh their first Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and launched the career of the two lead actresses, Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey (the latter of whom had been discovered by Walsh during a casting call through New Zealand high schools). After Heavenly Creatures, Walsh continued to work with both Jackson (writing and producing The Frighteners) and other New Zealand film makers such as Harry Sinclair and Scott Reynolds. In the late 1990s, Walsh participated in the negotiations with New Line Cinema that eventually resulted in the LOTR trilogy being made in New Zealand. Writing a script for the LOTR films represented one of the biggest challenges of the production. Jackson and Walsh decided to enlist Philippa Boyens, who would later become one of Walsh’s closest friends, to collaborate on the adaptation of the Tolkien novels. According to film critic Brooks Barnes, the three members of the scriptwriting team complement each other in terms of the skills and expertise they bring to script development: ‘Ms. Walsh has a knack for conveying emotion, Ms. Boyens excels at structure (and line readings), and Mr. Jackson is the visual genius’ (Barnes 2012). In 2004, Walsh’s work on LOTR was rewarded with three Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Original Song (Into the West), and several other prestigious awards (including BAFTAs, Golden Globes and a Grammy). In the wake of

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LOTR’s success Walsh also received honorary degrees from several New Zealand universities and was nominated as a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the film industry. After the LOTR trilogy, Walsh, along with Jackson and Boyens (who after LOTR became a stable member of the writing team), adapted and produced King Kong, The Lovely Bones and the Hobbit trilogy. Since the late 1990s, while Jackson has become one of the most popular and well-known directors on the planet, Walsh has systematically avoided the spotlight, refusing to appear in the DVD extras of LOTR, King Kong and The Hobbit. Walsh’s decision to remain in the background was probably influenced by the desire to preserve the privacy of their children, Billy and Katie, which could be negatively affected by the star aura of their parents. The financial success of LOTR enabled Walsh and Jackson to support a number of philanthropic activities, both in New Zealand and overseas. In 2007, the pair spent an estimated NZ$10 million to save a historic Wellington chapel from demolition. In 2011, the two Wellingtonians also saved the Bats Theatre, an 84-seat nonprofit theatre that has long been an incubator for Kiwi playwrights and actors. More recently, Walsh convinced Jackson to co-produce West of Memphis (2012), a documentary about three men who were wrongly convicted of the 1993 murders of three Arkansas boys. Walsh has played a key role in the emergence of Jackson’s success. Walsh’s skills in storytelling, dialogue and character development have complemented Jackson’s mastery of technology and visual effects. Jackson himself has often admitted that he is a visually oriented film maker interested in the creation of film images which are at once spectacular and realistic. His close collaboration with a talented scriptwriter able to complement his visual skills has often been an important ingredient in the success of his films. From this point of view, it is significant that some of Jackson’s most critically acclaimed films, including Heavenly Creatures and LOTR, are also the ones that manage to strike a balance between Walsh’s sophisticated storytelling abilities and Jackson’s careful choreography of spectacular visual effects.

3 Peter Jackson, Wellywood and the Global Dispersal of Film Production

Introduction Peter Jackson is the only New Zealand film maker who has managed to achieve international success without leaving his home country. Jackson has consistently refused the bigger budgets and more advanced technological resources available in Hollywood in order to work in New Zealand, particularly Wellington, instead. The media (both in New Zealand and overseas) have often constructed the myth of a genius film maker able to overcome all odds to achieve international acclaim and single-handedly transform the New Zealand film industry into a major production hub. While Jackson played a key role in repositioning New Zealand in the global market, his own success was also made possible by a number of economic, social, cultural and historic factors specific to the New Zealand context. Since the mid-1970s, New Zealand has attempted to rebrand itself as more than a mere producer of raw materials (mainly wool, dairy products and frozen lamb) for its former mother country, Britain. Recently, new government policies have encouraged the promotion of sectors of the economy that are environmentally sustainable, such as new technologies, tourism and creative industries, particularly film making. The tax incentives and financial support granted to foreign productions since the early 2000s have been part of a conscious attempt to boost the profile of the local

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film industry and promote the country as a perfect film-making location. Similarly, the decentralization of film production through the split between pre-production, production and post-production has recently made New Zealand one of the most popular destinations for globally dispersed Hollywood productions. Peter Jackson’s entrepreneurial skills have been an essential factor in the development of a ‘local Hollywood’ (now colloquially called ‘Wellywood’) contributing to the establishment of infrastructures such as Weta Digital and Park Road Postproduction. However, in doing so, Jackson was able to capitalize on both the existence of an established network of film institutions and facilities and on Wellington’s proximity to other international media clusters such as Auckland and Sydney. This chapter will consider Wellington’s media cluster along two dimensions – that of its internal organization within the geographical space of metropolitan Wellington and that of Wellington’s place within the ecology of New Zealand and international (particularly Hollywood) media. More specifically, the first part of the chapter will discuss how Jackson’s emergence as a successful film maker and entrepreneur was made possible in part by some of Wellington’s cultural, economic, social and geographical specificities: •

The cultural and economic policies developed by both the national government and the Wellington City Council in the 1990s.

•

The history of Wellington as one of New Zealand’s major centres of screen production.

•

The serendipitous convergence between Peter Jackson’s authorial style (characterized by an interest in fantasy, technological innovation and special effects) and Wellington’s geographical and social characteristics.

The second part of the chapter will focus on the emergence of Wellington as one of the main contemporary hubs of global film production. In particular, it will examine how the development of Wellywood was favoured by both the international success of Jackson’s companies and the recent technological and economic changes in the global media system.

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The New Zealand film industry Aotearoa New Zealand is an island nation located in the South Pacific. The country entertains a close cultural and economic relationship with Australia, its biggest and nearest neighbour. New Zealand historian James Belich claims that the country’s history is divided into three distinct periods (Belich 2007). The first is marked by the process of colonization initiated by British settlers in the first half of the nineteenth century and associated with the displacement of the indigenous Ma-ori population. The second period, from the late nineteenth century until the 1960s, is characterized by the consolidation of New Zealand identity as an independent Dominion that still maintained a privileged cultural and economic relation with Britain. Up until this era, the colonial relationship that linked the two countries had never been questioned as New Zealand still regarded Britain as its main political, cultural and social point of reference. According to Belich, the third period of New Zealand history begins at the end of the 1960s. The emergence of the European Economic Community induced Britain to reframe its economic, political and cultural activities within Europe and consequently loosen its ties with former colonies such as New Zealand. New Zealand, in turn, was forced to find a new position within the global market (Belich 2007). The contemporary New Zealand film industry developed during the last stage of New Zealand’s history. During the silent era New Zealand had produced several feature films, however, the period between 1940 and 1975 was characterized by a significant drop in film production. The lack of New Zealand-made feature films from 1940 to 1970 is at odds with the important role played by cinema, particularly British and Hollywood film, in the formation of the country’s cultural identity. In 1945, future Chief Censor Gordon Mirams defined New Zealand as ‘a nation of film fans’ (Mirams 1945, 5). He estimated that during the 1940s one movie theatre catered to around 3,000 New Zealanders, while in the United States there was only one theatre for every 8,700 people (Mirams 1945, 6). The New Zealand film industry experienced a significant revival in the 1970s. During this decade, critics and intellectuals started to consider cinema as both an art form and a means to express the

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country’s national identity. During the same period the major New Zealand universities began to offer film courses, further contributing to the formal recognition of cinema as a medium worthy of serious consideration. After several years of campaigning, a group of New Zealand film makers signed a petition arguing that the only way New Zealand could develop a film industry would be with the support of the state (Leotta 2012, 36). In 1977, the interim Film Commission was created with the goal ‘to advise the Government on legislation, to establish a permanent commission, and to establish policy guidelines for developing a sound motion picture industry’ (Martin and Edwards 1997, 13). Following the international success of local films such as Sleeping Dogs (Donaldson 1977) and Off the Edge (Firth 1977), the minister for Arts, Recreation and Sport, Alan Highet, formulated a law that established the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) (Shelton 2005, 24). In November 1978, the NZFC board met for the first time in Wellington, with the task of funding and supporting local productions that featured ‘significant New Zealand content’. The Film Commission Act (1978) defined ‘significant New Zealand content’ with regard to a film’s subject matter and the nationality of both film makers and investors. The 1980s represented an important transition moment for New Zealand cinema, as film production increased from two films in 1980 to six in 1982 and fourteen in 1984. This rapid expansion in the production of feature films was caused by several factors. On the one hand, the establishment of the Film Commission provided essential funding for local features. On the other hand, local and international investors discovered loopholes in New Zealand tax laws, which allowed movie production to become a means of obtaining tax relief (Leotta 2012, 37). The first executive director of the New Zealand Film Commission, Don Blakeney, was an accountant and his economic focus played a decisive role in the exploitation of the tax shelter (Shelton 2005, 25). The tax shelter engendered mixed reactions, as some in the industry saw it as a unique opportunity to develop film-making activity in New Zealand, while others feared an ‘Americanization’ of the industry that would attract ruthless foreign investors intending to exploit the system to make poor-quality productions (Jesson 1984, 19). The tax loopholes were gradually closed in 1984, causing a temporary decline in the number of features produced. The basis for a stable film industry had, however, been created, thereby

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making possible the international success during the 1990s of films such as Heavenly Creatures (1993), The Piano (1993) and Once Were Warriors (1994).

Jackson and the New Zealand Film Commission Jackson’s early films of the late 1980s and early 1990s included low-budget productions characterized by the blending of comedy and horror such as Bad Taste and Braindead, and art films such as Heavenly Creatures. Jackson’s first four films were all heavily funded by NZFC and at least three of them featured levels of violence that many government funding agencies would have found problematic (Pryor 2003, 208). Jackson’s first film Bad Taste was funded, thanks to the direct intervention of NZFC CEO Jim Booth, who put his own credibility at risk by supporting an unknown film maker like Jackson. Similarly, the NZFC took a major gamble by backing Jackson’s second film Meet the Feebles before seeing a completed script. Jackson’s next project, Braindead, received 80 per cent funding from the Commission, while Heavenly Creatures was financed by both the NZFC (40 per cent) and the German company Senator (60 per cent) (Shelton 2014). Despite the fact that Jackson’s emergence as a film maker would have not been possible without the support of NZFC, he has often been critical towards the Commission. When the shooting of Meet the Feebles ran over budget and schedule, the NZFC appointed New Zealand director John Reid to monitor the making of the film. Upon completion, Jackson explicitly attacked the NZFC in the film’s press kit: Less than a week before shooting started the polished script was presented to the New Zealand Film Commission. They hated it and withdrew their funding. Discussions with the full Board went on into the night and the money flowed in again. The same was to happen twice more during the shoot. Throughout the shoot, the script was to be debated with the NZFC, scenes disapproved, challenged and quietly shot, until in the end the original script – as written – was in the can. (Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 208)

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After releasing his first Hollywood-funded film, The Frighteners, in 1997, Jackson launched another attack against the NZFC, accusing it of being confused and inconsistent in its decision making and out of touch with the real needs of film makers (Pryor 2003, 210). At the end of 1997, Jackson and other New Zealand film makers founded the ‘Feature Film Group’ with the goal of bringing about policy changes within the Commission. The group met with the Minister of Cultural Affairs, Simon Upton, but failed to gain government support (Pryor 2003, 213). In 2002, Jackson used the limelight of The Two Towers premiere in Wellington to publicly announce that both the Commission Chairman Barrie Everard and the Chief Executive Ruth Harley were not welcome at the gala event. Jackson publicly attacked the Commission for failing to pay the debts of a local film, Kombi Nation (Lahood 2003), which had received funding from the NZFC. The production company behind the film, Kahukura, went bankrupt in 2002 and owed almost NZ$300,000 to the Film Unit, a film processing laboratory owned by Jackson (Cleave 2002). The public row over the Kahukura debts further strained the relation between Jackson and the NZFC (Shelton 2014). After the success of the LOTR trilogy and King Kong, Jackson’s power and political influence meant that he could have a direct impact on government decisions and policies. In 2010, the New Zealand government enlisted Jackson and lawyer David Court to conduct a review of the NZFC. In the review, Jackson explicitly acknowledged the important role played by the NZFC in his career: In terms of our own experience, one of us (Peter Jackson) has had extensive dealings with the Film Commission; the other (David Court) has not. Peter describes his experience as both good and bad. Early in his career the Commission provided crucial support that helped him complete his early movies, resulting in his transition from making very low budget films to independently financed, larger budget films. He remains grateful for that early assistance under the auspices of then NZFC Chief Executive, Jim Booth. At a later time, Peter was caught in the middle of a dispute involving his post production facility and the NZFC-funded Kahukura Low Budget scheme. (Jackson and Court 2010, 6)

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The review concluded that the Commission should be retained; however, it also suggested a restructuring of the agency that would put more emphasis on the development of talent rather than projects. Recently, the relation between Jackson and the NZFC has improved. In 2013, the New Zealand government established the Screen Advisory Board with the purpose of developing the skills and connections that would enable the local film industry to compete internationally and attract overseas finance. Peter Jackson (along with other prestigious film makers such as Fran Walsh, James Cameron and Jane Campion) was nominated as a member of the board. Jackson used his seat on the board to advocate a funding increase for the NZFC claiming that a greater government support is needed in order to develop local talent (Cumming 2014). The relationship between Jackson and the NZFC exemplifies the vital role played by New Zealand government policies and agencies in the emergence of Jackson’s career. Jackson’s involvement in the latest NZFC review reveals how his current political power enables him to directly influence some government decisions regarding film making in the country. From this perspective, the fact that Jackson has always been based in Wellington, the political capital of New Zealand, is significant as his proximity to the national parliament has often facilitated his lobbying activity. Furthermore, as the centre of the New Zealand national government, Wellington has been home to a number of private and public institutions that have contributed to Jackson’s international success.

Wellington Unlike prestigious New Zealand film auteurs such as Vincent Ward and Jane Campion, Jackson has never tried to leave his home country to pursue a film-making career overseas. Jackson has often claimed he stayed in New Zealand specifically to avoid the collaborative, studio-run approach of Hollywood film making in which film is a corporate art, not an individual one: What I have in New Zealand [. . .] is total freedom. I have, at odd times, flirted with the idea of going to make a film in America, but I always feel, hell, do I really want to lose control of the film

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at the vital stage? Do I want other people to have final cut? Do I want to feel like I am an employee for a studio, which says, ‘We are just going to pay you to make this and then you must go away while we will finish it as we see fit? You are just the director; you are no one else.’ I don’t want to be a director as such; I want to be a filmmaker. (Jackson cited in Cinema Papers – NZ Supplement 1998) The support granted by the NZFC during the early stages of his career provided Jackson with extensive creative freedom and allowed him to remain in New Zealand. However, his later major international success was also made possible by some of the social, cultural and economic characteristics of Wellington, the city where he and his collaborators operate. Wellington is the political capital of New Zealand. With a population of 398,000, it is the country’s second largest city after Auckland. The urban area of Wellington is the New Zealand region with the highest median incomes, highest proportion of working age population, and highest proportion of its population working in communication services, finance, insurance and business services industries (Pearce 2007, 9). The city is also characterized by the presence of a political elite, public servants, diplomatic contingents and those working in national cultural institutions. Many of these characteristics of Wellington derive ultimately from the presence of the national government in Wellington as New Zealand’s capital. This gives the city a depth and scale of cultural activity that its size belies (Leotta and O’Regan 2014, 98). Peter Jackson was born on the outskirts of Wellington and he has often emphasized his personal connection to the city, which is the place where he developed as a professional film maker. Jackson’s emergence as a successful director was enabled by the presence in Wellington of some of the most significant national filmrelated institutions. These included the NZFC, the National Film Unit, Pacific Films, the New Zealand Film Archive and the Avalon studios (which during the late 1970s were reputed to be the largest television studios in the Southern Hemisphere). The presence in Wellington of these media-related organizations was beneficial to Jackson’s career in different ways. The existence of an established film production culture allowed Jackson to interact with and learn from experienced film makers,

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some of whom would later become his collaborators. During the 1970s and 1980s, Wellington was a major TV production centre and many of Jackson’s future collaborators, including Jamie Selkirk, Fran Walsh and Richard Taylor, started their career working for some of the television productions based in the capital city during this period. For a long time, Wellington was also home to the only two film production companies in the country: the National Film Unit and Pacific Pictures. The National Film Unit (NFU) was a government-funded institution established in 1941 with the goal to produce documentaries, tourism films and propaganda films for the government (Leotta 2012). The NFU did not produce feature films; however, it assisted other film makers as it was the only major post-production facility in the country. The Film Unit represented an important training ground for some of New Zealand’s future film makers such as Sam Neill, Roger Mirams and Cecil Holmes. Jackson himself applied (unsuccessfully) for an internship at the Film Unit after graduating from high school (Sibley 2006, 46). Eventually, when the NFU was privatized in the 1990s, Jackson purchased it and renamed it as Park Road Post Production. Pacific Films was established in 1948 by former NFU members Alun Falconeer and Roger Mirams and was New Zealand’s only private film production company until the 1970s. When film pioneer John O’Shea joined the company in 1950 he produced and directed the only three feature films made in New Zealand during the 1950s and 1960s (Leotta 2012). Pacific Films provided a number of emerging New Zealand film makers with crucial training opportunities and contributed to the development of Wellington’s film culture. The city’s general orientation towards film was also confirmed by the presence of important film infrastructures such as the New Zealand Film Archive (established in 1981) and the Wellington Film Society, which screened many of the international film classics that were not distributed by mainstream exhibition outlets (Sigley 2013). Jackson also directly benefitted from his physical proximity to important centres of film funding, production and exhibition based in Wellington. Jackson’s attempts to secure funding for his first four films were facilitated by both his physical presence in Wellington and his relationship with networks of established film makers. Jackson was able to get some of his early films processed at the NFU and he eventually laid the foundations of his empire

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by purchasing existing film infrastructures in Miramar. Similarly, when LOTR premiered in Wellington in the early 2000s, Jackson could rely on the existence of major movie theatres such as The Embassy, a historic picture palace able to seat more than 800 people. Jackson also indirectly took advantage of the important socioeconomic changes that occurred in Wellington during the early 1980s. Since the late 1970s, Wellington faced a difficult process of structural change as the city progressively lost its New Zealand centrality in finance, corporate headquarters, advertising and television and film production (Page 1996, 129). These structural changes had been compounded by broader changes in national government organization as the public service underwent restructuring with the privatization and selling of government assets. This combination of privatization and deregulation of government departments and functions led to the loss of jobs, many of which had been located in Wellington (Leotta and O’Regan 2014, 99). The privatization and downsizing of the public sector, which corresponded to Wellington’s decline during the 1980s, translated into low property prices that allowed Jackson to gradually purchase a number of buildings and former government infrastructures (including the NFU and various studios), which ended up constituting the basis of his empire. More importantly, this economic decline meant that Wellington had to move earlier than many other New Zealand, and even Australian, cities to adopt the nomenclature of the knowledge economy and brand itself as a cultural and creative city (Leotta and O’Regan 2014, 99). The notion of Wellington as the cultural capital of New Zealand gained significant traction in 1998 with the opening of Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand’s national museum, and other significant urban cultural developments. These innovations, together with a new emphasis upon café culture and Wellington’s traditional national performing arts role, underwrote the city’s rebranding as New Zealand’s cultural and creative capital. When Jackson moved to develop the digital capabilities of Weta with The Frighteners in 1997, both the Wellington City Council and the central government took this as an opportunity to craft a new image for the city’s aspirational relation to the knowledge economy. Film – and Jackson’s film making in particular – provided both visibility and tangible character to

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Wellington’s claims to being a creative hub and as a provider of advanced post-production services. Jackson’s decision to stay in Wellington was also influenced by the serendipitous convergence between the type of films that he makes and the various geographical and economic resources offered by the city. Jackson’s style is characterized by a consistent interest in fantasy, technological experimentation and special effects. Since the beginning of his career Jackson has often been interested in the exploration of fantastic worlds (i.e. the kingdom of Borovnia in Heavenly Creatures, Middle Earth in LOTR and The Hobbit, Skull Island in King Kong and so on). One of the preconditions to the recreation of the fantastic worlds depicted in Jackson’s films is easy access to unspoiled, rural landscapes. Wellington’s geographical location, surrounded by rural areas such as the Hutt Valley and the Wairarapa, is particularly favourable from this point of view. The construction of fantastical worlds also requires extensive investment in terms of set design, physical and digital effects. Projects such as LOTR or King Kong would not have been economically viable in the United States due to the high costs associated with hiring huge numbers of cast and crew. However, New Zealand, and Wellington in particular, was able to offer cheap, non-unionized labour, favourable exchange rates, alluring tax incentives and a general film friendliness. Wellington featured key transport infrastructures, such as the port and the international airport, which facilitated equipment and labour mobility. Wellington’s relative geographical proximity to other media production centres, such as Auckland and Australia, also represented an important asset. LOTR, for example, employed Australian cast and crew members and benefitted greatly from the expertise generated by the earlier production of films such as The Matrix (Wachowski 1999) in Australia. Similarly, the city offered a vibrant café culture, a dynamic nightlife and some major cultural attractions that represented a significant appeal to the international cast and crew involved in long projects such as LOTR. Furthermore, as the political capital of New Zealand, Wellington was already home to a highly educated workforce. The presence in Wellington of significant public, education and cultural sectors attracted professionals with expertise in project management, media and IT skills that were useful for

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Jackson’s companies. IT capability and expertise is particularly crucial to Weta Digital, which is now the most important company in Jackson’s empire, employing more than 1,000 IT artists and professionals. Wellington was also one of the first Australasian cities to lay fibre-optic cables throughout the whole downtown area. To coincide with this rollout during the 1990s, Wellington City Council launched its Info City project, aiming to make Wellington a ‘knowledge city’ by enhancing its communications infrastructure (Huff 2014). Wellington attracted and facilitated the development of many prestigious IT companies, and today it is home to some of Australasia’s biggest software producers including Xero and Sidhe. Jackson’s Weta Digital (famous for winning several Oscars for films such as LOTR) benefitted from the Council’s investment in the IT sector as this led to the development of a relatively large pool of IT workers who have contributed to the success of Weta. Similarly, the Wellington City Council continued to help Jackson by contributing substantially to bringing the iconic 1920s picture palace, The Embassy, up to the standards New Line required for the world premiere of The Return of the King in 2003.

From Wellington to ‘Wellywood’ The LOTR trilogy directed by Jackson dominated New Zealand’s film production sector in the early 2000s and brought about a number of benefits to New Zealand cinema, such as the enhancement of the country’s film infrastructure, the upskilling of local film crews and an increase in New Zealand’s visibility as a destination for both tourists and international film producers. The trilogy also had a considerable impact on the city, enhancing its reputation as a major creative hub and giving it its international standing as ‘Wellywood’. LOTR consolidated Wellington’s role as a post-production and high-end digital and prop production services location for ‘born international production’ – that is, productions which are from their inception conceived for global markets. Weta Workshop, Weta Digital and Park Road Post Production, originally created to service Jackson’s own needs, attracted fellow high-end Hollywood

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producers, like James Cameron, interested in the innovation and cutting-edge digital visual effects these companies can offer. During and after the making of LOTR, Jackson purchased more property in Miramar and further expanded his empire. Some of the new enterprises established by Jackson and his collaborators directly fed into the film culture that animates the city and particularly the suburb of Miramar. After the release of LOTR, Weta Workshop opened the Weta Cave, a mini museum that displays a selection of props and collectibles produced by the visual effects company. Following the increasing interest in film-tourism, Weta also began to offer tours of some of its workshops located near the Camperdown studios. A few years later, some of Jackson’s other collaborators opened The Roxy, an iconic Art Deco movie theatre that features Weta’s sculptures and artwork. According to New Zealand film historian David Lascelles, Jackson bought the whole building, which originally hosted an old suburban cinema, the Capitol Theatre, with a view to open two theatres and a museum for his props. The project sat idle for a few years, but eventually Jackson entrusted it to Jamie Selkirk, who, with the support of other Jackson’s collaborators, invested NZ$7 million to refit the theatre along the lines of 1930s Art Deco style (Lascelles 2015). The Roxy (which also hosts a Hollywood-themed restaurant) opened its doors in 2011, and it is now considered to be one of the best movie theatres in New Zealand where it has won several prestigious awards. Jamie Selkirk regards the Roxy as an integral component of the film culture developed by Jackson in Miramar: ‘We’re making movies out here, so we thought it would be a cool thing to do for Miramar. When overseas people come here, too, there’s been nowhere local to take them, and now there’ll be a cinema, bar and restaurant where they can meet’ (Selkirk cited in Catherall 2011). The financial success of Jackson’s films has also enabled him to support a number of philanthropic causes in Wellington. In 2007, he spent an estimated NZ$10 million to save a historic chapel from demolition. More recently, he also rescued the Bats Theatre, an 84-seat non-profit theatre that has long been an incubator for Kiwi playwrights and actors. The development of ‘Wellywood’ as an international production centre has also had a positive impact on the local film industry. New Zealand film makers have been able to

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transfer the skills and expertise generated by the LOTR and other international blockbusters to smaller projects. Similarly, independent producers are now granted relatively easy access to the high-end post-production facilities built by Peter Jackson. The emergence of Wellywood also had serendipitous effects on related sectors such as IT and media design. For example, New Zealand’s biggest digital games developer, Sidhe, openly acknowledges its debt to Jackson’s operations in terms of creating a critical mass of digital visualization capabilities in the city and has developed training initiatives in collaboration with Weta (Fairfax News 2011). The idea of Wellywood as the creative capital of New Zealand appealed to both local and national authorities. Following the major international success of the LOTR trilogy, the Wellington City Council embraced Richard Florida’s ideas regarding the rise of the ‘creative class’ (Norman 2013), with Florida himself casting Wellington as an exemplary ‘creative’ location (Florida 2010, 1–4). Commenting on the success of the world premiere of The Return of the King (2003), Wellington’s Mayor, Kerry Prendergast, claimed that ‘the film industry is a crucial one for the Wellington region [. . .] and will ensure that the Wellington region continues on its path to become one of the leading Creative Capitals of the world’ (Prendergast cited in Anderton 2003). Wellington has for a number of years based both its business attraction and tourism campaigns on its creativity and knowledge economy. At the same time, Wellington’s related branding as the gateway to LOTR locations in the wake of the trilogy’s extraordinary international success added another dimension to the city’s image. In particular, the city’s association with the film industry has often been mobilized to boost both domestic and international tourism. The LOTR exhibition at Te Papa in 2002 drew 325,000 people (the most popular exhibit in the history of the museum). In 2015, the Wellington City Council announced the construction of a waterfront film museum to be developed in collaboration with Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor (Chapman 2015). ‘Wellywood’ – and blockbuster film production – has become important not only to the city, but also to the New Zealand government and, more broadly, New Zealand’s sense of itself. Former prime minister Helen Clark thus summarized the official commitment to the national spin-off possibilities:

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Set against the spectacular and diverse NZ landscape, the LOTR trilogy has the potential to be a major tourist promotion and investment tool for years to come, by highlighting the country’s natural beauty and the creative talent of its people across a wide range of knowledge-based industries. (Clark 2001) For the New Zealand government and its policy makers, Jackson’s companies provided a very different model of internationalization from that of a local company outgrowing its New Zealand base and developing into an Australasian-focused enterprise. Jackson’s model of internationalization bypassed Australia to engage directly with the United States and other major global centres of film production. This difference helps to explain Jackson’s traction with New Zealand politicians when he sought to secure favourable terms and conditions for the making of The Hobbit franchise. His successful mobilization of politics and the policy process suggests some of the wider symbolic importance of his firms and their capabilities to brand New Zealand. While Jackson’s economic contribution to the country’s GDP may be less than other major industries, it has the capacity to gain an international profile for New Zealand that other ‘world famous in NZ’ firms cannot (Campbell-Hunt 2001). Wellywood provided a model and narrative for success in the digital content industries that was simultaneously internationally connected and home staying. This was unlike the more traditional logics of the film and television industries in New Zealand in which working overseas was a means of advancing not only career prospects but also developing film-making skills and expertise. Relocating to Australia, the UK or the United States had become almost a rite of passage for many New Zealand film makers. However, with Weta and the other post-production facilities, Wellington, and by implication New Zealand, has attracted skilled personnel not only from Australia but also from the United States, the UK and continental Europe. The emergence of Weta led to a profound change in the New Zealand film industry as working for the leading visual effects company internationally meant staying in, rather than leaving, New Zealand (Leotta and O’Regan 2014, 100).

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Jackson and the global dispersal of film production Jackson’s international success and Wellington’s transformation into a major satellite production centre were also possible because of significant changes at the level of global media production. The contemporary decentralization of the value chain through the split between film pre-production, production and post-production, along with the internationalization of film funding and distribution has led to what Miller and colleagues call a ‘new international division of cultural labour’ (Miller et al. 2008, 111). According to Miller and colleagues, the traditional opposition between a free market, commercial and industryoriented system (Hollywood) and the culturally informed, statesubsidized model typical of European national cinemas has been replaced by ‘Global Hollywood’, a new order characterized by the hegemonic participation of Hollywood in other national film industries through economic and cultural forms of engagement (Miller et al. 2008). ‘Global Hollywood’ has been defined as the global exchange of people, places and financing that characterizes the contemporary internationalization of film production (Goldsmith, O’Regan, and Ward 2011, 13). According to George Dicken, this complex geography of production, distribution and consumption is not specific to the film industry as it informs the business processes of many other consumer products (Dicken 2007, 4). Global Hollywood can be understood as a global space of relationships and flows of capital, places and people. In this new scenario, however, Los Angeles remains the main design centre that coordinates the production, marketing and distribution of films at the global level (Goldsmith, O’Regan, and Ward 2011, 27). The geographical dispersal of film production has been caused by a number of social, economic and technological factors. Increasing mobility, telecommunications, global business development and expanding markets for film and television have led to stronger interconnections between people, places and companies. Technological innovations, such as high-speed data transfers, have allowed for greater levels of collaboration and

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control of film production, even in regions of the world such as Australia or New Zealand that were previously considered as being too distant from Hollywood (Goldsmith, O’Regan, and Ward 2011, 15). At the same time, local, regional and national governments are increasingly aware of the economic benefits associated with attracting major globally dispersed film productions. Many countries, including New Zealand, Canada and Australia, have recently implemented ‘film friendly’ policies such as tax and producer incentives to attract major Hollywood productions. As Goldsmith and colleagues suggest, in order to understand the global dispersal of film production, it is necessary to examine, on the one hand, the actions and motivations of the Hollywood majors and, on the other hand, the actions and motivations of the places and people who engage with Hollywood, thereby becoming ‘Local Hollywoods’. The term ‘Local Hollywoods’ refers to the many satellite production centres that have emerged over the past two decades in correspondence with the globalization of Hollywood (Goldsmith, O’Regan, and Ward 2011). Referring to the characteristics of global production networks, Jeffrey Henderson points out that: In order to understand the dynamics of development in a given place (. . .) we must comprehend how places are being transformed by flows of capital, labour, knowledge power etc., and how, at the same time, places are transforming those flows as they locate in place specific domains. (Henderson et al. 2002, 438) On the one hand, Henderson and colleagues draw attention to the multinational power of contemporary Hollywood, which has transformed places towards a global model. On the other hand, however, they also suggest that the ‘receiving places’ channel, refract and transform Global Hollywood, which is still subject to national and subnational jurisdictions and the need to negotiate with local stakeholders in order to take advantage of the assets, energy and creativity specific to these places. Different places have different interests, histories, politics and cultural dynamics. They deploy different, but often converging strategies to profit from their engagement with Hollywood and simultaneously contribute to reshaping the international flows of film production. The Wellywood

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phenomenon can be understood only by simultaneously analysing the macro shifts in global film production and New Zealand’s own significant investment in the creative industries. An important component of New Zealand’s attempt to reposition itself in the global market has been the development of marketing strategies and government policies aimed at attracting major international productions to the country. Peter Jackson is obviously a key figure from this point of view, as during the 2000s he was able to foster New Zealand’s participation in the international screen industry. By enhancing New Zealand’s reputation as a quality film-making location, the success of Jackson’s films in turn contributed to attracting major international blockbusters such as The Chronicles of Narnia (Adamson2005) and James Cameron’s Avatar franchise to the country. The story of New Zealand’s place in global film production, however, began several years before the production of LOTR. In 1987 a Disney production, The Rescue (Fairfax 1988), was shot in Queenstown and Auckland. The following year, George Lucas and Ron Howard filmed several sequences of their fantasy movie Willow (Howard 1988) in New Zealand. By the mid-1990s, New Zealand had become the destination of several major American TV productions such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1999) and Xena: The Warrior Princess (1995–2001). Similarly, in 1997, the availability of cheap labour and infrastructures, as well as favourable exchange rates, persuaded the executives of Universal to film The Frighteners in Wellington. The successful completion of major productions such as The Frighteners, Hercules and Xena enhanced New Zealand’s reputation as a potential film location, paving the way for the making of LOTR in the early 2000s (Leotta 2015, 25). The 2000s were also characterized by the extraordinary support of the New Zealand government towards the creative industries in general and screen production in particular. In 2000, the Labour government launched the Film Fund, a NZ$22 million grant aimed at the development of New Zealand-domiciled film production (Dunleavy and Joyce 2012, 217). The main goal of the fund was to facilitate the production of up to five feature films per year and ensure that at least one of them performed well financially. The increased opportunity for New Zealand film makers led to the production of international successes such as

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Whale Rider (Caro 2002), The World’s Fastest Indian (Donaldson 2005) and Boy (Waititi 2010). In 2003, the government also launched the Large Budget Screen Production Grant, which offered a 12.5 per cent tax rebate for projects with budgets over NZ$15 million. The grant attracted major international productions such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005), Avatar (2009) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Hood 2009). The scheme has stimulated significant expansion in both industry infrastructure and the development of specialized post-production facilities. It has also played a crucial role in increasing the supply of work for a highly skilled local film workforce (Dunleavy and Joyce 2012, 223). The importance of film production in New Zealand is highlighted by the fact that in 2012 the screen industries contributed NZ$2.78 billion or 1.4 per cent of the country’s total GDP, thus surpassing the contribution of traditionally crucial economic sectors such as dairy production (Pricewaterhourse & Coopers 2012). In 2010, however, during the pre-production of The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), the global media system (in this case represented by Warner Brothers) came into conflict with some representatives of the local industry. A group of local and international film actors called for the boycott of The Hobbit series in a bid to obtain equity with some of the actors employed in the project. In particular, the group, supported by the Australian Actors Union and the international Screen Actors Guild, asked for collective contracts that would include minimum guarantees for the actors. In retaliation, Peter Jackson and Warner Brothers threatened to move the production of the film to countries that offered cheaper labour, better tax incentives and more favourable currency exchange (Dunleavy and Joyce 2012, 225–26). Fearing the potential negative repercussions for the national economy, thousands of New Zealanders organized protest rallies around the country asking for Jackson to stay. The prime minister himself, John Key, was forced to step in to keep production of The Hobbit in the country. As well as offering a substantial grant to the producers, the government went as far as changing the New Zealand Employment Relations Act, passing an amendment bill under urgency on 21 October 2010. The amendment made film industry workers independent contractors by default, and created

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a hurdle for workers willing to enter into employment agreements (Roberts 2010). Some commentators criticized the government’s decision, arguing that the amendment compromised New Zealand’s social values and economic principles (New Zealand Herald 2010). In 2013, following the Ombudsman’s order to release emails and documents concerning the industrial dispute, it was revealed that New Line Cinema was actually reluctant to film The Hobbit in a different country, despite its concerns over the union’s boycott. In an email to New Zealand cabinet minister Gerry Brownlee, a New Line Cinema representative asked the government to consider similar incentives to those offered by New South Wales, but reassured the minister that the company was committed to making the films in New Zealand (Davison 2013). Further evidence confirmed that Warner Brothers withheld the announcement that the actors’ union intended to lift the boycott on The Hobbit movies several days before popular protests were organized. According to the Council of Trade Unions, Warner Brothers and the government wanted the public opinion to continue believing The Hobbit was at risk to justify moves to change labour laws (NZN 2013). The crisis in the New Zealand film industry became even more acute in 2013 when, as a consequence of the strong New Zealand currency and the lack of competitive financial incentives, there was a rapid decline in the number of international film productions made in New Zealand. While Wellington was not deeply affected by the crisis, courtesy of the international reputation and the cutting-edge technology offered by Weta, several Auckland-based production and post-production companies were forced to close (RadioNZ 2014). Many New Zealand film makers, including Jackson, lobbied the government asking for more alluring tax incentives for international productions. The government eventually complied by initiating a revision of the Large Budget Screen Production Grant and by establishing the New Zealand Screen Production Grant, which offered qualifying international productions 20 per cent cash grants (25 per cent for productions that have significant cultural and economic benefits). The new incentives offered by the government proved to be crucial to secure the production of the Avatar sequels, which will be filmed in Wellington between 2016 and 2018 (Hunt 2013).

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Conclusions Peter Jackson has managed to achieve international acclaim while being based in his home country, New Zealand. More than that, Jackson has been able to attract major international players to Wellington, making a significant contribution to the cultural and economic development of the city. In doing so, he has emerged as a powerful symbol of New Zealand’s new ambitions in the global market. His success as an entrepreneur was favoured by the emerging discourses of the creative industries in 1990s New Zealand. At the same time, his achievements both reinforced the popularity of these discourses and contributed to reshaping New Zealand’s national identity in the early 2000s. In these new narratives of national identity, Jackson often figures as an entrepreneur in the Frodo economy, as a promoter of brand New Zealand and as a national hero (D. Jones 2008, 94). Since the 1980s and 1990s, New Zealand has attempted to diversify its economy (traditionally based on agriculture) by investing in both the tourism and the creative industries as new economic driving forces. Recent New Zealand governments have been interested in the creative industries, not only to diversify the country’s economy, but also to find a new cultural position in the world. Since the 1970s, New Zealand has tried to move away from its cultural allegiance to Britain and the creative industries seemed to provide the opportunity to forge a new cultural identity. Ruth Harley, former CEO of the NZFC, thus commented on the close link between creative industries and New Zealand national identity: There is no place in the new economy for the type of thinking which sees a disjunction between the business world and the art world. Cultural industries are based on national identity. National identity is key to creating a unique brand for our goods and services. Take film for example. It creates culture, builds identity and markets that identity to the world. In other words creative industries forge a national identity and at the same time sell that identity to the rest of the world. (Harley 2002)

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In the early 2000s, the government launched a number of policies and strategies devised to promote and assess positive spin-offs associated with LOTR, which included the promotion of the country as a film location, investment in film industry infrastructures, media technology innovation, tourism promotion and the profiling of New Zealand globally in terms of creativity and innovation. In this context, the film industry has been reframed as a cornerstone of the New Zealand creative industries (D. Jones 2008, 96). LOTR has come to signify the huge social and economic benefits that it is hoped the new creative industries can deliver. Both the media and the national governments have uncritically accepted the idea of Jackson as a genius film maker and as a national hero because he appears to represent a perfect convergence between the economic promise of the creative industries and the incarnation of New Zealand national identity (D. Jones 2008). In line with traditional creative industries discourses, Peter Jackson is the new creative entrepreneur who is able to reconcile two seemingly opposite concepts: creativity and industry. While Jackson possesses a distinctive creative vision that shines through in all of his films, he is also an entrepreneur who owns production and postproduction facilities, as well as major visual effects companies. His entrepreneurial activity played a crucial role in helping retain creative control over his films and impress his own authorial mark upon his films. The idea of the new creative entrepreneur is particularly appealing in the New Zealand context. A scoping document commissioned by Industry New Zealand in 2001 about the local film industry enthusiastically claimed that: The story of Peter Jackson and his colleagues is a reflection of what an individual can generate, whilst becoming an inspiration to young New Zealanders that art and the creative industries offer exciting employment opportunities, creative satisfaction and substantial financial returns to the personnel involved but also to the economy. (O’Leary & Frater cited in D. Jones 2008, 96) Jackson’s significance in New Zealand society is reflected in his nomination in 2004 as ‘New Zealand’s favourite business leader’ with a recognition factor of 96 per cent in a national poll (Smith 2004). In 2010, Jackson was also knighted for his services to

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the New Zealand film industry. Films such as LOTR, King Kong or The Hobbit have been appropriated as New Zealand products even though they do not feature distinctly New Zealand stories. The New Zealandness of Jackson’s films is associated with the fact that both his skills and the skills of his crew represent national abilities. The success of New Zealand film makers in producing LOTR is seen to exemplify Kiwi ingenuity, which is a long-established theme in the rhetoric of national identity. With LOTR Kiwi ingenuity is elevated to a high level of creativity combined with technological breakthrough. Jackson’s eagerness to acknowledge other New Zealanders’ input has reinforced this rhetorical link. The media have often emphasized Jackson’s loyalty to New Zealand and more specifically his hometown Wellington. In these nationalist narratives Jackson is not only a typical New Zealander but also a patriot: ‘He’s the Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand film making, forging a humble career move in the foothills of Wellington, then taking it to the high peaks of Middle Earth’ (B. McDonald 2002, 114). Similarly, Tourism New Zealand highlights Jackson’s ‘New Zealandness’: The story of how a man from Wellington, New Zealand came to lead some of the most ambitious and successful film-making projects the world has ever seen, is part-fairy tale, part-adventure, part-political thriller. It’s a story of an average Kiwi bloke doing extraordinary things. (TourismNZ 2014) As Deborah Jones points out, Jackson’s popularity in his home country is explained by the fact that his typicality as a New Zealander connects ‘traditional themes of national identity – technical ingenuity, teamwork – with the new economy themes of creativity, technological innovation and entrepreneurial skills in the global arena’ (D. Jones 2008, 98). Jackson has provided New Zealand with a model of success that can potentially be replicated in other economic fields. His power and influence in New Zealand have been recently demonstrated during the 2010 Hobbit crisis. The crisis generated a strong popular reaction in support of Peter Jackson and The Hobbit producers, Warner Brothers, and revealed at once the popularity of the Wellington film maker and the significance of the LOTR franchise for New Zealand national identity. On the one hand, The Hobbit crisis is

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significant as it shows that Jackson’s success and loyalty to New Zealand are highly reliant on certain social, economic and political preconditions. On the other hand, this episode also highlighted the fragility and vulnerability of the New Zealand film production industry, confirming that the country will only attract international producers as long as it is able to provide cheap labour and alluring financial incentives.

4 From Kaihoro to Middle Earth: The Imaginary Geography of Peter Jackson’s Film Landscapes

Introduction Jackson’s stylistic signature is characterized by a tendency towards a photorealistic depiction of the fantastic worlds and creatures that feature in his films. In Heavenly Creatures, the imaginary world of Borovnia is fully realized with lush gardens inhabited by realistic clay figures. Skull Island in King Kong is a complex eco-system, home to an exotic flora and monstrous creatures that move in a very naturalistic fashion. In the LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies, Jackson makes extensive use of digital technologies to recreate the fantastic geography of Middle Earth as a consistent cultural and physical space. The accuracy and realism of the depiction of landscape and space in Jackson’s films reinforce the tactile quality of the relation between the viewers and the screen, thus favouring the spectators’ immersion in the fantastic geographies constructed in his films. Most of Jackson’s movies have been shot in New Zealand and have made extensive use of the local landscape. The beauty and variety of the New Zealand landscape has been deployed to bring to life imaginary worlds such as Middle Earth, which is now inextricably associated with Jackson’s home country. In turn, the conflation between New Zealand and Middle Earth has led to serendipitous tourism spin-offs, providing both Jackson and local tourism stakeholders with lucrative co-marketing

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opportunities. This chapter will examine the representation of landscape in Jackson’s cinematic oeuvre, focusing in particular on the stylistic devices used by the film maker to construct space and place in his films. The chapter will attempt to position Jackson’s work in relation to a well-established New Zealand film tradition, which has often emphasized the centrality of landscape. It will also consider the way in which certain film and literary genres (particularly fantasy and horror) have shaped his conception of place and space. The analysis of Jackson’s body of work suggests that his construction of cinematic landscape as simultaneously fantastic, threatening and awe-inspiring has been influenced by both the social and cultural history of New Zealand and the aesthetic conventions of his favourite film genres. The last part of the chapter will look at the phenomenon of Middle Earth tourism to assess how Jackson’s cinematic style intersects his broader economic and political agendas.

Landscape and New Zealand cinema Peter Jackson identifies himself as a New Zealand film maker and, as such, he has been influenced by the social and cultural environment of his home country. Rural landscape has played a prominent role in New Zealand visual media and particularly cinema. Roger Horrocks argues that, ‘in almost all New Zealand films the physical landscape makes its presence strongly felt not only as scenic background, but as an influence shaping the lives of the characters. Certain emotions seem to grow and flourish in this landscape’ (Horrocks 1989, 102). Others have celebrated the uniqueness of the New Zealand cinematographic landscape, allegedly characterized by a dark, gloomy and edgy look (Neill and Rymer 1995; Harvey and Bridge 2005). Some of the most successful New Zealand films, from The Piano to Whale Rider, revolve around the protagonists’ interaction with the indigenous landscape. According to New Zealand politician Bob Harvey, the centrality of landscape in New Zealand films is the indirect consequence of infrastructural problems: ‘for many years New Zealand film production was without major facilities and studios were unknown. Sets were difficult, so location was everything,

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both an asset and a challenge’ (Harvey and Bridge 2005, 17). Other scholars (Kavka and Turner 2008; Leotta 2012) have argued that the prominence of landscape in New Zealand cinema is a refraction of the country’s settler mentality and its ideologically loaded construction of nature as an empty space to be settled. Colonial ideals have shaped the representation of landscape in New Zealand since the emergence of cinema as a new visual medium. The New Zealand governments of the first half of the twentieth century were pioneers in the use of film as a means of both national publicity and tourism promotion. From 1917 onwards, moving pictures were produced by the Department of Tourism and Health Resources targeting tourists from America, Britain and other British colonies (NZOYB 1976). In 1941, the government established the National Film Unit, an institution responsible for the production of films (mainly scenic shorts and travelogues) destined for domestic and international consumption. The great majority of the films produced in New Zealand before the 1970s were government films, which featured predominantly beautiful vistas of empty rural landscapes.1 This emphasis on an untouched primeval nature can be explained by several factors. First, the government film makers tended to focus on the landscape, avoiding the representation of people and human-made environments in order to prevent films from being dated by changes of fashion. This allowed for the same footage of mountains, forests, rivers and lakes to be used in several different government films throughout the first half of the twentieth century, thus reducing production costs. Secondly, the representation of New Zealand landscape was influenced by the European artistic conventions that had been imported by the British settlers during the nineteenth century. In particular, most of the early depictions of New Zealand nature, in photography, painting and cinema, conformed to the ideals of the picturesque and the sublime (Pound 1983; Goldson 2009; Leotta 2012). The picturesque is a set of aesthetic conventions characterized by a focus on landscapes ‘fit to be made into a picture’. Picturesque landscapes, particularly popular during the Romantic period, were characterized by pleasing variety, irregularity and quaint

1

For a brief history of the New Zealand film industry, see Chapter 3.

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textures. Similarly, the sublime was defined by Edmund Burke, its major theoretician, as that which ‘excites the emotion of self-preservation’ (Burke 2008, 79). The favourite object of the sublime is nature and particularly mountains, oceans, sky and storms, while its main themes are terror, darkness, the superior power of nature and infinity. The aim of the sublime is to produce both a pleasurable vertigo and a delightful horror reflecting man’s sensation of smallness in the face of nature’s majesty. Thirdly, the construction of landscape in New Zealand scenics was shaped by the government’s policies of the time that explicitly linked tourism and immigration. The representation of untouched rural landscapes implicitly suggested that the country was a good terrain for the colonial enterprise. These films, often distributed in Britain and other British colonies including New Zealand itself, were deployed to attract potential settlement by what a 1930s New Zealand Trade Commissioner defined as ‘goodtype Europeans’ (Taylor cited in Hillyer 1997, 15). In turn, the local reception of New Zealand-made travel films contributed to forging the national myth of New Zealand as a scenic wonderland. This myth continues to shape contemporary New Zealand national identity, influencing the creative vision of local film makers such as Peter Jackson. Growing up in 1960s and 1970s New Zealand, Jackson himself was exposed to dozens of government scenics and travelogues, which were regularly shown in local movie theatres before major feature films (MacDonald 2014). Jackson’s visual treatment of New Zealand landscape is imbued with the aesthetics of the picturesque and of the sublime that characterize the New Zealand cinematic tradition. According to David Butler, Jackson’s virtuoso camera movements, which represent the key aesthetic component of the LOTR trilogy, reinforce the idea of an omnipotent observer while highlighting the scenic beauty of the country (Butler 2007, 162). The use of the varied New Zealand landscape was an essential element of the films’ aesthetic. Kirsten Moana Thompson claimed that the LOTR films are based on an ‘aesthetics of spectacle’ that capitalizes on visual attractions such as special effects and stunning landscapes (K.M. Thompson 2006). The film makers used some of the country’s most famous tourist sites such as the Southern Alps, Queenstown and Mount Ruapehu, and producer Barry Osborne admitted that ‘throughout, we picked the most spectacular appropriate locations

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we could find’ (Osborne cited in Duncan 2002, 101). In some cases the reference to the New Zealand government scenics is explicit. The opening sequence of The Two Towers, a spectacular aerial view of the Misty Mountains/Southern Alps set against the epic soundtrack of the film, bears a striking resemblance to the final scene of This Is New Zealand (MacDonald 1970), a travelogue produced by the National Film Unit, which achieved huge popularity both in New Zealand and overseas during the 1970s. This Is New Zealand was a spectacular three-screen film made for the 1970 Osaka Expo to promote the beauty of the country (as well as its cultural and technological achievements). Jackson watched the film in 1971 as a ten-year-old and later admitted he had been deeply impressed by it (MacDonald 2014). The last scene of the film, which features a bird’s eye view of the Southern Alps accompanied by the climatic build of Sibelius’s Karelia Suite, became the most famous part of this travelogue. Like This Is New Zealand, the opening sequence of the Two Towers emphasizes the sublime ‘naturalness’ of the local landscape, contributing to increase the international media exposure of the country.

Locations and film production New Zealand culture and visual media has clearly influenced the representation of place in Jackson’s oeuvre. However, the depiction of landscape in his films was also affected by other factors such as the various production contexts in which he has worked. Like many other New Zealand film makers, at the beginning of his career, Jackson by necessity shot his films in real locations. Owing to limited financial resources, Jackson could not afford to rent a studio for his first feature, Bad Taste, shooting most of the film in his hometown, Pukerua Bay. Jackson turned this challenge into an asset by shooting one of the most crucial sequences of the film, the fight between Derek and Robert the alien (both played by Jackson himself) at the top of a real cliff. The realism of the film location enhanced both the spectacular quality of the sequence and the narrative centrality of the landscape, which becomes an active character in the film (as a physical obstacle for Derek to overcome).

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Jackson’s emphasis on scenic beauty in many of his films can also be explained by the geographical configuration of New Zealand, which is characterized by a relative ease of access to rural locations. The availability of a variety of unspoiled landscapes in New Zealand represented one of the major pre-conditions for the creation of the fantasy worlds that feature in many of Jackson’s films. All of Jackson’s films (apart from The Lovely Bones) have been produced and post-produced in New Zealand. Jackson’s loyalty to his home country (which he regularly acknowledges in interviews and press releases) has been influenced by the availability of cheap labour and infrastructures as well as the support of the national government. Since the beginning of his career, various New Zealand governments (of diverse political orientation) have provided Jackson with grants, financial incentives, access to natural reserves and even favourable employment laws (see Chapter 3). Jackson has often privileged the use of real locations, even later in his career when he was able to afford advanced studios and film infrastructures. In many instances, this choice was determined by the need to enhance the authenticity of the film. Jackson felt it was important to shoot Heavenly Creatures on location in Christchurch where the events told in the story took place. Similarly, he decided to film The Lovely Bones in Pennsylvania, the place that inspired Alice Sebold’s original novels. In some cases, even when his films are set in fantasy worlds such as Middle Earth, Jackson prefers using physical locations. He insisted, for example, that the LOTR production design team build a real-life version of Edoras (the capital of Rohan) in a remote location in the South Island of New Zealand. Similarly, in King Kong, the film makers used a real steamer as the SS Venture (the ship chartered by Carl Denham for the mission to Skull Island). The Hobbiton set, which originally featured in the LOTR films, was completely rebuilt for The Hobbit trilogy using sustainable, permanent materials and has since become a popular tourism destination. Jackson has often used special effects and miniatures to enhance the tactility and physicality of the locations depicted in his films (see A–Z: Miniatures). Similarly, he has been keen to embrace CGI since its early development to reinforce the authenticity of film space. In Heavenly Creatures, Weta co-founder George Port used CGI both to recreate the fantastic landscapes imagined by the protagonists and alter some of the physical locations to make them more historically accurate (see A–Z: Weta).

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In some cases, however, Jackson’s quest for authenticity and faithfulness to the original narrative source superseded his predilection for New Zealand physical locations. His main inspiration for King Kong was the 1933 version of the movie and the set design conformed to the aesthetic of the original Skull Island. Referring to the making of King Kong, Jackson said that: When we were starting Kong I think everybody was assuming that New Zealand was a great location. We’ve got sort of rain forests here, but at the end of the day, when you go into these forests they just look like Hawaii or anything else you’ve seen a million times on film. We had some wonderful conceptual art done – beautiful renderings – with these huge, over-scale, twisted deformed trees and rock bridges and endless chasms that plummet down. [. . .] I just knew looking at the pictures that we were never going to find a location like that. So we decided, very early on, that if we were really going to make Skull Island look like the conceptual art, that creating artificially was the only way to do it. (Jackson cited in Universal Studios 2005) In other cases Jackson’s preference for computer-generated environments over physical locations and miniatures was determined by production necessities. In the case of The Hobbit, for example, the use of bulky, complex 3D technology resulted in a tendency to shoot in studios where he had more control over light and other factors.

Film geography Jackson is well known for directing feature films set in fantastic, although realistic, worlds. Some of Jackson’s films are set in ‘real’ existing places, while others take place in entirely fictional worlds. In many cases, however, the characters of his films move back and forth between existing cities or countries and fantasylands. The table below reveals that Jackson’s first five films are all set in New Zealand (mainly Wellington, but also fictional locations such as Kaihoro). The choice of New Zealand settings might reflect, on the one hand, Jackson’s own connection with New Zealand culture

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and history; on the other hand, the fact that the New Zealand Film Commission funded all of his first five films. Since his first engagement with a Hollywood studio in 1996, however, Jackson’s films have all been set in places other than New Zealand. Three of them are set in the United States (1930s New York and the fictional towns of Fairwater and Norristown), while the remaining six take place in an entirely fictional setting (Middle Earth). Despite this clear demarcation (New Zealand versus non–New Zealand settings) in Jackson’s career, there are significant elements of continuity. First, in many cases characters cross fluid boundaries between real and fantastic worlds. In Braindead the Sumatran Rat-Monkey travels seamlessly from a fictional place (Skull Island) to a real one (the Newtown zoo in Wellington). Similarly, in King Kong the party led by Carl Denham embarks on a journey from New York to Skull Island and back. Both in Heavenly Creatures and The Lovely Bones the protagonists move between the places of their mundane existence where they are victims of violence and oppression (Christchurch and Pennsylvania respectively) to magical worlds (Borovnia and The In-Between) they can control in their imagination. In some instances although fantastic worlds do not explicitly appear in the film they are hinted at in the narrative. At the end of Bad Taste the aliens leave Kaihoro to return to their home planet. Likewise, in The Frighteners the spirit of a mass murderer comes back from Hell. Secondly, often when Jackson’s films are set in real places, (either New Zealand or the United States) the story is set in a relatively distant past. King Kong and Forgotten Silver are both set in the 1930s, while Braindead and Heavenly Creatures take place in the 1950s. Jackson’s ‘real places’ are as artificial as his fantasylands as he often uses special effects or sophisticated set design to enhance their historical authenticity. Only three Jackson films are set in the present: Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and The Frighteners. Meet the Feebles is, however, entirely made using puppets and animatronics, while the other two films are set in fictional locations (Kaihoro and Fairwater). The spatial configuration of these two fictional places (Kaihoro and Fairwater) is clearly shaped by genre conventions (horror, action and fantasy) with which Jackson was extremely familiar. The remote and isolated village of Kaihoro is what Carol Clover calls the ‘Terrible Place’, namely the place of reckoning in every

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horror movie (Clover 1989). Similarly, Fairwater is conceived as a generic Midwest town like those seen in dozens of American horror or teenage movies.

Film Bad Taste

Setting – Existing place

Setting – Film Locations Fantasy world

New Zealand (Kaihoro: fictional place)

Wellington region

Outer space Meet the Feebles Wellington

Wellington

Braindead

1950s Wellington Skull Island

Wellington

Heavenly Creatures

1950s Christchurch

Christchurch/ New Zealand

Forgotten Silver

1930s New Zealand/Spain

The Frighteners

USA (Fairwater: fictional place)

LOTR

Borovnia

New Zealand Heaven

New Zealand

Middle Earth

New Zealand New Zealand

King Kong

1930s USA (New York)

Skull Island

The Lovely Bones

1970s USA (Norristown fictional place)

The In-Between USA/New Zealand

The Hobbit

Middle Earth

New Zealand

Thirdly, despite their fantastic qualities, the places that feature in Jackson’s films are always realistic. Jackson often strives to achieve a balance between realism and stylization. The gothic house that features in Braindead is obviously inspired by horror generic conventions and yet it is a very ‘real’ place down to the smallest detail. The look of Skull Island in King Kong combines an extreme

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design reminiscent of the original film with a photorealistic aesthetic. According to Weta Digital, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri: The main thing about Skull Island as a location is something that Peter really wanted for this film, which was to create the feeling that this is the same Skull Island we saw in the 1933 version. We want to feel like we’re on the same island but now we can see much more of it because the cameras are much better. We have to perceive of it as a real place. It has to look real, but it has to have the fantastical qualities that the original one had. (Letteri cited in Universal Studios 2005) Jackson’s most impressive achievement, however, was the recreation of Middle Earth as a geographically and culturally consistent cinematic space. The LOTR franchise was a huge commercial hit and the detailed reproduction of Tolkien’s world as a simultaneously fantastic and physical place is one of the factors that accounts for its success. Furthermore, the authenticity of Middle Earth contributed to generating significant tourism flows to the New Zealand film locations.

Middle Earth Much of the appeal of the original LOTR novel derived from its portrayal of place (M. Phillips 2007, 152). Before writing the novel, Tolkien created a complex imaginary world inspired by Northern European mythology, the geography, languages and inhabitants of which he would meticulously describe in LOTR. Similarly, during the making of the films, Jackson and his team regarded cinematic fidelity to Tolkien’s vision of Middle Earth as one of their main objectives (D. Jones and Smith 2005, 934). The film makers repeatedly claimed that they wanted to make Middle Earth as believable, realistic and authentic as possible. According to the Director of Photography Andrew Lesnie: We took the view that Middle-earth was a prehistory of the planet. Photographically, that translated into not wanting to

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make the movie feel too much like a straight-out fantasy, that the story wasn’t set on another planet, but that it was definitely set on Earth and that we had just backed up in time. And in terms of mythology, we wanted to appeal to that primal sense among people that they may have visited these environments sometime in their past or in a past life even. (Lesnie cited in Hart 2013) The authenticity of the costumes, weapons and ‘bigatures’ created by Weta was faithfully based on Tolkien’s world. During the making of LOTR, Jackson personally authenticated his home country as the perfect site upon which to recreate Tolkien’s world by claiming that since he was a child he had been ‘struck by the similarities between New Zealand’s unspoilt terrain and Tolkien’s depiction of a “rugged Middle Earth”’ (Jackson cited in R. Tzanelli 2004, 22). On another occasion, he defined Middle Earth as ‘more like history than fantasy’ (Jackson cited in Brodie 2002, 6). In both ‘Ring franchises’ (LOTR and The Hobbit), the realism of Middle Earth is reinforced by the staging of scenes in depth, the use of long shots and deep focus (Leotta 2012, 175). The elaborate dolly, crane and helicopter shots that reveal huge expanses of land give Middle Earth a physical presence that the spectator could expect from a real geography (H. Margolis et al. 2008, 191). In the sequence of The Fellowship of the Ring, where Frodo and friends paddle through the feet of the Argonaths, the camera vertiginously swivels up and beyond the two massive statues disturbing some nesting birds. The statues, of course, do not exist as they are just ‘bigatures’; neither do the birds, which are digitally created. Nonetheless, Jackson attempted to convey a documentary feeling to the scene, emphasizing the materiality of the virtual landscape. As a result, ‘these objective shots treat us spectators to a privileged (and yes, stunning) guided tour over middle earth the safari park’ (Smith-Rowsey 2007, 163). Both LOTR and The Hobbit deploy high camera angles and movements that create at once vertiginous bodily orientations and the simulation of physical mobility. The use of dizzying camera movements and spectacular locations is, however, just one of the strategies employed by Jackson to reiterate the importance of space and movement in his films. Laurence Simmons observes that the story of The Fellowship of the Ring is not plot-driven but spatial,

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told as ‘the extension outwards of space. Such a non-chronological narrative easily produces the sense of bewilderment of “being lost in the wood” that is evoked so effectively in Jackson’s film’ (Simmons 2007, 227). In LOTR, the film makers organized the film space horizontally so that the positive characters consistently enter the frame from the left side and always move towards the right. By contrast, all the villains in the film enter from the right and move towards the left. Much of the LOTR films focus on the fellowship’s journey to Mordor and on the spatial opposition ‘left versus right’, which is particularly evident in the scenes where the armies clash on a great plain (Woodward and Kourelis 2006, 196). In LOTR, Jackson often resorted to the aesthetics of the sublime where spatial extremes express psychological polarities. The camera exploited other spatial binaries such as big/small, high/low, open/closed to convey the prominent role played by the landscape. The narrative is particularly concerned with the contrast in scale (Woodward and Kourelis 2006, 196). Aerial shots are extremely common in the two ‘Ring franchises’ where they usually function to diminish the scale of the protagonists against imposing landscapes. According to Woodward and Kourelis, in LOTR, Jackson often places Frodo and his friends in an uneasy relation with the space that surrounds them: ‘We often discover the protagonists only after the camera has scanned along the ridges of sheer faced mountains or surveyed bleak frozen expanses’ (Woodward and Kourelis 2006, 196–97). This is the case in the sequence in which the fellowship attempts, in vain, to find a pass across the Misty Mountains. A similar sequence occurs in An Unexpected Journey when the company finds itself amid a colossal battle between Stone Giants. Such scenes evoke the notion of sublime nature, with the microscopic scale of the protagonists’ silhouettes functioning to emphasize the majesty of the environment. According to LOTR, production designer, Grant Major: ‘the environments do become a character [in the story]’ (Major cited in Woodward and Kourelis 2006, 189). The Misty Mountains, Mordor’s marshland or the lava rock of Mount Doom actively oppose Frodo’s and Bilbo’s quests. At other times, nature and the environment play a positive role: in The Desolation of Smaug the Pelorus River facilitates the dwarves’ escape from Mirkwood; similarly, in The Fellowship of the Ring the Bruinen

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River sweeps away the threatening Ringwraiths; in The Two Towers the forest of Fangorn destroys the evil realm of Isengard. The premise of the Middle Earth saga is constituted by the desire for exploration and the joy of discovery. Both Bilbo and Frodo leave a familiar environment (the Shire) to visit new, exotic and adventurous places. Much of the narrative of both trilogies is articulated through the opposition between the harmonious, reassuring memory of Home (The Shire and in The Hobbit, also Erebor) and the spectacular but dangerous places visited by the protagonists. Both film series encourage the identification of the spectator with the hobbits. Unlike other characters in the story, the hobbits have no special powers or skills, and are depicted as ordinary ‘people’ who love peace and tranquility. Through their identification with ‘ordinary heroes’, the viewers can vicariously travel through Middle Earth. The three LOTR films are punctuated by close ups or medium shots of Frodo’s magnetic blue eyes gazing at the marvels of Middle Earth. Similarly, in The Hobbit, the narrative consistently follows the actions of Bilbo Baggins and viewers often see the natural environment through his eyes. The authenticity of Middle Earth geography (both in the novels and in the films) is also reinforced by the recurring presence of the map. Tolkien designed very detailed maps of Middle Earth that were usually published in the first pages of the books. These maps play a crucial role in the immersion into the imaginary geography of Middle Earth, which represents one of the most important pleasures of reading LOTR (Simmons 2007). Maps, in fact, have the capability to undo the narrative thread and inspire alternative itineraries to the extent of legitimizing an interactive relation between text and reader/spectator (Conley 2006, 225). According to Simmons, the landscape of Middle Earth, as conceived by Tolkien, ‘offers itself as both material and knowable, yet [it is] one that requires the imaginative investment of a reader to interpret and “invent”’ (Simmons 2007, 227). In the ‘Ring franchises’, the presence of maps or detailed geographical descriptions of space often contributes to establishing a stronger connection between viewers and Middle Earth. The map features extensively in the cinematic versions of both LOTR and The Hobbit. The Fellowship of the Ring opens with a sequence in which the map is presented as the ‘object of the tale’,

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anticipating the narrative of displacement that characterizes LOTR. Throughout the trilogy the physical dimensions of the fellowship’s journey are emphasized by the foregrounding of the landscape as a map. According to Tom Conley, films often allude to maps in their opening sequences in order to situate their stories in time and space. For Conley, the state of being induced by the filmic maps is at once settling and unsettling: Settling insofar as the film produces geographical fantasies that lure into wanting to be [. . .] ‘anywhere out of this world’ [. . .] ‘this world’ is for us the movie theatre or what is exterior to the visual field of the screen. And our viewers’ condition is unsettling in that we enjoy ourselves being tourists in the film, especially in a film that turns its milieu into a travel advertisement. (Conley 2006, 216) Maps, particularly in the case of LOTR, also have an authenticating power. As it organizes images of the space invented by the film, ‘the map in a movie is often the hidden guarantee of what it tells its spectator to be its truth’ (Conley 2006, 216). Like voice-overs, maps are often external to the diegesis and thus acquire a quasi-religious power that can attest to the authenticity of the cinematic space. The ancillary products that accompanied the release of LOTR/The Hobbit films was characterized by the prominence of maps. Maps feature in the extended DVD version of the films: the brochure of the DVD itself evokes the quasi-medieval script of Tolkien maps taking the form of a flow chart. At the 2001 Cannes film festival, Film New Zealand (the institution responsible for the promotion of New Zealand locations to international producers) published a twosided promotional map of the country. One side featured the list of the facilities available in New Zealand, while the other side displayed a Tolkienesque map of the country with film locations marked. In 2014 just before the release of the final instalment of The Hobbit trilogy and The Battle of the Five Armies, Warner Brothers released an online interactive map of Middle Earth that included videos and information about the most important locations visited by the heroes of the two trilogies. The photorealism and authenticity of Jackson’s Middle Earth, the spectacular nature of its locations, the narratives of journey

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and the prominence of maps are responsible for stimulating the ‘tourist imagination’ of the film viewers. The ‘tourist imagination’ is a construct that explains the sense of global mobility engendered by the daily consumption of media as well as actual travel. As Crouch, Jackson and Thompson put it, ‘the activity of tourism itself makes sense only as an imaginative process, which involves a certain comprehension of the world and enthuses a distinctive emotional engagement with it’ (Crouch, Jackson, and Thompson 2005, 1). The theatrical viewings of LOTR/The Hobbit leave the spectator with the feeling of having missed much of the infinity of details that characterizes the film space. Jackson’s cinematic adaptations of Tolkien’s novels stimulate the viewers’ desire to wander off the beaten tracks and autonomously explore the different territories of Middle Earth. This desire could potentially explain the popularity of tourist visitations to the New Zealand film locations featured in the two franchises. In turn, Middle Earth-related tourism has had a profound impact on New Zealand identity and has contributed to increase Jackson’s political and economic power.

Film tourism The release of the first episode of the LOTR trilogy in 2001 provided New Zealand with a significant level of international media exposure and led to serendipitous opportunities for the local economy in the form of significant influx of film-induced tourism. In their pioneering study of film-induced tourism, Riley and Van Doren compare this phenomenon to a ‘hallmark event’. The authors highlight the way in which a movie relies on its uniqueness and status to create attention (Riley and Van Doren 1992, 268). In the most complete academic contribution to the study of the subject, Sue Beeton redefines film-induced tourism as ‘visitation to sites where movies and TV programmes have been filmed as well as to tours to production studios, including film-related theme parks’ (Beeton 2005, 11). Film-induced tourism could, therefore, be more loosely defined as tourist activity associated with the film industry. Recently, an increasing number of academic studies have examined the actual benefits and effects of film-induced tourism. Most of the

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literature on movie tourism has focused on the increase in visitor numbers to destinations depicted in films (Riley and Van Doren 1992; Tooke and Baker 1996; Hudson and Ritchie 2006). These studies have revealed that television series or movies attract tourists to the locations where they were filmed or set. Another branch of the literature on film-induced tourism (Tzanelli 2007; Croy 2010; Leotta 2012) has focused on the effects of feature films on the construction of destination image. Since the release of the LOTR trilogy, New Zealand has become one of the most popular film-tourism destinations in the world. A 2002 study, commissioned by Tourism New Zealand to identify the impact of the LOTR films on the tourist image of New Zealand, revealed that 95 per cent of international visitors to the country were aware that LOTR had been filmed in New Zealand. The study also concluded that for 9 per cent of the respondents LOTR was one of the reasons that prompted them to visit the country (NFO NZ cited in Croy 2004, 10). The report showed a direct influence of the films upon tourist behaviour and concluded that film-tourism had a significant impact on the country’s economy. In 2005, Statistics New Zealand provided stronger evidence of the films’ tourist spin-off by revealing that between 2001 and 2004 New Zealand saw an increase in overseas visitors of nearly 23 per cent (Statistics New Zealand cited in Leotta 2012, 163), a figure which is all the more significant in the light of the fact that after 9/11 the tourist industry suffered a crisis in most regions of the world. A recent study conducted by Tourism New Zealand concluded that since 2004 an average of 47,000 international tourists visit a scene or location from the LOTR films each year (Bowler 2012). The release of The Hobbit trilogy between 2012 and 2014 reinvigorated the interest in film tourism: in 2014, the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment estimated international spending in the Matamata district, the home of Hobbiton, more than tripled from NZ$11 million in 2009 to NZ$37 million for the year to March 2014 (Kloeten 2014). Since the release of The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, dozens of local tour operators around the country have begun offering Middle Earth-related products, some of which specifically target hardcore fans and foreign tourists. With more than 200,000 copies sold, The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, published in late

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2002 by Ian Brodie, became a surprise bestseller. In 2014, with full cooperation of New Line Productions and Warner Brothers, Brodie published another location guide about The Hobbit trilogy. Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand played a crucial role in the launch of the ‘New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth’ campaign creating a wealth of promotional material based on the two ‘Ring franchises’. New Zealand incorporated LOTR and The Hobbit into its national identity to the extent that the films have become an acknowledged component of the country’s heritage. Invoking Baudrillardian notions of hyper-reality and simulation, the conflation between New Zealand and the imaginary Middle Earth has recently proved to be a fertile ground for cultural theorists (Jutel 2004; Mathijs and Pomerance 2006; Smith-Rowsey 2007; H. Margolis et al. 2008). It is difficult to pinpoint a single cause to explain the enormous popularity of Middle Earth-related film-tourism. In the previous section, it was argued that the style and narrative of the films characterized by an aesthetic of spectacle, a realistic representation of Middle Earth and an emphasis on maps and mobility might have been responsible for activating the viewers’ ‘tourist imagination’. Film-tourism, however, has been the result of a complex interplay of factors that included the commercial success of the Ring franchises, innovative marketing strategies and, finally, New Zealand’s cultural, geographical and social predisposition to become the destination of Middle Earth tourism. LOTR and The Hobbit films benefitted from worldwide distribution: the two trilogies were watched by hundreds of millions of viewers, grossing more than US$3 billion each. The success of both franchises was explained, on the one hand, by a significant marketing investment by the producers (New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers), and on the other hand, by the global popularity of Tolkien’s novels, which had already led to the development of extensive fan communities. Various reports concluded that New Zealand’s association with the ‘Ring franchises’ generated the equivalent of millions of dollars’ worth of newspapers, Internet and television advertising (New Zealand Herald 2003). The association between New Zealand and Middle Earth also benefitted from the serendipitous alignment between the representation of landscape in the LOTR movies and the preexisting tourism marketing strategies deployed by local authorities.

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Since the launch of the ‘100 per cent Pure New Zealand’ campaign in 1999, Tourism New Zealand had tried to capitalize on the possibilities of non-conventional publicity tools, particularly filminduced tourism. As Glenn Croy points out, ‘this image building and promotion process effectively utilises TNZ’s [Tourism New Zealand] limited financial resources by using other groups’ resources to provide the images and then creating association to New Zealand’ (Croy 2004, 7). In the early 2000s, Tourism New Zealand identified the country as rich in four assets: landscape, people, adventure and culture (Morgan, Pritchard, and Piggott 2003, 292). Local promotional strategies positioned New Zealand as ‘an adventurous new land and an adventurous new culture on the edge of the Pacific Ocean’ (Piggott cited in Morgan, Pritchard, and Piggott 2003, 292). Traditionally, the essence of the New Zealand brand has been the landscape and in the 100 per cent pure New Zealand campaign local landscape was imbued with sophisticated, innovative and spirited values, which allow tourists to express themselves through activities and experiences. Tourism New Zealand’s promotional strategy converged with the representation of the natural environment in the LOTR films: one of the main challenges faced by Frodo and Bilbo in their journeys is the interaction with a landscape that plays an active role in narrative terms. The conflation of the fantasyland with the real one was also predicated on the pre-existing cinematic and touristic imagery of the country. As Smith-Rowsey notes, ‘in Jackson’s films the presumption of familiarity with medieval Europe is counterbalanced, to a significant extent, by a presumption of unfamiliarity with New Zealand itself’ (Smith-Rowsey 2007, 142). Before seeing the trilogy for many viewers New Zealand was a place as imaginary as Middle Earth. Epithets like ‘down under’ or the ‘edge of the world’ convey the idea of a land kept pristine and unspoilt due to its distance from the First World. Wright argues that New Zealand, a country that can be seen as remote and at the very edge of the earth, has an affinity with the realms of imagination, an affinity that aligns it particularly well with the fantasy vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (A. Wright 2000, 52). In their analysis of the perception of New Zealand by overseas LOTR audiences, Barker and Mathijs noticed that for most viewers ‘New Zealand’ as depicted in the films is an abstract, distanced and ideal location, which naturally

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embodies goodness and purity (Barker and Mathijs 2007). For these viewers and potential tourists New Zealand represents a perfect destination for a pilgrimage of self-rediscovery. Barker and Mathijs draw the notion of pilgrimage from Zygmunt Bauman, who in turn describes this concept as the act of distancing one’s self from the familiar home in order to achieve a clearer perception of one’s personal identity (Bauman cited in Barker and Mathijs 2007, 125). New Zealand as Middle Earth, inheriting the colonial fantasy of the settler culture, provides metropolitan audiences with a radical ‘there’. The title of Bilbo’s book, ‘There and Back Again’, that features at the beginning of the trilogy is, in this respect, particularly significant. The film constructs itself as a narrative of travel whose destination is a utopian elsewhere at the border between fantasy and reality. The serendipitous alignment between New Zealand tourism imagery and LOTR was strengthened by the development of co-marketing strategies. The Middle Earth tourism craze developed during the making of the first episode of the LOTR trilogy when online fan communities, such as The One Ring website, began to dedicate discussion forums to the experience of fans visiting Middle Earth/New Zealand. Fans’ interest in the films’ locations led to New Line’s awareness of the great potential for developing a marketing strategy that would involve local tourist stakeholders. The government of the time was responsive to this idea, allocating several million dollars to leverage the association between the country and LOTR. Pete Hodgson was appointed as associate minister to manage the involvement of the New Zealand government in LOTR-related activities. Hodgson was quickly nicknamed ‘The Minister of the Lord of the Rings’, a designation that demonstrates the importance of the project in the governmental agenda (K. Thompson 2007, 311). Hodgson and Paul Voigt, one of the directors of Investment New Zealand, coordinated the involvement of governmental agencies such as Investment New Zealand, Film New Zealand, the New Zealand Film Commission and Tourism New Zealand in the ‘New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth’ campaign. Air New Zealand was also included in the team, and it was temporarily rebranded as ‘Airline to Middle Earth’. The development of the ‘Home of Middle Earth’ campaign was made possible by New Line Cinema’s decision to grant the licensing fee for free (K. Thompson 2007, 311).The partnership between the producers and the New

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Zealand government was renewed before the release of The Hobbit films and led to even more extensive co-marketing opportunities, including the premiere of An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, the redevelopment of Hobbiton, and the launch of various promotional videos and fan competitions. The overlap between Middle Earth and New Zealand was beneficial to Jackson in different ways. First, it contributed to redefine the international reputation of New Zealand as a film-friendly destination. The strong association between New Zealand and LOTR contributed to attracting major international producers and directors such as James Cameron and Andrew Adamson.2 These film makers made use of the companies and facilities owned by Jackson, contributing to both their financial profitability and their technological development. Secondly, the significant economic impact of LOTR-tourism enhanced Jackson’s political leverage in New Zealand. During the 2010 ‘Hobbit labour dispute’ between the film’s producers (Jackson and Warner Brothers) and the Actors Equity Union (see Chapter 3), the government’s decision to side with Jackson was influenced, among other things, by the potential economic return of The Hobbit’s tourist spin-offs. To retain Jackson’s production in New Zealand, the government offered an increased US$20 million tax concession (on the condition that the films would be successful) and US$13 million to offset marketing costs conditional on the promotion of New Zealand as a tourism and business destination (New Zealand Herald 2010).

2

Andrew Adamson was born in Auckland in 1966; however, having based most of his career in the United States, he is not usually regarded as a New Zealand film maker. At the beginning of his career, Adamson created graphics for New Zealand television; however, in the early 1990s he moved to the United States where he worked as technical director on Toys (1992) and Batman and Robin (1997). Adamson achieved international recognition for directing Shrek 1 (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004). In 2004, he returned to New Zealand where he directed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), which he also co-wrote and produced. The film, which won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects in 2005, was followed by a sequel, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008). In 2012, Adamson directed his first New Zealand film, Mr. Pip, based on the eponymous novel by Lloyd Jones. In many ways Adamson’s career parallels that of Jackson and the two film makers have been defined as ‘Kings of Fantasy’ (Geoff Lealand 2011, 281).

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In turn, the association between New Zealand and Middle Earth contributed to symbolically and (sometimes) physically reshape the local landscape. Like other international productions of the mid-1990s (Hercules and Xena the Warrior Princess), LOTR transformed New Zealand into what Thierry Jutel calls a space of radical ‘depaysement’ or ‘out-of-nationess’. Jutel claims that this notion represents the simultaneous attraction of geographic defamiliarization and the separation of the lost homeland. According to Jutel, international film productions have constructed New Zealand landscape as a transposable geography fit to suggest a variety of locations and historical time periods, from exotic oriental kingdoms to pre-industrial fantasylands (Jutel 2004, 60). Similarly, referring to LOTR and other similar fantasies, Nick Perry inverts the commonplace of a ‘unique New Zealand landscape’, arguing that New Zealand is the perfect location for such productions as ‘a low wage country that otherwise exists only as just such a scenically diverse, but temporally and spatially indeterminate, fiction’ (Perry 2003, 106). By removing the place from its history and people, LOTR enhanced New Zealand’s international fame as exporter of transposable exotic settings. After LOTR, New Zealand stood for Japan (The Last Samurai, Zwick 2003), Pandora (Avatar) and Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia). Jackson himself benefitted again from the versatility of the New Zealand landscape, filming King Kong (set in New York and Skull Island) around the Wellington region.

Conclusions The analysis of Jackson’s oeuvre reveals a certain fascination with the exploration of film space. The imaginary geography of Jackson’s films is at once realistic and stylized. On the one hand, the representation of landscape in Jackson’s films is influenced by genre conventions (particularly fantasy and horror) and New Zealand visual media. Jackson’s film space is highly constructed and manipulated, and often does not have an indexical referent in the ‘real’ world. On the other hand, the fantastic worlds depicted in his films are very tactile and believable. The tension between fantastical settings and photorealism animates most of Jackson’s

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work. A crucial pre-condition to the construction of Jackson’s imaginary geographies is the availability of a malleable New Zealand landscape. The origins of this versatility can be found in the colonial history of Aotearoa New Zealand. Traditionally, this antipodean country has relied on an export economy typical of the settler modus operandi: the production of raw materials (lamb, wool and dairy products) to be processed and consumed elsewhere. Jackson’s use of landscape as raw material to be injected with meaning coming from somewhere else reflects this settler idea of place. The parallel processes of the emplacement of Middle Earth and the emptying of New Zealand carry residues of the country’s own history. According to Kavka and Turner, the production of films such as LOTR or The Hobbit might be taken as a cinematic synonym for the political logic of settler societies (Kavka and Turner 2008). The successful inscription of Middle Earth onto New Zealand and its related tourist spin-offs should also be considered as testament of Jackson’s artistic and political power. More specifically, this chapter revealed the relation between Jackson’s cinematic style and the ‘tourist imagination’ generated by some of his films. Interestingly, the practices of Middle Earth tourism could be interpreted as extensions of Jackson’s seemingly conflicting film-making ideals: the creation of immersive fantasylands and an interest in the technical aspects of film making. On the one hand, Jackson’s work is characterized by the quest for what Bazin defines as ‘The Myth of Total Cinema’, namely, cinema’s search for the complete and perfect illusion (Bazin 1965). Jackson’s implementation of 3D technology and High Frame Rate seems to confirm the prophecy of Rene Barjavel, who in the 1940s asserted that the technological evolution of the cinematic apparatus will eventually result in a total ‘enveloppement’ characterized by the multi-sensorial experience and the full interactivity of the spectator within the movie itself (Barjavel 1944). Jackson’s film making is constantly animated by this ideal as his films are often concerned with the establishment of a ‘believable’, ‘authentic’ world in which the viewers can immerse themselves. On the other hand, in interviews, promotional material and ‘making of’ documentaries that have accompanied the release of his films, Jackson actively divulgates, rather than concealing, his various film-making techniques. In many instances during the making

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of his films, Jackson actively engaged with film fans, releasing production diaries and revealing secret tricks and film locations. Similarly, Hobbit-related tourism is characterized by two simultaneously overlapping and disjunctive pleasures: the full immersion into the fantastic world of Middle Earth and the active comparison between the film world and the real locations. Some tours to the film locations offer the possibility of carrying the replicas of the weapons used in the films and performing ‘photo-staged fights’ in the actual location. During their tours various companies make use of the films’ soundtracks to enhance the sense of ‘envelopment’ within Middle Earth. Tourists visiting the Hobbiton set in Matamata are given the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in a multi-sensorial experience of Middle Earth. Visitors can walk around Hobbiton, touch various elements of the permanent set, smell flowers and trees, and even drink Hobbit ale at the Green Dragon Inn. Referring to the construction of the set, Art Director Brian Massey claimed that ‘we are trying to make it look like you are not walking into a set but a real village’ (Massey cited in Gardner 2014). At the same time, however, an important component of the tourist experience of Middle Earth is represented by the comparison between the film world and the actual New Zealand landscape, which has been at once emptied of its features and enhanced with new ones, particularly props, characters and digital effects. The comparison between the filmic landscape and the tourist site also points to the demystification of cinematic artifice. LOTR/The Hobbit tourist guides often comment on the film locations, revealing the film-making techniques employed to modify the actual landscape and create the filmic image. The insights into the backstage region of the production and the consequent awareness of the artificial nature of the film world co-exist with the immersive attitude of the tourists. Fans’ engagement with the physical landscape of New Zealand/Middle Earth reflects Jackson’s own treatment of place as simultaneously ‘real’ and fantastic. Jackson’s control over the meaning of New Zealand landscape has endowed him with significant political and economic power. It is yet to be seen how the end of The Hobbit franchise and the consequent decline of the association between New Zealand and Middle Earth will affect Jackson’s power both in his home country and overseas.

A–Z Films/Themes/Key Concepts

3D Jackson has always been interested in 3D, often using filming techniques to create images with what he calls ‘dimensionality’. Referring to the concept of ‘dimensionality’, Jackson claimed that: ‘I like wide angle lenses, I like depth, I like composing shots that have a foreground, a middle and a background and I like moving the camera around because it gives dimensionality – a sense of movement within the frame almost as if you were taking a 2D image and giving it 3D life’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2012, 152). Jackson’s interest in 3D technology is in line with his aspiration to make his films as ‘immersive’ as possible (Warner Bros 2013). One of the appeals of the LOTR trilogy resided precisely in the films’ ability to pull the viewers into the adventurous world of Middle Earth through an extremely detailed and realistic representation of characters, props and landscapes. Jackson even considered shooting the first Middle Earth trilogy in 3D: ‘When we were filming The Lord of the Rings I was taking 3D stills and if I could have shot Rings in 3D, I’d have done so at the drop of a hat’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2012, 152). Jackson came close to adopting 3D technology again for King Kong. The Wellingtonian met with James Cameron, who was planning on using 3D equipment to film Avatar, but again technical complexities induced Jackson to abandon the idea. A few years later, Jackson’s visual effects company, Weta Digital, played a crucial role in the making of Avatar, which in turn revived interest in 3D cinema. One of Jackson’s first forays into 3D was King Kong 360 3D, an attraction included in the Studio Tour of the Universal Studios in Hollywood. The ride, which made its debut in 2010, offers an immersive experience of Skull Island, combining 3D imagery with

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physical motion, wind, water and scent. Guests enter the attraction building on a tram wearing 3D glasses. As the tram is attacked by virtual dinosaurs, water and air are blown onto the guests to simulate the violence of the attack. During the ride, the dinosaurs are eventually defeated by King Kong as seen in the eponymous film directed by Jackson. In 2011, Jackson produced and acted as second unit director on The Adventures of Tintin, a computeranimated adventure film shot in 3D. During the promotion of the film, Jackson and Spielberg (who directed the film) spoke in favour of 3D technology and criticized the studios’ decision to impose expensive ticket prices for 3D films (M. Eisenberg 2014). During the same period, Jackson began shooting The Hobbit in 3D at 48 frames per second (fps). Jackson’s decision to film The Hobbit series in 3D was justified by the desire to ‘draw the audience out of their seats’. According to Jackson, ‘It’s critical that film-makers employ current technology to increase the immersive, spectacular experience that cinema should provide’ (Warner Bros 2013). The decision to employ 3D equipment, however, was also influenced by the vast success of James Cameron’s Avatar, shot using a 3D technology that was in part engineered by Weta Digital (Giardina 2013). After Avatar many Hollywood production companies moved quickly to capitalize on 3D’s success, postconverting many films to 3D (Turnock 2013). 3D’s new visibility allowed Jackson to combine his own ambition to develop an immersive style of film making with the production imperatives of the studios, which were mainly interested in the commercial potential of 3D. The commercial failure of a number of 3D films released in 2010 and 2011, as well as audience complaints about the blurriness, dark projection and eye strain associated with 3D movie-watching, contributed to Jackson’s decision to shoot The Hobbit at 48 fps (see A–Z: High Frame Rate). In a Facebook post in April 2011, Jackson promised that shooting and projecting The Hobbit at 48 fps would eliminate a number of technical problems associated with 3D projection as well as enhancing the realism of the action depicted on screen (Turnock 2013, 41). The Hobbit films were shot with Red Epic cameras mounted on rigs especially developed by 3ality Technica using two cameras and a mirror in order to achieve an interocular effect similar to that of human sight. Jackson was able to benefit from both the technical capability developed by Weta Digital and the skills gained by some

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New Zealand film makers during the making of Avatar. Sean Kelly, for example, the lead stereographer in The Hobbit’s main unit, started working as a convergence puller in James Cameron’s 3D masterpiece: I got trained on Avatar really. There was a lot to learn behind what we were actually doing, the theory of 3D etc. But, yeah, I learnt on the job and it made sense: we would watch 3D after every set up, so my eyes got trained into 3D. (Kelly 2013) Sean Kelly and other New Zealand cinematographers such as Richard Bluck were among the crew members who tested the rigs created by 3ality for Peter Jackson. Richard Bluck, who had worked as a steadycam operator on Braindead, The Frighteners and LOTR, also contributed to the development of the 3D technology that was eventually used for The Hobbit. The Red Camera had never been put onto the 3ality rigs, but Bluck and the cinematography department developed an innovative wireless 3D rig that could be mounted on cranes and steadycam, thus providing Jackson with extraordinary flexibility and creative freedom (Seymour 2012). However, despite the fact that the weight of 3D cameras was significantly reduced, The Hobbit was mainly shot in studios on a green screen. The constraints associated with working with 3D and the need for an environment that could be easily controlled and manipulated meant that Jackson used fewer physical locations, which had played a significant role in LOTR. Another significant consequence associated with the use of 3D cameras was the fact that Jackson could not employ the same optical tricks he had used in LOTR to create the illusion of height difference between hobbits and men. In one of the LOTR scenes, for example, Jackson used a custom-designed cart to position Frodo (Elijah Wood) far to the right and a few feet behind Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and recorded the action at an angle that made it look as if the two characters were seated side by side (Vespe 2014, 40). In The Hobbit, such an approach to visual effects was no longer possible: ‘Once you shoot in 3D it completely blows your cover. Your forced perspective tricks are naked to the audience. With 3D glasses on they can see exactly how far away the characters are’ (Jackson cited in Vespe 2014, 40). To recreate a world in which hobbits and dwarves co-existed with elves, men and other anthropomorphic

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creatures, Jackson had to film men and halflings separately and unite them digitally in post-production. A similar approach was occasionally used in LOTR, but it proved very difficult to get characters to have natural conversations. To solve this problem, Jackson’s team led by Alex Funke developed an innovative scale motion control system. The motion control system used a pair of 3D cameras that were linked electronically and operated at the same time with one moving at a smaller or larger scale than the other. This meant that Jackson was able to put an actor in front of one of the cameras and make him/her bigger or smaller while s/he could interact with other actors in another scale set only 50 feet apart. Every time Gandalf or an elf interacted with the dwarves, the system (through a complex mathematical process) automatically scaled down the actors playing the dwarves or the hobbits. The end result was that Jackson was able to direct The Hobbit as if he was shooting a normal movie since he was able to see the entire scene composited: That was one of the joys of it, you didn’t have to think about the trick anymore. If you wanted to crane, dolly, move in, or have actors come in and out of the frame, designing the shot was just as it would be on a live-action set. (Jackson cited in Vespe 2014, 44) In terms of the style of 3D film making adopted by Jackson, lead stereographer Sean Kelly emphasized that the camera department attempted to deliver footage that could be easily manipulated in postproduction: The style is a very simple style and you don’t vary it that much, you know, you have a road and you may expand it a little bit and you may make it a bit small in places, but really you are delivering a product that, in post-production, can be manipulated to a certain degree. Knowing that they are going to zoom in on some shots, knowing that they’re going to want to do certain things, my idea was not to deliver an extreme version of anything or a miniature version of anything. I would make sure I delivered what I felt had enough space that it was totally usable. (Kelly 2013)

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After the release of the film, the majority of the film reviews focused on the controversial look of High Frame Rate, which was compared by many to a cheap televisual aesthetic (see A–Z: High Frame Rate). The reviews that addressed 3D aesthetics emphasized how the first instalment of The Hobbit trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, made limited use of the possibility to project material into the auditorium via negative parallax (the so-called before the window effect) (Ross 2012). By contrast, some reviewers claimed that Jackson attempted to capitalize on the depth of field allowed by 3D technology. Eric Einsberg, for example, wrote that: Long shots of Bilbo and the company of dwarves making their way across the land is amazing enough, as you feel like you could fall into Middle-earth, but where the director really shows off his skills is in more personal, intimate areas. Whether it’s Bilbo’s cozy little Hobbit hole or Gollum’s cave in the Misty Mountains, Jackson uses the stereoscopic camera to really explore the settings and make the audience feel like they are totally immersed in the world. (E. Eisenberg 2014) In her review of The Desolation of Smaug, Miriam Ross points out that the violation of space between audience and traditional screen film created by negative parallax is very limited, in a way that is in keeping with the first instalment of the trilogy. According to Ross, however, the use of close-ups in the film shows the potential for digital 3D to create stunning details that cannot be seen elsewhere: ‘This is particularly true when the heads of evil creatures such as wolves and a large black bear seem to hang into the auditorium and break the safe space between viewer and film’ (Ross 2013). After The Hobbit, Jackson plans to direct a smaller-scale project and it is yet to be seen whether he will adopt 3D technology on his next film. Jackson, however, has already contributed to the spread of 3D technology within the New Zealand film industry. Some of the film makers involved in the making of The Hobbit have used the skills and expertise gained during the making of the trilogy to make the first 3D New Zealand film, Beyond the Edge, which focuses on the achievements of New Zealand mountaineer and national hero, Edmund Hillary. It is likely that the same expertise will be deployed over the next few years to produce the Avatar sequels, which will be shot in Wellington between 2016 and 2018.

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Aviation Peter Jackson’s passion for aeroplanes and aviation goes back to his childhood. Jackson was deeply influenced by his father’s war stories. While serving in the British Army during WWII Peter’s father, William had witnessed air-raids over the island of Malta which opposed German Stukas and British Spitfires (Sibley: 11). During the war Peter’s mother, Joan, had worked in the DeHavilland factory that developed the prototype of the Mosquito, a famous British fighter bomber (Pryor: 20). Jackson started buying and building aeroplane model kit sets as a child. According to Jackson himself, he shot footage of simulated First World War dogfights with his first Super 8 camera when he was only a ten-year-old (Sibley 2006, 56). While completing the LOTR trilogy in the early 2000s Jackson gained the financial means that allowed him to fully realize his private passion for aviation. As Jackson’s childhood friend Pete O’Herne remarked about Peter’s love for aviation; ‘if he had $10 he’d go and buy himself a model of a Spitfire. If he’s got a million dollars he’ll just go buy the bigger version’ (O’Herne cited in Sibley 2006, 56). In 2005, Jackson founded an aircraft manufacturing and restoration company, The Vintage Aviator, which specializes in First World War and Second World War fighter planes. The company has built and owns more than thirty vintage aircraft, including a replica of a Curtis Helldiver created for the 2005 blockbuster King Kong. The company’s production manager, Gene De Marco, was initially hired as aircraft consultant on King Kong and oversaw some of the most spectacular sequences of the movie, including Kong’s final confrontation with a squadron of army planes on the Empire State Building (Boyd 2005). Jackson is also one of the main funders of the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in the South Island of New Zealand and has often put his private collection on display at the centre’s museum. Jackson chairs the ‘1914–1918 Aviation Heritage Trust’, which supports a First World War airshow held in Omaka every second year (Abercrombie 2011). Jackson often combines his love for aircraft, his interest in the two World Wars and his film production enterprises. In 2008, Jackson and Wingnut Films produced a ten-minute multimedia display for the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The show, which

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included in-flight replica aircraft and extensive computer graphics developed by Weta Digital, explored the story of military flight and aircraft during the First World War (McLintock 2008). In 2015, the film maker also announced his involvement in the establishment of a New Zealand museum to commemorate the centenary of the First World War (AP 2015). In the early 2000s, a branch of Weta Workshop, Wingnut Wings, started producing and distributing large-scale model kit sets of the First World War aircraft. Referring to his new business enterprise, Jackson stressed once again the importance of his private passion for model making and aviation: ‘I’ve made WWI models since I was a kid, and if I can’t build them due to work pressure, I still buy and collect unbuilt kits. Wingnut Wings is really a dream company for someone like me, who is lucky enough to take their hobby to another level’ (Jackson cited in Wilson 2010). Jackson’s aircraftrelated businesses (both the real ones and model kits) benefit from the expertise and technical capability developed at Weta Digital and Weta Workshop in terms of art design, digital modelling and engineering. Jackson and his collaborators shift seamlessly between work on special effects, aircraft models and real planes. According to Wingnut Wings senior modeller Richard Alexander, the common denominator of all these different activities is Jackson’s creative vision (Alexander cited in Wilson 2010). Planes also feature prominently in Jackson’s film productions. Jackson himself appears as a bi-plane gunner attacking Kong in New York, restaging the cameo that Merian C. Cooper, the original King Kong director, made in his 1933 film. The 1994 mockumentary Forgotten Silver, which tells the story of a pioneering New Zealand film maker, features a sequence in which the protagonist films the first flight of a powered aircraft invented by a New Zealander (several months prior to the Wright Brothers’ attempt). Planes or flying also feature in The Adventures of Tintin as well as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf and the hobbits are rescued several times by flying eagles. Jackson suggested that in The Battle of the Five Armies, in order to aid their allies, the eagles deployed tactics inspired by The Dam Busters (Plumb 2012a). Throughout his career, Jackson had often toyed with the idea of making a movie about aviation heroes. Finally, in 2009, Weta began creating the physical effects and props, including ten full-size Lancaster bombers, necessary

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to realize The Dam Busters, a remake of the eponymous 1955 British film to be produced by Jackson (Weta Ltd 2009). The original film, one of Jackson’s childhood favourites, tells the story of one of the most daring missions in military aeronautical history, the 1943 Operation Chastise, in which the RAF attacked the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with so-called bouncer bombs. Jackson had been interested in working on a Dam Busters remake since the mid-1990s; however, he was not able to purchase the rights for the film until the mid-2000s. According to Executive Producer Sir David Frost, ‘Peter Jackson is the ideal producer for a remake of the Dam Busters, not only because of his film-making genius but also because of his aeronautical expertise and his unique understanding of the human pressures wrought by war’ (Weta Ltd 2009). In 2009, Jackson selected New Zealand film maker Christian Rivers to direct the film and enlisted the last surviving pilot of the strike team, Les Munroe, as technical adviser for the film production. Filming was planned to commence in 2009; however, the project was delayed because of The Hobbit Trilogy. Jackson’s passion for aviation is, however, not only confined to vintage replicas and models. Due to his connections with Hollywood stakeholders, Jackson is often required to fly across the Pacific Ocean himself. In 2009, the New Zealand-based film maker bought his first Gulfstream G550 jet, which allowed non-stop flights between Wellington and Los Angeles. In 2013, Jackson purchased a new $80 million G650 jet, able to fly faster and farther than any aircraft used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (Nippert 2013). Jackson’s passion for aviation exemplifies the deep interconnection between technology, special effects and spectacle, which characterizes many of his films, but it is also a powerful symbol of Jackson’s influence and success as entrepreneur.

Bad Taste Bad Taste is Peter Jackson’s first completed feature film. In many ways the film launches the myth of Peter Jackson as a heroic film maker able to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Originally conceived as a ten-minute short film, Roast of the Day,

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Peter Jackson began shooting the film in October 1983. The film was shot mainly on weekends with the help of friends and family, and was funded by Jackson’s earnings as a photo-engraver at Wellington’s Evening Post. Jackson produced, directed and played two roles in the film, which was shot with a second-hand 16 mm camera. As documented in the behind-the-scenes documentary Good Taste Made Bad Taste, Jackson learned the basic filmmaking techniques while shooting the film. He built much of his own equipment (including a steadycam camera mount and various cranes) using plans from a US home movie magazine, Cine Magic, and devised most of the special effects. The latex foam masks used in the film were baked in Jackson’s mother’s oven, while guns were created using aluminium tubing (Sibley 2006). During the making of the film, Jackson repeatedly tried to persuade the New Zealand Film Commission, the agency responsible for the funding of local films, to support the project. In one of his first letters addressed to the Commission Jackson writes that: I think I’ve summed up the whole thing fairly well. I’ve been honest and not tried to pretend we’re something we’re not. If you decide to support us you must realise that you’re dealing with amateur film-makers that do no fit into the standard guidelines and film-production methods established in this country. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 89) The Film Commission rejected several funding applications, however, Jackson eventually persuaded the Commission’s CEO, Jim Booth, to attend a screening of some of the sequences he had already shot. Impressed by the quality of the footage, Booth reported to the Commission Board, which in turn requested an external evaluation of the film’s chances to recoup the funding from sales (Sibley 2006, 116). Tony Hiles, the film maker chosen to evaluate the footage submitted by Jackson with his funding application, described him as ‘one of those people who will make films whether he gets any help or not’ (Hiles cited in Sibley 2006, 120). Hiles wrote an extremely positive evaluation of the film providing the Commission with independent opinion about the talent of the young film maker. Shortly afterwards, the Film Commission, largely through the intervention of its executive director Jim Booth, provided funding for post-production on the

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condition that two experienced professionals were added to the team: Tony Hiles (as consultant producer) and Jamie Selkirk as editor (Shelton 2005, 89). New Zealand film maker Costa Botes (who had encouraged Jackson to show the early footage of Bad Taste to Jim Booth) also played an important role in launching Jackson’s career by introducing him to a group of local film makers and writers, which included Jackson’s future life partner and collaborator, Fran Walsh. Botes thus recalls his first encounter with Jackson during the making of Bad Taste: I didn’t know anything about Peter, although when we first started talking it reminded me that I’d read a little piece about him in ONFILM, the New Zealand film magazine. It was just a short piece about how this little group of people were trying to make a film in Pukerua Bay and going out shooting in weekends and I remember thinking ‘oh, what a bunch of losers’ [laughs], and when Peter starting telling me it reminded me and I went ‘oh, you’re the guy’. I changed my mind completely when he showed me the film he was working on [. . .] my viewpoint on him changed instantly, within minutes of starting to watch the film I thought ‘what is this?’ [. . .] he went from being a guy who stuttered and wore funny clothes, and was a very unimpressive guy at first sight, but as soon as I watched his movie I thought ‘this guy is very, very clever’. (Botes 2014) The film revolves around AIDS (Alien Investigation and Defence Service), a military elite squad that attempts to stop an alien invasion. Internal Affairs sends AIDS (a.k.a. the Boys) to the quiet seaside town of Kaihoro to investigate a report of extra-terrestrial activity. The aliens, who are able to mutate their physical form and appear as normal humans, have exterminated the inhabitants of a small town in rural New Zealand (Kaihoro, population 75) in order to supply meat for their intergalactic fast food chain. The aliens also capture charity worker/con-man Giles, who is marinated by the aliens in preparation for their departure feast. The retribution of the Boys is merciless as they attack the aliens and free Giles. During the battle, one of the ‘Boys’, Derek, played by Peter Jackson himself, falls from a cliff, breaking his skull. However, Derek soon regains consciousness and, after securing his loose brains into his

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skull with a belt, he sadistically slaughters the remaining aliens with a chainsaw. In the surreal final sequence, the heritage house, which is both the headquarters and the spaceship of the aliens, is launched into orbit. Derek, who has been trapped inside the house/spaceship, confronts and butchers the leader of the aliens, announcing further revenge on the aliens’ planet. With 2,302 shots the editing pace is very fast, while clever choreography keeps the battle sequences from seeming repetitive (Martin and Edwards 1997, 134). According to Peter Jackson, the title of the film, Bad Taste, has a double meaning: ‘not only does it describe the aesthetic qualities of the film, but also works in with the main plot device of a bunch of aliens with a taste for human meat’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 101). The film is a DIY splatter comedy imbued with a Monty Python humour, which has been defined as ‘splatstick’, a mix of splatter and slapstick comedy (see A–Z: Splatstick). Intertextual references and parody are important elements of Jackson’s films and his extensive knowledge of cinema is particularly apparent in his first film: the opening sequence of the government official smoking a cigarette with a prosthetic finger is a humorous homage to The Godfather (Coppola 1972); the scene that features Derek chasing the aliens with a chainsaw is a clear reference to Kubrick’s The Shining (1980); the theme of an invasion by carnivorous aliens able to disguise themselves as human beings is a common trope of much sci-fi literature and in particular draws upon the ‘80s popular American TV show V: The Series (1984–1985). The numerous references that the film makes to Hollywood productions reflect the impact of American popular culture on New Zealand cultural identity. The film is also characterized by a typical dark Kiwi humour and is filled with references to New Zealand culture. In the film Derek responds to the suggestion that the aliens might destroy Auckland (New Zealand largest city and Wellington’s main rival) with ‘Auckland? Well, that wouldn’t be so bad’. The film references New Zealanders’ obsession with rugby when one of the characters performs a drop goal kick with an alien’s severed head. In one of the film’s most spectacular sequences, one of the Boys fires his rocket launcher at the Alien’s leader but misses and hits a sheep, one of New Zealand’s most iconic animals, instead. Finally, the film features several allusions to New Zealand history and culture,

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such as the theme of meat processing and the New Zealand cult of the chainsaw (Leotta 2010). Jamie Selkirk, who along with Tony Hiles viewed the first cut of the film, talks about the unique Kiwi humour in the film: It was just so funny, we roared with laughter for most of the way through it. Because it was so different to most of the movies we had been involved with. It was so kiwi. It was so much fun. You could see that Peter had had a lot of fun doing it. (Selkirk 2014) Although the production of the film was marred by logistical problems (the script changed according to who was available; one of the lead characters left the cast and returned two years later), it was eventually completed in October 1987. The money invested by the Film Commission was crucial for paying for the special effects necessary to bring the story to a conclusion, in particular, the departure of the spaceship and the house explosion. Despite the fact that Bad Taste is characterized by an amateur aesthetic that reflects Jackson’s basic technical competence at the time, the film was a crucial stepping stone in Jackson’s career as, during the four years necessary to finish the film, Jackson learned both the basics of film making and how to maximize the use of money in film making. By the time Jackson made Braindead and Heavenly Creatures he had enough expertise and money to employ a professional crew and competently realize his personal vision. Most importantly, the film represented the beginning of a series of long-term collaborations with other film makers, including Costa Botes and Jamie Selkirk, the latter of whom would become the editor of all Jackson’s future projects and would win, eighteen years after Bad Taste, an Academy Award for his work on The Return of the King. The Film Commission launched the film in the Cannes market in 1988 with a low-cost promotion, which involved New Zealanders walking around the Croisette wearing an alien head latex mask. Jackson visited Cannes for the first time to help with the promotion of the film. By the end of the market, film commissioner Lindsay Shelton had negotiated sales to fifteen countries and eventually Bad Taste would earn more than three times its budget (Shelton 2005, 91). After the Cannes market, the popularity of the film was increased by a number of minor controversies: Bad Taste posters,

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which featured an alien gesturing with its middle finger, were banned in the London Underground, while Australian censorship authorities cut out a minute of the film (Martin and Edwards 1997, 134). The extremely low budget of Bad Taste and the lack of financial pressure deriving from the need to recoup investors’ money allowed Jackson unlimited creative freedom and the possibility of experimenting with genres. Bad Taste achieved global recognition in cult cinema circuits, simultaneously launching Jackson’s film-making career and creating his reputation as ‘splatter-meister’.

Braindead Jackson’s third feature film, Braindead (Dead Alive in the United States) benefitted from a relatively large budget (NZ$3,000,000) and carried no traces of the amateurish style that characterized Bad Taste. The idea for Braindead originated in the late 1980s after Jackson met writers Fran Walsh and Stephen Sinclair while working on Bad Taste. The trio wanted to make a zombie film which would also be a parable about breaking away from family ties and emerging into adulthood. As an ironic tale of life in the suburbs, it would be a study of emotional repression and social propriety. Originally, Jackson and his collaborators had hoped for a possible co-production deal with Spain, and they even cast a Spanish actress, Diana Penalver, to play the role of Paquita, the female leading character. However, only days before the beginning of the shoot, the funding fell through and Jackson was forced to postpone filming. While Braindead was on hold, Jackson decided to work on Meet the Feebles, which ended up being his second film. In 1991 the Braindead project was revived: the New Zealand Film Commission provided most of the budget with top-ups from the recently privatized Avalon studios in Wellington. The break necessary to make the Feebles provided the Braindead team with the opportunity to refine the story for the latter. Braindead was the first of Jackson’s films that did not start shooting till it had a highly developed script. The screenwriters produced nine drafts of the screenplay, the last of which involved one major alteration: Jackson

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had suddenly come up with the idea of setting the whole film in the 1950s, which added a touch of naivety to the story. The 1950s was also the period when the Tales from the Crypt, Jackson’s favourite horror comics, were set and published. For Braindead Jackson also made extensive use of storyboarding, which is still an important component of his approach to film making. According to the film editor Jamie Selkirk: When he shot Braindead, we did the storyboard of the entire movie. And now you could look at Braindead and see it’s been shot exactly how it was on the storyboard. [. . .] He still storyboards a lot of stuff. It’s a process he has just about always gone through. Now he does previsualization on computers but the process is still the same. (Selkirk 2014) The filming of Braindead finally began in September 1991 and lasted eleven weeks, during which the Avalon Studios turned into the set of Jackson’s goriest film. Braindead inflects the tradition of the zombie film with Jackson’s peculiar splatstick style. The story starts in Skull Island, Southwest Sumatra (a tribute to Jackson’s favourite film King Kong), where a New Zealand zoo official has captured a rare rat-monkey (the obscene result of the rape of local monkeys by plague rats). After the zoo official is bitten by the monkey, he is dismembered and killed by his guides, who then send the ratmonkey to the Wellington zoo. Meanwhile, in the New Zealand capital city, hapless Lionel starts a romantic relation with Spanish shopkeeper Paquita. Lionel’s domineering mother is opposed to the liaison and follows the couple on a date to the local zoo, where she is bitten by the rat-monkey. Shortly after the incident, Mother dies; however, she comes back to life as a zombie and bites her nurse. Despite Lionel’s attempts to conceal the scandal by hiding the living dead in the house’s cellar, the zombie epidemic spreads rapidly. During the last thirty-five minutes of the film, Lionel and Paquita fight the zombies in a gory battle that features mutilated limbs, severed heads and animated intestines. In the final sequence, Lionel confronts his mother, who meanwhile has become a gargantuan monster. She literally sucks him back into her womb, but in a Freudian re-birth the protagonist cuts his way out of her monstrous body.

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While Meet the Feebles did not feature any precise reference to New Zealand, Braindead represents a return to the local content that featured prominently in Bad Taste. Jackson’s third film is filled with references to New Zealand history and culture: from 1950s Wellington trams and Kiwi Bacon vans to the iconic lawnmower used by Lionel to exterminate the zombies in the final sequence. According to Jackson, Braindead, unlike Meet the Feebles, had no satirical intentions; the main goal of the film was simply to make viewers laugh: The Feebles was dark and cynical and vicious in terms of its comedy and satire and Braindead is much more like Bad Taste was, in a sense that it’s not a biting satire on anything, other than just being an enjoyable comedy with some gory effects [. . .]. I think that in every sequence that we have horrific things happening, I’m always trying to put in these opportunities for laughter, something in there that takes the edge off it. (Jackson cited in Pryor 96) Like many of Jackson’s other films, Braindead does, however, poke fun at the stiff conformism of New Zealand settler society. In the film the main source of comedy derives from the contrast between the tranquillity of suburban New Zealand and the mayhem that the protagonist is attempting to hide in order to save ‘appearances’. Braindead opens with images of a young Queen Elizabeth, a reference to the lingering influence of the British Empire on New Zealand life, and its narrative revolves around the destruction of symbols of ‘Britishness’: good taste, heritage homes and the suburban surrogate of the Queen: the Mother (who significantly in Braindead speaks with a strong British accent). As Barbara Creed aptly puts it, in Jackson’s films ‘the comedy lies in the disjuncture between the way in which these islands’ suburbs see themselves as bastions of British civilisation and the barbaric events that actually unfold on the streets and the homes’ (Creed 2000, 63). Braindead was advertised as the largest special effects film ever undertaken in New Zealand or Australia. The final sequence of the film, which has often been dubbed as one of the goriest scenes in the history of cinema, required hundreds of special effects and large quantities of maple syrup (for blood), pork fat, offal,

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latex and polyfoam (Martin and Edwards 1997, 161). The most complex effect was Baby Selwyn, the grotesque result of sexual intercourse between two zombie characters. The crew did not have the budget to create an animatronic for this character and instead developed a complex hand puppet that gave Baby Selwyn the ability to kick, punch and bite people (Helms 2004, 41). The nine-person special effects crew was led by Richard Taylor, who gained crucial skills that were later deployed to make films such as Heavenly Creatures and LOTR. Braindead was launched at Cannes in May 1992 and gained wider national distribution the following year. After the release of Braindead, international critics welcomed, once again, Jackson’s humour, particularly in the climatic final sequence. The crossgenre mixing of splatter conventions with the psychoanalytical investigation of an overbearing mother transformed a murdering, sexually jealous, suffocating monster bridged the boundary between cult and critical appreciation. Time magazine highlighted the way in which Jackson was able to combine the legacies of George Romero and Buster Keaton. Braindead (retitled Dead Alive in the North American market) was the first of Jackson’s three features to get a wide American theatrical release. The distributor paid the highest advance that any New Zealand film had earned from a US sale. The American release was hindered, however, by a bland distribution campaign that failed to convey the uniqueness of Jackson’s style (Shelton 2005, 125). The graphic character of some of the sequences in the film meant that Braindead was banned or heavily cut in some countries. Several versions of the film exists: in some countries such as Australia and the UK the 104-minute film was shown in its entirety, while in Germany the censor only allowed a 94-minute version that featured some heavy cuts. However, it was in the United States (where the film was released as Dead Alive for copyright issues) that Braindead was most affected by censorship, the American version running only eighty-five minutes with most of the gore removed (Pryor 2003, 118). In New Zealand the film was released uncut. Its theatrical release ran for four months, and it won best film, best director and best actor at the annual film awards. The decision was, however, not unanimous as one of the judges voiced his opinion that the film was a ‘crude horror that makes a mockery of serious film-making in New Zealand’ (John Cranna cited in Onfilm 1993,

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8). Despite some criticism, Braindead went on to become a cult film on par with Evil Dead (Raimi 1981) and Dawn of the Dead (Romero 1978), as Jackson himself had hoped (Helms 2004, 40). The film confirmed Jackson’s reputation as the ‘Sultan of Splatter’ among both local and international audiences. British actor and comedian Simon Pegg cited Braindead as his main source of inspiration when writing his 2004 zombie film Shaun of the Dead (Wright 2004; Pegg 2011, 341). However, paradoxically, by the time Braindead was achieving success in the international festival circuit, Jackson was already planning to make Heavenly Creatures and move away from the genre with which he had made his name as a film maker. Despite the fact that Braindead is Jackson’s last ‘splatstick’ film (see A–Z: Splatstick), his future work, including major blockbusters such as King Kong and LOTR, would feature some of the splatter elements that characterize his early films.

Cameos One of the recurring stylistic characteristics of Jackson’s films is the director’s appearance in his own films. Jackson’s distinct look makes him easily recognizable in his various roles in a way that has not been seen with such regularity since Alfred Hitchcock. Jackson’s tendency to appear in his own films can be traced back to his early career. In his authorized biography, the film maker claims that one of the main challenges he had to face at the beginning of his career was recruiting actors and extras willing to work in his first amateur films, often shot during the weekend (Sibley 2006, 83). The chronic shortage of cast and crew forced Jackson to appear as an actor in many of his early films. In his first short film, The Valley, a youthful Jackson throws a spear at a giant animated model beast of his own design (Clarke 2004, 14). A few years later Jackson also appears in his first amateur feature film, Bad Taste, where he plays the role of two characters; Robert The Alien and Derek, the leader of the Assault force. In one of the most famous sequences of the film the two characters fight each other dangling off a cliff. In reality, the two characters were shot one year apart with Jackson doubling first as the thick-bearded Robert and then as Derek (who wears glasses and does not have a beard). In the post-production

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stages, Jackson managed to skilfully achieve the illusion of the two characters existing in the same space by intercutting shots of them fighting each other (Clarke 2004, 14). During the making of Bad Taste, lack of funding and professional actors forced cast and crew (including Jackson himself) to play more than one role. However, even after Bad Taste, when Jackson was able to afford professional actors, he made sure he would have a cameo in all his films. In his second film, Meet the Feebles, an unrecognizable Jackson plays the role of an audience member dressed as an Alien from his first film, Bad Taste. In Braindead he is the mortician’s assistant, a grotesque character clearly reminiscent of the cinematic hunchback lab assistants that featured in most of the Hammer-produced horror movies (of which Jackson was a devoted fan). Jackson also manages to appear in subsequent studio-funded productions such as The Frighteners, where he is a biker who is bumped into by Frank Bannister, the character played by Michael J. Fox. Jackson’s most widely recognized cameo is, however, as a drunken carrot-chomper citizen of Bree in The Fellowship of the Ring. More than ten years later, Jackson emphasized the continuity between LOTR and The Hobbit by playing the same character in The Desolation of Smaug, the second instalment of The Hobbit trilogy (Leadbeater 2013). Jackson also appears in The Two Towers as a Rohan spear-thrower (perhaps a reference to the character he plays in The Valley) and in The Return of the King as a corsair killed by Legolas. A detailed action figure of the character played by Jackson in The Return of the King was subsequently produced and sold along with other LOTR toys. In most cases, Jackson’s cameos are direct references to his knowledge and love of cinema. This is particularly apparent in King Kong where Jackson appears as a biplane gunner attacking Kong in New York, thus reprising the cameo which Merian C. Cooper, the original director of King Kong, made in the 1933 version of the film. In Heavenly Creatures Jackson plays a tramp who is kissed by the protagonists outside a Christchurch movie theatre. Similarly, in The Lovely Bones, he appears for a few seconds as a customer playing with a Super-8 camera in a photography shop. In other instances, Jackson’s cameo choices are simply dictated by the availability of certain characters and by the need to ‘fit in’ with both the story and the mise-en-scene. In the first episode of the Hobbit trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, Jackson plays the role of

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one of the dwarves escaping from Erebor after Smaug has attacked. Jackson thus explained his own cameo in The Hobbit: ‘I didn’t have a great deal of choice. There weren’t any human characters and there weren’t any Hobbit roles I could play. . . and I’m not an Elf’ (Plumb 2012b). Jackson also appears as himself in non-fictional or semi-fictional productions such as New Zealand mockumentary Forgotten Silver (co-directed with Costa Botes) and American documentary West of Memphis (co-produced with Fran Walsh and Damien Echols). Similarly, Jackson has had cameos in films not produced or directed by him, including Hot Fuzz (Wright 2007) (where he plays a demented Father Christmas who attempts to stab the protagonist); Entourage (2004–2011) (as himself); and the 2013 Doctor Who fiftieth anniversary episode, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot (again as himself). He has also appeared as himself in several Middle Earth– inspired Air New Zealand commercials and safety videos. Jackson has the habit of casting members of his family as extras in his films. In particular, both his children, Billy and Kate, have had cameos in all their father’s films since their birth. Billy appears on screen for the first time as a baby in The Frighteners. Both Billy and her sister Katie feature as various ‘cute’ Hobbit, Rohan and Gondor children in the LOTR trilogy. Jackson’s obsession with the cameo as a mark of film authorship is consistent with his cinephilia. Through the inclusion of cameos in his films, Jackson implicitly and ironically attempts to inscribe himself in the pantheon of film auteurs such as Hitchcock, Scorsese and Tarantino. As they often point to his favourite films (including his own), cameos are also in line with the extensive inter-textuality that characterizes Jackson’s style of film making. In The Battle of the Five Armies, for example, the portrait of Bilbo’s parents, which appears in the final sequences of the film, is based on Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson. The portrait is also a nod to a similar sequence that features in The Fellowship of the Ring, thus symbolically bridging the two trilogies. Finally, the recurrence of cameos is a way to engage with the fan base as the search for the director’s appearance in the film represents a playful challenge for the more devoted film viewer. Recently, as in the case of the An Unexpected Journey (considered by many as Jackson’s least recognizable appearance), cameos have also been used by studio publicists as marketing tools to titillate the audience’s expectations about Jackson’s films (Plumb 2012b).

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District 9 District 9 is an independent science fiction film produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp in 2009. By supporting the film Jackson played a crucial role in launching the career of Blomkamp, who, after the huge success of District 9, went on to direct major blockbusters such as Elysium (2012). District 9 was born out of the ashes of Halo, a film adaptation of the popular videogames series that Jackson was to write and produce. In 2005, Microsoft partnered with Universal and Twentieth Century Fox to create a movie based on the Halo franchise. Shortly afterwards, Jackson entered the deal with the task of supervising the production of the film. In 2006, Weta provided the special effects for a series of live-action short films, Halo: Landfall, conceived to promote the release of Halo 3, the latest videogame produced by Bungie Studio, a Microsoft subsidiary. The three short films were directed by Neill Blomkamp, a Canadian/South African film maker with extensive experience in commercials and music videos. Blomkamp was also the person selected by Jackson to direct the feature-length adaptation of Halo. Blomkamp often claimed he was a fan of Jackson’s work and credited the films directed by the Wellington film maker as a major influence on his style (Bowles 2013). Blomkamp also believed that his own knowledge and experience with the sci-fi genre would have been a major asset when directing the Halo adaptation: I was genetically created to direct Halo. . . I know that my version of Halo would have been insanely cool. It was more fresh and potentially could have made more than just a generic, boring film. (Blomkamp cited in Brake 2013) The development of Halo, however, was marred by various problems and the film pre-production was halted several times. On the one hand, Fox and Universal disapproved of Blomkamp’s directing style characterized by intense point-of-view shots and low-fi visuals. On the other hand, the studios were also concerned by the budget of the film, which was expected to rise above US$135 million. In October 2006, during a meeting with Jackson, Universal asked for a significant reduction of their financial deal with the film makers. Jackson refused and both studios pulled out of the project. After

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several unsuccessful attempts to find new backers for the Halo adaptation, Jackson decided to abandon the project. Despite the failure of Halo, the collaborative relationship between Jackson and Blomkamp led to the development of an original film, District 9. Jackson had been particularly impressed by a short film directed by Blomkamp, Alive in Joburg (2005), about aliens forced into a South African slum: ‘I hadn’t met someone who needed to be making movies more than Neill, so when (Halo) fell through, we thought, “Why not make that short movie and let Neill insert his (vision)?”’ (Jackson cited in Bowles 2013). District 9 tells the story of a race of aliens nicknamed ‘the Prawns’ that have been stranded on Earth for almost thirty years and are unable to return to their planet. The South African refugee camp that was built to host the aliens has gradually transformed into a militarized ghetto called District 9, which is the site of periodic conflicts between the Prawns and the local South Africans. In 2010, MNU (Multi National United) is contracted to forcibly evict the alien population from the ghetto. During the operation, bureaucrat Vikus Van Der Merwe is exposed to a mysterious chemical, which gradually transforms him into an alien. The film, shot in mockumentary style, was independently produced by Jackson and Wingnut Films with the relatively modest budget of US$30 million. After large productions like LOTR and King Kong, District 9 provided Jackson with the opportunity to return to working on a smaller-scale project. Commenting on the relationship between District 9 and his early films, Jackson claimed that: ‘it made me realise how much I miss guerilla film-making, I miss the chances I used to be able to take’ (Jackson cited in Bowles 2013). The mix of sci-fi, action and comedy seen in District 9 is reminiscent of Jackson’s low-budget ‘splatstick’ movies, particularly Bad Taste, a film that focused on an unconventional alien invasion. Weta Workshop designed aliens, weapons, spaceships and prosthetics for the film. The design team attempted to avoid any crossovers of concept and theme with Halo, the other sci-fi project that Weta had developed for Blomkamp. The film was shot on location in a real impoverished neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa. For Blomkamp the decision to shoot on location was motivated by both stylistic (the realism of the Johannesburg ghettos) and thematic reasons. The film can in fact be read as

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a metaphor of the xenophobia and social segregation which characterized South African history. Blomkamp emphasized the importance of the South African setting by using local actors in the leading roles. He also cast Sharlto Copley, a non-professional actor who had appeared in Alive in Joburg, as Wikus Van Der Merwe, the protagonist of the film. The film makers made extensive use of motion capture to create the aliens and shot the film using nine digital Red Cameras personally owned by Jackson (Caranicas 2009). Blomkamp initially hoped that Weta Digital could create all the visual effects for the film, however, since most of the staff in the company was busy with the making of Avatar, they were only able to design a limited number of effects, including the alien mothership. Most of the other digital effects were realized by Image Engine, a Canadian-based company. District 9 became a ‘sleeper hit’, achieving a large commercial and critical success despite its modest budget. The film grossed US$211 million, seven times its original production budget, and was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects and Best Editing). Part of the success of the District 9 marketing campaign was due to the appeal of the Peter Jackson brand. All the promotional material for the film featured the phrase ‘Peter Jackson presents’. It was not the first time that Jackson’s brand had been used to promote a film that had not been directed by the film maker himself. In 1995, Jackson had been heavily involved (as producer and second unit director) in Jack Brown Genius, a New Zealand sci-fi film directed by former collaborator Tony Hiles. Despite Jackson’s endorsement, however, Jack Brown Genius was a major commercial failure. Fourteen years later the huge success of District 9 revealed that Jackson’s ability to support the creative vision of his protégés had dramatically increased. Jackson’s involvement in District 9 and support for Blomskamp’s work also reveals some emerging patterns in Jackson’s recent career. On the one hand, Jackson’s involvement in the project seemed to be motivated by a genuine admiration for the work of a director whose style and thematic interests obviously aligned with his own. Referring to his passionate support of District 9 Jackson said, ‘this is what I’ve always loved doing: making movies for the geeks’ (Jackson cited in Bowles 2013). The major commercial success of LOTR and King Kong granted Jackson the financial means to support both philanthropic causes and the work of directors that

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matched his own interests. In 2006, Weta Workshop supported the making of Black Sheep, a New Zealand splatter-comedy that was obviously inspired by Jackson’s early films. In 2011, Jackson and Walsh produced West of Memphis, a documentary about the fight for justice for three men wrongfully convicted of child murder (a subject reminiscent of the themes that Jackson had explored in The Lovely Bones). On the other hand, Jackson’s involvement in District 9 should also be understood within the context of his attempt to establish a global network of film makers (such as James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Guillermo Del Toro) with common aspirations and interests in terms of digital technology, spectacle and fantasy. By leading Neill Blomkamp’s transition from unknown film maker to successful sci-fi director, Jackson was able to reinforce Wellington’s status as one of the major hubs in the production of visual effects.

Forgotten Silver In 1995, the year of the centenary of cinema celebrations, Peter Jackson was completing Forgotten Silver, a project that purported to tell the story of one of the great ‘forgotten’ innovators of cinema, Colin McKenzie. The film opens with the discovery of McKenzie’s long-lost films by Peter Jackson (who in the film plays himself) in a shed on the outskirts of Wellington. In the documentary, Jackson and co-director Costa Botes argue that New Zealand film pioneer Colin McKenzie is responsible for some of the most significant innovations in the history of cinema: from the (accidental) invention of both the tracking shot and the close-up to the introduction of sound and colour. McKenzie is also credited with some incredible feats such as recording the first flight of a man-made aircraft (several months prior to the Wright brothers) and the making of a biblical epic in the forests of New Zealand. The increasingly preposterous claims made by the film are supported by archival footage and interviews with ‘experts’ such as Sam Neill, Leonard Maltin and Harvey Weinstein. However, as it was revealed shortly after the broadcasting of the film on New Zealand television, Colin McKenzie was an entirely fictional character created by Botes and Jackson and his achievements only ever existed in Forgotten Silver.

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Some critics have been fascinated by the irresistible parallels between the fictitious Colin McKenzie and Peter Jackson. Reflecting on the potential points of comparison between McKenzie and Jackson, Thierry Jutel, for example, claims that ‘McKenzie’s single minded commitment and ambition constitute both a form of anticipatory self-derision and a programmatic stance’ (Jutel 2008, 103). Despite the fact that McKenzie’s figure, who embodied a down-to-earth, DIY approach to film making, could be read as the manifestation of Jackson’s unconscious, it was Costa Botes who conceived the idea behind Forgotten Silver. By 1990 Botes had sketched out most of the main sequences and narrative threads. Shortly after that he started looking for feedback and suggestions from colleagues and friends. During the early 1990s, Botes was part of a circle of film makers which included, among others, Peter Jackson and screenwriters Stephen Sinclair and Fran Walsh (Botes 2014). Jackson immediately revealed an interest in the project: He got really excited about it and that made me excited. I think the wonderful thing about Peter is that he can make the impossible seem possible. It always felt like an impossible, crazy idea, and every time I talked to Peter about it, it would make it seem more tangible and real. He basically offered, he said ‘this is fun, I’d really like to work on this with you’. (Botes 2014) Jackson was interested in Forgotten for film history and silent comedy in Jackson had been an avid student of in Forgotten Silver an opportunity to movies:

Silver because of his love particular. For a long time Buster Keaton and he saw play with and recreate old

Both of us, for different reasons, were really interested in silent film and the look of it, so both of us came at it from different directions. He had a really good eye for what it looked like [. . .] the use of the iris and the handheld camera imitating the trembling, the variable exposure of hand cranking and the level of film degradation [. . .] that’s something that he and Alun Bollinger, the DOP, talked about a lot. (Botes 2014)

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Botes and Jackson worked on the script for Forgotten Silver on and off for several years, while Jackson completed Meet the Feebles and Heavenly Creatures. During this time the pair pitched the idea for the mockumentary to a number of New Zealand broadcasters without result. Most of the potential funders’ objections regarded the expensive budget required to recreate some of the film sequences set in the early twentieth century and the limited potential market for the film. However, after the release of Heavenly Creatures in 1994, things changed radically. With Heavenly Creatures Jackson had gone from being the director of splatter movies that the New Zealand film Commission was somewhat embarrassed about, to being a respectable film auteur nominated for an Academy Award. Both Jackson and Botes felt that this was the right climate to revive the Forgotten Silver project. Originally, the two film makers had decided that Botes would direct the film, while Jackson would be in charge of the second unit. To capitalize on his newly acquired prestige and reputation and appeal to potential funders, however, Jackson ended up co-writing and co-directing the film. The film was produced by Jackson’s company, Wingnut Films, in association with the New Zealand Film Commission and New Zealand On Air, and was conceived as a one-hour documentary for the Montana Sunday Theatre slot on Television New Zealand. Meanwhile, Botes and Jackson continued working on the script for the film. For a long time Botes struggled with how to structure the film’s narrative, specifically what strategies and devices might be used to uncover McKenzie’s story. Jackson contributed by coming up with one of the central ideas for the film: He made a genius suggestion which actually gave me the key for opening up the whole thing, he said ‘we ought to have him [Colin McKenzie] doing a biblical epic, that would be a great running gag’ and what would be really fantastic is if, in the present day, we have explorers hacking their way through the jungle and they find all these ruins and it’s actually this film set’. I thought that was a fantastic cinematic idea, so I always clung to that really strongly. (Botes 2014) Jackson’s idea was inspired by real-life events. In 1983, a group of film buffs organized an archaeological expedition in the California desert with the goal to unearth the Ten Commandments’s set

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built in 1923 by Cecil B. DeMille, one of the most influential Hollywood film makers of the time. Similarly, Costa Botes based some elements of the story on the real life of Rudall Hayward, a New Zealand film pioneer, who, against all odds, managed to make several films during the 1920s and 1930s when the New Zealand film industry was practically non-existent. Both Botes and Jackson were interested in the creation of a kiwi hero: ‘I’ve always liked the idea of a New Zealand hero. The guy who is down to earth and does things before other people, but never quite gets it right’ (Jackson cited in Barr and Barr 1996, 150). The humble Kiwi hero with a DIY attitude and an innovative yet unorthodox approach to problems is a constant figure in Jackson’s work from Bad Taste to Braindead and Heavenly Creatures. While the film funders regarded Jackson’s involvement in the project as essential, by 1995 his availability had become a serious issue as he was beginning to work on his first major Hollywood film, The Frighteners. Jackson had to deal with a very tight schedule: he would spend the day working on The Frighteners and the night rewriting the script for Forgotten Silver with Botes. Forgotten Silver was eventually made and its production values benefitted from the contribution of Weta, which was undergoing a major expansion in preparation for The Frighteners. Weta produced some of the special effects for Forgotten Silver and Botes was able to use the studios Jackson had created for The Frighteners. The film eventually premiered at the Paramount theatre in Wellington. The following day, 29 October 1995, the film was broadcast on New Zealand television and was watched by an estimated audience of 400,000 (Conrich and Smith 1998, 57). A number of journalists who had attended the premiere had written reviews implying that the story told in the film was true and, despite some of the far-fetched claims, many viewers actually believed it (Shelton 2005, 151). When the prank was eventually revealed, many New Zealanders reacted by flooding national newspapers with complaints and angry letters. The controversy that erupted after the TV showing surprised both Jackson and Botes: You always want a reaction, and I guess we were provocative in faking some of the publicity beforehand, but the depth of anger that the film stirred, that was a surprise, that genuinely was a

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shocking surprise. And I felt a little bit embarrassed and a little bit disturbed almost that the film was taken as seriously as it was. (Botes 2014) It has been argued that the willingness of the New Zealand public to accept Forgotten Silver as documentary truth points to New Zealanders’ insecurity regarding their national identity, an insecurity which Botes and Jackson were uncannily able to tap into (Conrich and Smith 1998; Hight 2008). The controversy surrounding the film led to the broadcasters deciding to drop plans for a second screening at home. While the film received mixed reviews in New Zealand, it went on to a terrific reception overseas. Forgotten Silver was selected by the Venice Film Festival where it screened the day after The Frighteners. When the film launched in New York, Lawrence Van Der Gelder wrote in The New York Times that it managed ‘simultaneously to position its hero in the path of great events, while sending up its subject, film history, with informed skill, great affection and mischievous glee’ (Van Der Gelder cited in Shelton 2005, 152). Despite the fact that Forgotten Silver is the result of a creative collaboration with another film maker, it still features some distinctive marks of Jackson’s own stylistic signature: an interest in film history and intertextual references, a passion for fantasy and adventure, a fascination with special effects and film techniques, a subversive dark humour and a focus on a Kiwi hero.

Heavenly Creatures Many film critics have identified a major split in Jackson’s career between his first three ‘splatstick’ movies (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead) characterized by a juvenile tendency towards excessive, stylized violence and the more mature tone of Heavenly Creatures, the film which gave him artistic legitimacy. Heavenly Creatures dramatizes the real-life 1954 murder in Christchurch of Honora Parker, who was killed by forty-seven blows with half a brick in a stocking wielded by her teenage daughter Pauline and Pauline’s friend, Juliet Hulme. For a long time the Hulme-Parker case had been considered as one of the most shocking events in

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the history of New Zealand and had been a staple in crime books for decades. Jackson’s partner and life-long collaborator Fran Walsh had been fascinated by the case since reading about it in a newspaper feature as a child. It was Walsh who convinced Jackson to make a film about the murder. Both Walsh and Jackson were fascinated by the dark mysterious friendship that existed between the two girls and the uniqueness of the fantastic world they had created for themselves. The tragic death of Honora Parker had already attracted the interest of several film makers including Niki Caro, Robin Laing and the American Dustin Hoffman. Australian playwright Louise Nowra was the first one to complete a written treatment in the late 1980s. Jackson and Walsh had begun writing the script in the early 1990s and soon had to race against other movie makers interested in the project, particularly fellow New Zealander Niki Caro, who had submitted an early proposal to the Film Commission. Jackson, however, was the first one to secure international funding. The majority of the budget for Heavenly Creatures came from German producer Hanno Huth, who had met Jackson when he bought the German rights for Braindead. Shortly afterwards, the Film Commission agreed to be one of the investors. It was the fourth time the Commission had supported a Peter Jackson film. It was also the last time that the Wellingtonian film maker would need Commission investment. The script of Heavenly Creatures became a sophisticated psychological study of an obsessional friendship. Walsh and Jackson conducted meticulous research work into the case. The film makers interviewed several of the girls’ former classmates and teachers, as well as policemen and psychologists involved in the case, and read contemporary newspapers articles on the murder trial. Jackson, however, rejected the sensationalist approach of most 1950s accounts of the case, which constructed the girls as irrational monsters. Walsh and Jackson were more interested in telling a more humane and complex version of the events and attempted to tell a story with ‘no villains’. Walsh and Jackson also read Pauline’s diaries, which provided them with an insight into the protagonist’s point of view. Despite the nature of the subject, Heavenly Creatures ended up being quite different from the grim ‘true crime’ movie that many were expecting. The film is more concerned with Pauline and Juliet’s unusual personalities and

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intense friendship. Heavenly Creatures seamlessly crosses between the ‘real’ 1950s Christchurch plagued by rigid class differences and stiff conformism, and the complex fantasy worlds invented by the girls. Like many of Jackson’s other films, Heavenly Creatures is characterized by a realist tone and meticulous attention to detail. The actual Hulme house was used in the film and a computergenerated balcony was added to it in order to show it as it was in the 1950s (Martin and Edwards 1997, 177). It was the first time Jackson used digital technology in one of his films and the effects team played a crucial role in Heavenly Creatures. George Port spent several months creating computer-generated images for the film using some of the first equipment available in the open market. As well as altering the Hulme house to make it more historically accurate, Port created some of the fantastic landscapes imagined by the two protagonists. Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, who had worked with Jackson on Meet the Feebles and Braindead, created the physical effects for the film, including the plasticine suits worn by the inhabitants of Borovnia, the magical world created by the protagonists’ imagination. During the making of Heavenly Creatures Jackson and a number of his collaborators, including Jamie Selkirk and Richard Taylor, founded a special effects company, Weta Limited, which was later split into two specialized units: Weta Digital (digital effects) and Weta Workshop (physical effects). The success of Heavenly Creatures enabled Weta to secure contracts for larger-scale projects such as The Frighteners, Jackson’s first Hollywood studio movie, and LOTR. Heavenly Creatures combined an original vision with a credible portrait of the girls’ relationship and a sophisticated command of the technical aspects of film making. The film was released in 1994 by Miramax, an American independent distributor, which was attracting substantial audiences for handling foreign and independent films that until then had been treated with suspicion by US distribution companies. In the United States, the film played in independent and art house cinemas, gaining critical praise and an academy award nomination for ‘best screenplay’. The film also competed at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Silver Lion and launched the career of its two lead performers Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet, the latter of whom went on to gain an Oscar nomination for her work on Titanic.

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While selling the film, the distributors emphasized the ‘New Zealandness’ of Heavenly Creatures at a time when New Zealand cinema was gaining an international reputation for its quality art films (Wu 2003). Lee Tamahori’s Once Were Warriors, also released in 1994, gained worldwide critical and commercial acclaim, while one year earlier Jane Campion had directed The Piano, which won a Palme D’Or and three Academy Awards. In the mid-1990s in the international market, New Zealand signified smart, challenging, edgy and beautiful ‘art’ films committed to exploring a female perspective and Jackson’s film confirmed this tendency. Heavenly Creatures represents a crucial moment in the career of Peter Jackson because it proved he was a versatile film maker able to switch from cult splatter, comedy and low-culture films such as Bad Taste, Braindead and Meet the Feebles to ‘respectable’, highbrow, art film projects. After the release of Heavenly Creatures, Peter Jackson’s previous splatter cult success was suppressed; most filmgoers ignored the fact that the director of this quality art film was known to cult audiences as the ‘Orson Welles of gore’. When critics acknowledged Jackson’s earlier films, it was only to remark with surprise how much the director had matured, dismissing the ‘splatstick’ trilogy as an unfortunate detour to Jackson’s new found artistry and rearticulating the diametric opposition between his ‘lowbrow’ early films and the art ‘quality’ of Heavenly Creatures (Wu 2003, 95). At first glance, Heavenly Creatures seems a departure from the horror, gore, splatter and bad taste that marked Jackson’s first three films. In reality, the transition from Bad Taste and Braindead to Heavenly Creatures is quite logical and consistent. The shift may be explained both by New Zealand’s conspicuous investment in art films during the 1990s and as part of an inevitable development in Jackson’s career. The international cult success of Braindead was a stepping stone leading to the funding of Heavenly Creatures, which in turn was the cinematic calling card leading to larger projects. Jackson’s film career illustrates a canny ability to parlay specialized cult films that are at once able to cross international borders while still working in a national cinema context, into mainstreamed commercial viability (Wu 2003, 104). Furthermore, while Bad Taste, Braindead and Heavenly Creatures seem so different in style and themes, they share, in reality, a number of commonalities. First, like the films of his splatstick trilogy, Heavenly Creatures features

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shockingly graphic violence that is particularly evident in the first and last sequence of the film. Secondly, Heavenly Creatures, like many other Jackson films, is concerned with a critique of the conformism and repression of colonial society. Thirdly, like in Braindead’s matricide, the killing of the mother drives the narrative. Finally, Heavenly Creatures, consistent with Jackson’s style, is interested in the exploration of a fantastic realm, the imaginary world constructed by the two girls. Heavenly Creatures is one of Jackson’s greatest achievements and a film that allowed him to further develop and legitimate an authorial vision that had begun emerging in his early splatter comedies.

Jack Brown Genius Jack Brown Genius represents a forgotten chapter in Peter Jackson’s career. Despite his heavy involvement in the film – Jackson appears in the credit list as executive producer, co-writer and second unit director – he later distanced himself from Jack Brown Genius saying: ‘I kind of inherited the job of producing it, it’s not my film’ (Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 178). One of the reasons Jackson often played down his association with Jack Brown Genius is probably the negative reputation of the film, which in the late 1990s was considered by many as both a commercial and an artistic failure. After its release in 1996, the film sunk at the box office both in Europe and in New Zealand, and the director of the film, Tony Hiles, later defined the movie as ‘his worst directorial performance ever’ (Hiles 2008b). The idea behind Jack Brown Genius was conceived in 1992 by Tony Hiles, the TV director who was enlisted by the New Zealand Film Commission to supervise the completion of Bad Taste. Jackson’s producer and former head of the Film Commission, Jim Booth, had been Hiles’s friend for many years and offered to produce the film. Booth thought the film would have better chances of being funded if it was made under the label of Wingnut rather than that of his own company, Midnight Films. He also suggested involving Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (who had demonstrated their storytelling abilities in their previous films) in the rewrite of the script (Sibley 2006, 265). Hiles’s story, which had originally

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been written as a quirky romantic comedy, gradually transformed into a fantastic tale requiring extensive special effects. Referring to the writing process, Hiles claimed that: ‘We worked together well, the script got swallowed up in a process which was very invigorating. But at the end I was looking at something that wasn’t what I started out to say’ (Hiles cited in Pryor 2003, 178). The plot follows Brother Elmer, a medieval monk who dies attempting to develop a technological device that allows humans to fly. Thousand years later, he enters the brain of a New Zealand inventor, Jack Brown, forcing him to prove the validity of his theory before God. In the process, Jack Brown becomes romantically involved with a girl, Eileen, and rescues her from a ruthless corporation that tries to steal his invention. Jackson was likely to have been attracted to the project because of both its fantastical elements and the celebration of ‘Kiwi ingenuity’ (which was also the central theme of Forgotten Silver, a film he co-directed with Costa Botes during the same period). The script included several leitmotifs characteristic of Jackson’s style, including a humble, misunderstood hero; the relationship between reality and a mythical past; and the blending of humour and fantasy. In 1994, after Jim Booth’s death, Jackson also stepped in as executive producer of the film. Several of Jackson’s other collaborators, including Jamie Selkirk, Richard Taylor and George Port, also became involved in the project. Michelle Scullion, who composed the score for Bad Taste, Jackson’s debut feature, wrote the soundtrack. Thanks to Booth’s advocacy work, the film was financially supported by the New Zealand Film Commission and Senator Film, a German distribution company owned by Hanno Huth. Huth, who had released Braindead and had been the executive producer for Heavenly Creatures, was hopeful that Jackson’s involvement in the project would be a guarantee of success. The film makers cast Tim Balme (who had played the leading role in Braindead) as Jack Brown. The film also featured a number of emerging local actors such as Marton Csokas (in his feature debut) and Lisa Chappel, both of whom would later achieve international recognition. Despite the promising credentials, talented cast and crew, and a decent budget (NZ$3.3 million of which NZ$1.6 million was provided by the Film Commission), the production of the film was marred by several problems. The director Tony Hiles attributed

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some of these issues to the lack of a firm hand over the budget. The film makers soon realized that the budget was inadequate to cover the extensive special effects required for the film. Furthermore, the limited financial resources sparked tensions between management and crew about the payment of overtime. To reduce costs, Hiles decided to adopt a ‘shoot-to-cut’ approach, filming only the footage essential to complete a scene, thus limiting his creative options in the editing room (Pryor 2003, 179). Hiles’s method clashed with Jackson’s style of film making, which has often been characterized by the tendency to shoot a large amount of footage for the same scene. Hiles imposed limitations on the amount of film to be shot by Jackson (who also acted as second-unit director), and that was a likely source of disagreement between the two film makers. Jackson’s official biographer, Brian Sibley, later wrote that the making of the film strained, and in some cases irreparably damaged, long-standing friendships between the people involved in the production (Sibley 2006, 274). The distributors attempted to capitalize on Jackson’s increasing popularity to promote the film. Senator Film’s sales agency produced a brochure which misleadingly placed Jackson’s name above the title and sold the film to sixteen countries. When buyers discovered that the director was not Peter Jackson, however, a number of presales were cancelled (Hiles 2008b). After the lacklustre screenings at Cannes, Senator Film decided to market Jack Brown Genius as a teen movie (even though the film had originally been conceived as a fairy tale for adults). As part of this marketing strategy, Senator Film requested that the film be recut and the original music track composed by Michelle Scullion replaced by a more ‘pop-oriented’ score (Hiles 2008b). The new version of the film failed to achieve the success the producers had hoped for. Senator Film announced that Jack Brown Genius was the worst European release in the company’s history. In New Zealand, fewer than 3,000 people watched the film (Shelton 2005, 147). The commercial failure of the film was due to an incoherent plot and poorly defined characters, who occasionally acted in an illogical, contradictory fashion. Despite its lack of success at the box office, some critics praised the film as ‘wonderfully loopy. . . exciting and funny’ (Variety cited in Sibley 2006, 275). The film also had advocates within the local film industry, and in 1996 it controversially won three prizes

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(best director, best actor and best score) at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards (Pryor 2003, 179). During the following years Tony Hiles assumed full responsibility, in various articles and interviews, for the failure of the film. Jackson, by contrast, tended to downplay his involvement in the project. Despite its perceived lack of artistic merit, the film represents a significant stage in Jackson’s career. It was the first time that the ‘Peter Jackson presents’ brand was used to promote a film that was not directed by Jackson himself. This reflects a shift in Jackson’s international reputation following the success of Heavenly Creatures in 1994. Hiles had played a crucial role in launching Jackson’s career by supervising Bad Taste. With Jack Brown Genius Jackson reciprocated by making Hiles’s first feature film possible. Jack Brown Genius was also the last significant collaboration between the two film makers. The film symbolically represented the end of an important stage in Jackson’s career, a period characterized by both his collaboration with Jim Booth and his reliance on the New Zealand Film Commission as the major funder of his projects. After Jack Brown Genius, Jackson would turn his attention to Hollywood, directing his first studio-funded film, The Frighteners. At the same time, however, Jack Brown Genius represented one of the stepping stones that enabled Jackson’s transition from lowbudget New Zealand productions to major American blockbusters. The film featured an extensive number of visual effects developed by Richard Taylor and George Port, and contributed to the development of Weta’s capability, particularly in the digital field. The development of Weta’s technology and personnel, in turn, contributed to attracting American studios such as Universal to New Zealand, eventually paving the way for the making of the LOTR trilogy.

High frame rate One of the distinctive marks of Jackson’s signature style is the development of innovative film technology that enhances the realism of the diegetic worlds represented in his films. Jackson’s experimentation with film technology conforms to what Bolter and Grusin define as the ‘logic of immediacy and transparency’.

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According to Bolter and Grusin, the media and particularly the film industry have been striving to achieve transparency in terms of content representation by improving technologies that enhance realism (Bolter and Grusin 1999). Desire for the unmediated experience of the content represented has driven the evolution of film technology from black and white to colour, from silent to Dolby Surround soundtracks, and so on. Jackson has often deployed innovative technology to heighten the immersive qualities of the fantastic worlds he has depicted on screen using this ground-breaking technology as a selling point for his films. In 1993, while working on Heavenly Creatures, Jackson embraced digital technology for the first time and co-founded Weta Ltd. in the process. Three years later, Jackson made The Frighteners, which required more digital effects than almost any other film made previously. Despite the fact that The Frighteners was not hugely successful at the box office, the production proved to be an excellent testing ground for Weta, which dramatically increased its skills and capability. During the making of LOTR, Jackson and Weta experimented with CGI and motion capture technology to create some of the fantastic places and creatures required by the story. Following in the footsteps of film makers like James Cameron, Jackson and the LOTR producers used the cutting-edge technological innovations developed for the film as marketing tools. LOTR (and later King Kong’s) promotional material emphasized how the films used new technologies (the Massive software used to generate the armies of Orcs in LOTR or motion capture used to bring to life both Gollum and Kong) that would favour the viewer’s immersion into the film world. The making of The Hobbit trilogy marked a new step in terms of technological innovation as Jackson decided to shoot the three LOTR prequels in 3D at the new high frame rate (HFR) of 48 fps. For the filming of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Jackson enlisted director of photography Andrew Lesnie who used Red Epic with 3ality rigs to shoot at 5K resolution (while most movies are shot and projected at 2K). Jackson claimed that the new technique, which doubles the clarity and resolution of the traditional 24-frame rate, would have two major benefits. First, it would enhance the realism of the story, secondly, it would reduce the eyestrain typically associated with watching 3D films (Jackson cited in Sciretta 2011). The Hobbit producers emphasized the new HFR as an absolute exhibition

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novelty. In reality, however, film makers have manipulated frame rate capture since the invention of motion picture cameras and there was no standard frame rate until the introduction of sound in the 1920s (Turnock 2013, 33). The 24 fps projection became the standard rate as soundtracks had to be run through projectors at a constant speed. Jackson’s use of this technique is an extension of Showscan, an HFR capture and projection system developed by Douglas Turnbull in the 1980s to minimize the traditional film flickering. As Turnock points out, Jackson’s adoption of HFR film making is part of a broader contemporary marketing strategy to bolster the in-theatre experience (Turnock 2013, 31). However, Jackson’s adoption of HFR, like Showscan a few decades before, received mixed responses from critics and viewers alike. Since the first preview of The Hobbit footage at the Las Vegas CinemaCon convention in 2012, Jackson’s use of HFR has been criticized (Giardina 2012, 7). Several critics claimed that 48 frame rate capture created images that looked too brightly lit, and resembled HD video more than traditional film. Film blogger Devin Faraci’s comments exemplify the general reaction to the film: Here’s what the Hobbit looked like to me: a hi-def version of the 1970s I, Claudius [1976]. It is drenched in a TV-like – specifically ‘70s era BBC – video look. People on Twitter have asked if it has that soap opera look you get from badly calibrated TVs at Best Buy, and the answer is an emphatic YES. (Faraci 2012) Despite the initial criticisms, Peter Jackson defended his choice and urged the sceptics to see the finished film: ‘It does take a while to get used to (. . .). 48 frames works best when you settle into the experience and become absorbed into the film’ (Jackson cited in Giardina 2012, 7). After the release of the film, however, discussions of 48 fps remained mostly negative. The critical scepticism of HFR, coupled with the exhibitors’ reluctance to upgrade their screens to the new format, meant that during the lead up to the Desolation of Smaug’s release in 2013, Jackson made fewer statements about HFR. Most of the press screenings for the second instalment were in 24 fps and Jackson and Warner Brothers suggested that HFR was just one possible way to watch the films, along with 2D and 3D 24 fps (Ross forthcoming). Jackson’s emphasis on multiple

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viewing options after An Unexpected Journey proved to be an effective marketing strategy as, despite the HFR controversy, The Hobbit trilogy remained a commercially successful project.

King Kong For Peter Jackson, his 2005 remake of King Kong was the realization of a life-long dream. By Jackson’s own admission the original 1933 version of King Kong directed by Merian C. Cooper played a crucial role in his decision to become a professional film maker. Jackson often referred to King Kong as ‘the first movie: the first movie that I ever saw that put me on the path where I am’ (Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 332). Jackson watched the original King Kong for the first time on a black and white TV as a nineyear-old in 1969 (Sibley 2006, 3). By then, Cooper’s movie was already considered a classic in the history of cinema as the film used virtually every special effects technique then known (stop motion animation, rear screen projection, multi-plane glass painting and tabletop miniatures). The original King Kong follows a mission to a mysterious island on which the natives worship a giant ape known as Kong. Film maker Carl Denham charters a ship in the hope of finding the island and capturing Kong on film. He also brings with him a beautiful actress, Ann Darrow, to make the film more appealing. During the expedition, however, Kong kidnaps Ann and takes her deep into the jungle where he battles against snakes and dinosaurs. Kong is eventually captured and brought to New York where he is killed during an escape attempt. The original King Kong was a ‘film-within-a-film’ that mixed elements of the fairy tale tradition (Beauty and the Beast) with various film genres including fantasy, horror and action. The film exerted a powerful influence on the young Jackson: It was around nine o’ clock, one Friday night when I first saw King Kong. I remember being totally swept away on this great adventure! The ingredients of this film were everything that I loved! Like any kid, I was intrigued by the notion of lost places, uncharted islands – King Solomon’s Mines [1950], The Lost World [1960] – and the idea that on such an island, there

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might exist some colossal, unknown beast. [. . .] King Kong was important because it showed me the power of movies to make you experience things that are outside what you could ever experience in your daily life. I came to love the fact that film had that potential; and, in a way, it has been what has defined every film that I’ve ever made. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 3–4) After watching the film, Jackson began collecting King Kong memorabilia including several books and magazines that featured articles about the making of the special effects in the film. Both the film and the books contributed to developing his strong interest in special effects, and during his teenage years he would often attempt to reproduce scenes from the film by taking pictures of plasticine dinosaurs with his Super 8 camera (Pryor 2003, 332). King Kong played an important role during the early stages of Jackson’s career. In 1986, the aspiring Wellington film maker built a gorilla suit which was featured in the Evening Post, a popular Wellington newspaper. Impressed by the quality of the suit, the producers of a local sci-fi TV series, Worzel Gummidge Down Under, offered Jackson his first special effects job (Sibley 2006, 103). Jackson’s early films were also influenced by the mix of fantasy and action that characterized King Kong. In Braindead, Jackson explicitly paid homage to Cooper’s classic by setting the opening sequence of the film on Skull Island. In 1996, during the production of The Frighteners, Universal’s vicepresident Lenny Kornburg contacted Jackson asking him to direct a remake of King Kong. While several attempts to remake the film (including the highly criticized 1976 version produced by Dino De Laurentis) had already been made, nobody had been able to replicate the critical and commercial success of the original 1933 movie. Universal executives believed that recent advances in digital technology would make a new take on Kong possible. The studio was particularly appreciative of the special effects developed by Weta for The Frighteners, and believed Jackson had the potential to successfully direct a big budget production such as King Kong. Jackson enthusiastically accepted Universal’s proposal and immediately began working on the script with Fran Walsh. In early 1997, however, after Jackson and his collaborators had started preproduction on the film, Universal decided to suspend the project. The studio executives became concerned about the upcoming release of several monster films such as Godzilla (Emmerich, 1998),

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Mighty Joe Young (Underwood 1998) (which featured a giant ape) and Planet of the Apes (Burton 2001). In the meantime, Jackson had become involved in the production of the LOTR trilogy and decided to suspend the King Kong project. Following the major commercial success of the LOTR series in the early 2000s, Universal decided to put forward, once again, the idea of a King Kong remake. As the production of the last instalment of the LOTR series was drawing to a close, Jackson repeatedly announced that he intended to work on a smaller-scale film next. However, after a series of negotiations with Universal, he eventually decided to direct the King Kong remake. Referring to Jackson’s choice, his manager, Ken Hammins, stated that: I think he thought about what would happen if the appetite of audiences for these big budget extravaganzas was to wane in a few years’ time. He was clearly at the height of his ability to generate the sort of creative environment he would need to make that movie in the way he wanted to make it. So the confluence of events dictated that now was the best time to make Kong. (Hammins cited in Sibley 2006, 521) While Jackson’s passion for the original King Kong was likely a major factor in his decision to direct the remake, economic motivations are not to be underestimated. As part of the deal for the production of King Kong, Universal agreed to pay Peter Jackson and his team of screenwriters (Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) a fee of US$20 million upfront, one of the largest salaries ever paid to a film maker in advance of production (Fleming 2003). The deal, which also included 20 per cent of the film gross, was tied to completing the film at the agreed budget of US$175 million. However, as the final budget of the film was pushed to an estimated US$207 million, it was reported that Jackson had to pay for the bulk of the remaining US$32 million necessary to complete the film (Snyder 2005). Pre-production for King Kong began immediately after the end of Return of the King. Most of the crew who had worked on LOTR, including Andrew Lesnie (D.O.P.), Jamie Selkirk (Editor), Grant Major (Production Designer), as well as the creative personnel of Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, were brought back for King Kong. The team of screenwriters (Jackson, Walsh and Boyens)

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expressed dissatisfaction with the script written by Jackson and Walsh in 1996 during their first attempt to produce the film. The 1996 script differed significantly from the original 1933 version as Jackson and Walsh changed most of the supporting characters and even the background story concerning Ann Darrow and Carl Denham. In the 1996 script, Darrow was the daughter of an archaeologist who comes into conflict with Denham during his filming in Sumatra. Similarly, Denham himself was not a scriptwriter, but a former First World War fighter pilot coming to terms with the death of his best friend. Jackson described the original 1996 script as ‘a very Indiana Jones-ish, slam bang, Hollywood-style movie, which at the time we thought was the way to go’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 525). The film makers believed that like the LOTR, King Kong would be subject to heavy fan scrutiny since the original had become such a popular cinematic icon. The new script for King Kong was more faithful in both plot and tone to the original 1933 film than the one written by Jackson and Walsh in 1996. The film makers claimed they were inspired by both the original script written by James Ashmore Creelman and by Delos W. Lovelace novelization of King Kong (Sibley 2006, 538). They added certain scenes that featured in Creelman’s script, but did not appear in Cooper’s film, including a sequence in which giant spiders attack Denham’s crew. Jackson’s decision to keep the story in its original setting and time – the 1930s Depression Era – was also motivated by narrative and stylistic reasons: I just wanted to be able to have the climax of the film – which is obviously the iconic sequence of the biplanes attacking Kong on the top of the Empire State Building – and I couldn’t figure out a way that you could ever justify having biplanes attacking him if it was set in the modern day. Also, I think it gives the film a little kick sideways into a slightly fantastic realm as well. I think that there’s no real sense of mystery or discovery in the world anymore today. Yet in the 1930s, you could believe that there was one tiny, uncharted corner that hadn’t been discovered by man yet. . . this one tiny, little speck of an island in the ocean that could have slipped through the net. (Jackson cited in Universal Studios 2005)

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The 1933 New York setting was also important for defining the central female character of the story, Ann Darrow. As a vaudeville actress Ann earns a living by entertaining audiences with songs, dances and physical humour. Her happy stage persona, however, is contrasted by the inner sadness of her character, which in turn mirrors the grim mood of the Great Depression. The economic downturn leads to Ann losing her theatre job and forces her to reluctantly accept Denham’s proposal. Similarly, the desperate situation of the other central characters, including Denham and Driscoll, is the principal motivation for embarking on the journey to Skull Island (Universal Studios 2005). The film makers cast a group of major Hollywood stars to play the role of the three main (human) characters (Darrow, Denham and Driscoll). Naomi Watts was cast as Ann Darrow because of her previous performance in Mulholland Drive (Lynch 2001), where she played the role of a naïve actress trying to break into the Hollywood movie business. Naomi Watts was able to meet Fray Wray, the actress who played the role of Ann Darrow in the original King Kong. Wray approved of Jackson’s project and was supposed to have a cameo role in the final sequence; however, she died only weeks before principal photography for the film started. The film makers decided to redefine the role of Carl Denham, the ambitious movie-making explorer, by portraying him as an extrovert showman with a humorous wit. To this end they selected Jack Black, an American actor known for his previous comedic roles, to play Denham. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens also took a revisionist approach to recreating the character of Jack Driscoll, Ann Darrow’s love interest. While in the 1933 movie, Driscoll was first mate on the SS Venture, the ship chartered by Denham for his mission, in Jackson’s film he becomes an emerging New York playwright. The film makers chose Adrien Brody, who had won an Oscar for his acclaimed performance in The Pianist (2002), for the role of Driscoll. As with the 1933 original, Peter Jackson intended to use the most advanced special effects techniques to bring King Kong to cinematic life. Originally, the film makers conceived Kong as a wholly computer-generated character. However, after successfully using motion capture technology to recreate the character of Gollum in the LOTR, Jackson started to believe that the combined

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use of CGI and motion capture (mocap) was the right approach for the new Kong. Referring to the complexity of recreating the character of Kong, Jackson stated that one of the main challenges was to balance the realism of his behaviour with the ability to control the character: ‘[Kong is] not human, it’s a gorilla. And he has to do things the way gorillas do them. So, ultimately, you have to render it out as an artificial digital character. We’ve had to build a huge amount of emotion into his face and into his eyes’ (Jackson cited in Universal Studios 2005). Jackson and his collaborators cast Andy Serkis, who had gained extensive experience with mocap performance during LOTR, as Kong. Casting Serkis provided Jackson with the opportunity to discuss the role of Kong with a ‘real’ actor. By physically performing Kong, Serkis also provided on-set references to the other cast members who would otherwise have been forced to perform in front of an invisible character. The film makers believed that the new Kong should not be a monster nor an anthropomorphized character, but rather ‘a large silverback gorilla who happens to be 25 feet tall and 8,000 pounds’ (Boyens cited in Universal Studios 2005). Jackson’s Kong was inspired by Snowflake, an albino gorilla at the Barcelona Zoo, and Serkis conducted extensive research into gorilla behaviour both in captivity and in the wild in Rwanda (Sibley 2006, 529). Similarly, to enhance the realism of his performance in mocap sessions, Serkis wore a Lycra suit weighted in a way that allowed him to replicate simian movements. The realism of Kong and the other characters and settings in the film was one of Jackson’s priorities during the making of the film: ‘One of the lessons that we learned with The Lord of the Rings movies was the more fantastical your story, the more you should try to ground it in the reality of the world’ (Jackson cited in Universal Studios 2005). Weta Digital worked for two years on the design of Kong, endowing the digital character with the musculature and skeletal structure of a gorilla. Digital artists painted individual pores, wrinkles and scars on Kong’s skin, while the Weta engineers designed a fur system that would control Kong’s 5.5 million hairs. Similarly, Weta developed special software that would translate Serkis’s human facial movements into the corresponding gorilla expressions. Jackson attempted to find a similar balance between photorealism and stylization in the creation of Skull Island. The team of film makers conceived the island as being at once realistic and painterly extreme:

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The main thing about Skull Island as a location [. . .] was to create the feeling that this is the same Skull Island that we saw in the 1933 version. We want to feel like we are on the same island, but now we can see so much more of it because the cameras are better. We have to perceive of it as a real place. It has to look real, but it has to have all the fantastic qualities that the original one had. (Letteri cited in Universal Studios 2005) King Kong differed significantly from LOTR in terms of the limited use of physical locations. Conceptual artists Gus Hunter and James Bennett envisioned the island as a twisted terrain characterized by over-scale deformed trees and huge rock bridges. Despite New Zealand’s reputation as a versatile film location, Jackson decided that it would be easier and cheaper to recreate Skull Island artificially using miniatures and digital environments. Weta workshop built a total of fifty-three miniature sets using 104,000 pieces of artificial foliage; 3,100 latex vines; 25,000 live miniature-scale plants and 120 miniature-scale articulated trees. The film makers also used ‘bigatures’, large miniatures up to 38 m long by 5.2 m wide by 5.5 m high. The conceptual artists designed more than 150 creatures (including several fictitious dinosaurs) to populate Skull Island. The other major setting in the film, the 1930s New York, required a similar investment in terms of both CGI and the construction of physical sets. Weta digitally recreated the skyline of New York by stripping out buildings that were constructed after 1933. The visual designers used existing aerial and groundview photographs from the period as references to rebuild the city digitally. Production designer Grant Major supervised the physical construction of the vast New York streets set in Seaview, at the outskirts of Wellington. The Seaview set, which measured 200 metres by 160 metres, included more than eighty shop fronts and stood for both Times Square and Herald Square. Referring to the archival research conducted before the construction of the New York set, Grant Major said that: There was a lot of terrific archival information we managed to get from various American sources, the Colombia University Library and things like that. We actually got some from the New York University archives, so we were able to copy as best as we actually could, these places. The attention to detail made the

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fantasy side to King Kong more believable. If you believe 1930s New York then you believe Skull Island as well. (Major 2014) The scenes of Kong’s New York stage debut were shot at the Civic Theatre in Auckland, a large hall built in 1929, while the Wellington Opera House stood for Ann’s vaudevillian theatre. The film makers used a real steamer as the SS Venture and built a replica set of the ship that could be tilted on a 15-degree angle to shoot the crash landing on Skull Island. Major considers creating the Venture as a high point in his career: We used a real ship, an icebreaker built in 1955 (that was only just afloat) and which we adapted into a functioning period steamer with all this marine engineering. There was much research of what shipping was like back then of course, and I rebuilt that exterior ship on the back-lot again with a huge amount of mechanical engineering for it to be able to tilt over and do all these different movements for the scripted storm sequences. We then rebuilt the ship again in the studio for all the interior sets with all the cabins, bridges and holds where all the animal cages were, and then again in miniature for scale model shooting. [. . .] So I think the combination of all those different elements was a high point for me in terms of set building in New Zealand. (Major 2014) Several vintage cars and planes required for the New York sequences were also rebuilt by the film makers. This led to the establishment, in 2005, of The Vintage Aviator, an aircraft manufacturing and restoration company based in Wellington, which specializes on the First World War and the Second World War fighter planes (see A–Z: Aviation). The final stages of the production were marred by a number of issues associated with the soaring budget of the film, which climbed from US$175 million to a record-breaking US$207 million, making it one of the most expensive films ever made. Universal was also concerned about the film’s running time, which grew from 135 to 187 minutes. After watching the first cut of the film, however, the studio executives were reassured and continued to support Jackson’s work (Colley 2005). Jackson also faced some difficulties finding an appropriate score for the film. Only seven weeks before the film

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premiere Jackson decided to replace composer Howard Shore (who had won several Academy Awards for his work on the LOTR) with James Newton Howard, citing ‘differing creative aspirations’ as the main reason behind his decision (BBC 2005). The large budget and scale of the film meant that more visual effects were created for King Kong than for the entire LOTR trilogy. The marketing strategy developed by Universal emphasized at once the cult status of King Kong, the large scale of the project and the innovative technology developed by the film makers to realize Jackson’s vision. Drawing upon the successful experience of LOTR (when he collaborated with online fan communities to promote the trilogy), Jackson addressed his fans through the website KongisKing. Rather than hiding the secrets of the filmmaking process, Jackson regularly uploaded video ‘production diaries’ (later published as a DVD set) which revealed glimpses of the production. The website organized King Kong fandom (through online forums and virtual merchandise shops) and allowed Jackson to connect directly with fans answering their queries about the making of the film. Overall, the film was well received by the critics and was awarded three Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Despite a slow start at the box office, the film was a commercial success, grossing a worldwide total of US$550 million. Emulating the successful strategy deployed in LOTR, the producers released several versions of the film, including a single disk edition, a twodisk Widescreen Special Edition and a three-disk Deluxe Extended Edition, which featured a 201-minute-long version of the film. Peter Jackson also supervised the production of a number of ancillary products such as Peter Jackson’s King Kong, a multi-platform videogame and The World of Kong, a hardback book displaying Weta Workshop artwork. In 2010, Jackson also designed King Kong 360 3D, an attraction that became part of the Universal Studios Tour in Hollywood. The ride employs 3D imagery on two large wide screens, as well as wind, water and scent to simulate an immersive visit to Skull Island (see A–Z: 3D). In terms of production infrastructure and logistics, King Kong can be considered as a fourth LOTR film. Jackson enlisted most of the creative personnel he had used in LOTR and approached the film as a large-scale project. King Kong was also consistent with Jackson’s style in terms of the exploration of an imaginary

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world (Skull Island) and the quest for a balance between fantasy and photorealism. As in LOTR, Jackson was particularly respectful towards the original source material to the extent of retaining some of the racist stereotypes (particularly in the depiction of the indigenous people of Skull Island) seen in the 1933 version of the film (see A–Z: Race). King Kong marks an important landmark in Jackson’s career not only because it represents the fulfilment of his fanboy dreams, but also because it reinforced his status as one of the most successful and influential directors in the world. The film demonstrated that the vast film infrastructure developed by Jackson during the making of LOTR could remain both sustainable and at the cutting edge of technological innovation. King Kong, however, was also a significant turning point as it represented the end of a cycle of large-scale productions which had begun in the late 1990s with The Fellowship of the Ring. After King Kong, Jackson attempted to revisit the more intimate territories explored in Heavenly Creatures. The outcome of this attempt, The Lovely Bones, was not particularly successful (in commercial terms or among the critics) and Jackson soon returned to directing largescale epics with The Hobbit film series.

Meet the Feebles Bad Taste achieved global recognition in cult cinema circuits and contributed to launching Jackson’s career as ‘splatter-meister’. The success of Bad Taste persuaded investors about Jackson’s potential and the film maker was able to gain enough financial support to make his second feature film, Braindead. However, just before the filming of Braindead was scheduled to start, funding fell through. While Jackson was seeking new funding for Braindead he revived an older project that eventually became Meet the Feebles. The concept for the Feebles transpired while Jackson and Cameron Chittock were working on the special effects for Bad Taste. The two film makers came up with the idea of making a ‘spluppet’, a splatter movie in which the protagonists of the movie are puppets: It was something that hadn’t been done before, I think. Just the idea of very basic, very cartoony characters doing things that if

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you got real actors to do you would never get away with it. When it’s a puppet or a cartoon character you are one step removed, so it makes it easier to absorb. We thought it would be fun to have puppets being blown to bits and shot. (Chittock cited in Pryor 2003, 64) The obvious source of inspiration for the film was the famous Henson’s Muppet Show (1976–1979); however, Jackson and Chittock were more interested in satirizing humans rather than the Muppet Show itself. Jackson’s explicit aim was to make the Feebles as disgusting as possible, with the director and crew making every effort to offend by celebrating every kind of bodily emission and by including violence, drugs and sexual perversion. In the film, the Feebles are a troupe of animal-figured puppets who are rehearsing for a live television show. The hippo singer, Heidi, is in love with the show’s producer, Bletch, who cheats on her with the cat, Samantha. Meanwhile Harry the Hare, the M.C. of the troupe, has a threesome with two female bunnies and contracts a disfiguring disease diagnosed by the doctor as the ‘big one’. The Fly, a press reporter who assumes that Harry contracted a sexually transmitted disease, wants to publish the scandal in a local tabloid. Bletch is not only the show’s producer, but he is also a drug dealer who provides drugs to the rest of the troupe. After a failed drug deal with gangster Cedric, Bletch and his friends confront Cedric crewmen and defeat them. Bletch successfully returns to the theatre, but the live show is a disaster: Harry the Hare vomits endlessly; the Indian contortionist is unable to free his head that is stuck in his rectum; Heidi accidentally destroys the set. In the grotesque climatic sequence, Heidi, rejected by Bletch and taunted by Samantha, takes revenge on the two lovers and most of the troupe by killing them with a machine gun. The film was originally conceived as a twenty-four-minute television show; however, a Japanese pre-sale enabled Jackson to develop the idea into a full-length feature. An initial application for Film Commission funding was rejected as the script raised concerns regarding the film’s potential to breach community moral standards. Eventually, the Commission granted most of the budget, but did not take credit for the completed film. The film is particularly significant for Jackson’s career as it marks the beginning of a series of important collaborative relationships with

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people such as Fran Walsh, Stephen Sinclair and Richard Taylor. Taylor and his partner, Tania Rodger, played a particularly crucial role in the making of Meet the Feebles as under the supervision of Cameron Chittock they created most of the ninety puppets required for the film. Few years later, Jackson, Taylor, Rodger and Selkirk (who after Bad Taste returned as editor in the Feebles) would co-found Weta Workshop. Almost every shot in Meet the Feebles required special effects and the camera work in the film cleverly hides the work of puppeteers who manipulated the creatures under a false floor (Martin and Edwards 1997, 146). The voices of the Feebles were recorded before filming began and were played back on set for the puppeteers to mime (Pryor 2003, 71). As the film is based on a variety show, music plays an important part in it. Most of the music was composed by Peter Dasent, who would later write the music for Braindead and Heavenly Creatures. Dasent would also provide the musical backing for the climactic ode to ‘Sodomy’ sung by Sebastian the Fox and written by Danny Mulheron who collaborated with Jackson, Walsh and Sinclair on the screenplay (Pryor 2003). Like Bad Taste and Braindead, Meet the Feebles is a low-budget, low-brow production that exploits the pleasures derived by the mixing of genres. The film blends slapstick comedy, violence and explicit sex with satire of the entertainment industry and human nature in general. The dark humour of the film is punctuated by vivid metaphors such as the scene in which the journalist-fly is seen in close up eating excrement in the toilet: ‘The way I try to deflate that scene with humour is that he’s eating the shit with a nice silver spoon and he has this really funny line of dialogue. Ninety-nine per  cent of people won’t hear that line because they’ll be far too busy freaking out’ (Jackson cited in Pryor 2005, 31). In line with Jackson’s passion for intertextual references, Meet the Feebles also plays with ironic allusions to other films and TV shows, including The Godfather and obviously The Muppets. In one of the most iconic sequences of the film Wynyard the frog has a flashback to Vietnam where he is forced to play Russian roulette, a clear reference to The Deer Hunter. Several critics felt the film suffered from an over-busy plot and the lack of a strong central narrative where none of the characters’ storylines is allowed to dominate (Martin and Edwards 1997; Pryor 2005).

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In New Zealand, Meet the Feebles received mixed reviews and the local box office was particularly disappointing. Overseas, the film was generally very well received and reinforced Jackson’s status as ‘king of splatstick’. The movie won worldwide recognition as the first puppet film made for an adult audience and one of the few that did not rely on digital animation or stop motion techniques. However, even in the international markets not everyone was enthusiastic about the film: the United States were particularly slow in accepting the Jackson style and Meet the Feebles would not get an American release until the mid-1990s (Shelton 2005, 103). The low-budget and low expectations that characterized Meet the Feebles and other films such as Bad Taste and Braindead provided Jackson with a great creative freedom that resulted in an uncompromising style and humour. In the process, Jackson refined both his film-making skills and his authorial signature that would find its full expression a few years later with Heavenly Creatures, the film that granted Jackson artistic legitimacy.

Miniatures Peter Jackson’s career has been underscored by a life-long fascination with special effects and particularly the use of miniatures in his films. Jackson became fascinated with model making as a child when he started collecting models of the First World War aircraft. As he began experimenting with his first Super 8 camera, Jackson also built several models and miniatures for his amateur film productions. During the Star Wars (Lucas 1977) craze in the late 1970s, Jackson built models of the spaceships featured in Lucas’s films using cardboard and model parts (Sibley: 34). Later on, he would build miniatures of monsters and other fantastic creatures for his first short film, The Valley. During the making of Bad Taste, Jackson’s model-making skills improved as he had to build two models of the Gear Homestead, which in the climatic sequence of the film is first hit by a bazooka and then transforms into a spaceship. By the time Jackson directed Braindead and Heavenly Creatures he could count on the collaboration of professional model-makers such as Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, the founders of Weta Workshop.

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For Braindead a number of design students working under the supervision of Richard Taylor built a scale model of Wellington in the 1950s. For Heavenly Creatures the Weta Workshop crew built miniatures to recreate Borovnia, the fantastic world created by the two protagonists’ imagination. Weta Workshop’s ability to build accurate miniatures played a crucial role in LOTR. The main purpose of using miniatures in a film production is to bring to the screen something that cannot be photographed in the real world, either because it does not exist or because it is too big to photograph. The use of miniatures also allows film makers to control other important factors such as lighting and camera movements. Since the late 1990s, the combination of 3D computer-generated environments with matte paintings has gradually replaced miniatures; however, Jackson insisted upon building the world of his film photographically, using digital techniques to hide the seams. Jackson recreated the fantastic places and landscapes of Middle Earth by using real photography of miniatures (as opposed to CGI). As Jackson claimed: Computers are a wonderful tool for enhancing things, but I think shooting models is one of the great joys. If I were to have another career, I’d want to build models for films. I love using them and seeing them come together. We had Richard Taylor and his team at Weta build 60 or more fairly large miniatures for all three movies. Then Alex Funke, our miniatures director of photography, and I could go over the miniatures with a video camera and plot our camera moves. Once the model is standing there in the room, you see angles and great shots that you never even knew about in the early storyboarding stage. It’s like going to a location, and I love the physicality of it. (Jackson cited in Magid 2001, 64) The use of miniatures in LOTR allowed for aerial camera movements that enhanced the realism of Middle Earth and added to the spectacular nature of the film. To enhance the authenticity of Middle Earth, Weta Workshop built extremely large miniature models that allowed cameras to capture details such as dust, moss and so on. As some of the miniatures measured some 9 metres high, they were soon renamed ‘bigatures’. As the environments designed by Alan Lee, conceptual artist on the project, were colossal, Weta

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Workshop needed to build miniatures that were as big as possible in order to emphasize the difference between human figures and built environments. Places like the Elven city of Rivendell, Isengard, the Mines of Moria and the Pass at Caradrahas were all done using 1/12-scale miniatures. Exceptionally large environments such as Saruman’s dark tower of Barad-dur were built at 1/166 scale and were still 9 metres tall. The miniatures team of about seven people created sixty-eight miniatures that were built on wheels and rolled to the shooting stage (Magid 2001, 65). Rather than creating digital backgrounds for the miniatures Jackson hired a landscape photographer who shot sunrises, sunsets and other spectacular vistas to create scenic background plates (Magid 2001, 65). A number of computer-controlled cameras operated by miniatures DOP Alex Funke and extensive computer-generated graphics produced by Weta Digital were used to blend the photography of miniature environments with live actors and sequences. Alex Funke, a member of the American Society of Cinematography and a miniature expert with extensive Hollywood experience (Academy Award for Total Recall, Verhoeven, 1990), was used by Peter Jackson in all the three LOTR films. In 2004, Funke, along with other members of the LOTR crew, won the Best Visual Effects Academy Award for his work on miniatures. Bigatures were also used in King Kong to recreate the exotic ecosystem of Skull Island. Once again, Jackson’s imperative goal was to achieve authentic and believable miniatures photography. Funke claimed that the pre-production research on King Kong miniatures lasted more than one year as the film makers had to overcome a number of obstacles to match Jackson’s high standards of realism: When we’re shooting a miniature we have to have everything in focus, otherwise it doesn’t look real, and to have everything in focus that means that we have to close the lens to a very small aperture, to make the lens a very small aperture we had to put a lot of light on the set, or we have to run the camera really slowly. So normally when we’re shooting we shoot maybe one frame per second, however Peter [Jackson] said ‘No, don’t do that. I want real trees on Skull Islands and I want to see the leaves moving on the trees.’ So now you’ve got a miniature set, where you have to have wind blowing on it and we have to shoot it at the

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speed where it makes it look real. Well you can see why nobody ever did this before, it’s really hard to do, but we overcame the obstacles. (Funke 2013) Despite the excellent results of the miniatures photography team on both LOTR and King Kong, miniatures were not used again in The Hobbit trilogy. Due to severe time constraints when shooting The Hobbit, building miniatures would not have been feasible. Furthermore, Jackson had to deal with a number of other technical issues. First, issues during the pre-production stages of The Hobbit meant that for a long time the film script was in a constant state of flux so that Weta Workshop was unable to plan the construction of the miniatures. Secondly, the use of miniatures carries certain technical limitations. When operating big cameras, particularly the bulky 3D cameras used on The Hobbit, film makers can struggle to get sufficiently close to the miniature, and if they do, any flaws in the model may become readily discernible. Therefore, in The Hobbit, despite his love for physical model miniatures, Jackson opted to use CGI instead: This time around, there are no miniatures. It’s all done with CGI. Everything that we need to build, from a miniature point of view, we can build as a CG miniature. I can now swoop in, over rooftops and through doorways. I can do things that I never could have dreamt of doing with the miniatures. (Jackson cited in Radish 2013) The transition from miniatures to fully computer-generated environments represents a significant evolution in terms of Jackson’s stylistic signature as he has often been interested in the tactility of special effects. It is uncertain, however, whether Jackson will permanently abandon miniatures or whether his next project, will feature a return to more traditional approaches to special effects.

Motion capture One of the distinctive marks of Peter Jackson’s style is his ability to deploy innovative digital technology to enhance the realism of the

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fantastic worlds that he is trying to depict. The LOTR trilogy brought attention to a new film technique, developed in part by Peter Jackson and his collaborators, that was used to bring to life some of Middle Earth’s creatures: motion capture technology (or ‘mocap’). Motion capture records a performer’s movements and applies them to a 3D digital model that can be used by film makers to create entirely computer-generated creatures. Although digital motion capture came into vogue in the late 1990s, it had a historical precedent in rotoscoping in which recorded cinema was traced frame by frame and repurposed as animation. Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Myst (Jacobs and Ricks 2000) was the first full-length animated feature that used a 3D animated motion capture process developed by the House of Moves Motion Caption Studios in Los Angeles. Sinbad achieved a very limited release in the United States and only grossed US$29,245 domestically (Box Office Mojo). The producers of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Sakaguchi 2001) perfected motion capture technology and while the film was widely distributed and praised by many critics as the first photorealistic computer-animated feature film, it proved to be a commercial failure at the box office. Peter Jackson used motion caption for the first time in the second instalment of the LOTR trilogy, The Two Towers. Originally, Gollum was conceived as an entirely computergenerated character, however, during the production of the film Jackson opted to utilize motion capture technology. Jackson was particularly impressed by Andy Serkis’s audition tape and he believed that Serkis’s presence on stage would assist the performance of the other actors. All the scenes that featured Gollum were shot twice. The first time Serkis would perform with the other actors to provide them with a physical reference for their performance, subsequently he would be removed digitally and the scene would be replicated on a carefully controlled motion capture stage where Serkis would perform wearing a motion capture suit. Luminous dots were applied to both Serkis’s face and a blue lycra suit, allowing the twenty-five video cameras positioned around the studio to precisely track both his body and facial movements. Weta Digital developed an innovative real-time motion capture system which streamed the actions of Andy Serkis into the computer-generated character of Gollum. This gave Gollum ‘real time’ presence on the screen and facilitated Jackson’s directorial work. Serkis’s performance

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on set provided essential guidance to the Weta animators, who ultimately drew Gollum on the computer modelling his facial features on Serkis’s. Finally, Serkis provided Gollum’s voice that was added to the character in the post-production stage. Adding to the believability of Gollum’s character, Serkis was also cast as Smeagol, Gollum’s former self. The innovative developments and use of motion capture technology in The Two Towers were rewarded with an Academy Award for special effects in 2003. Serkis’s work on LOTR also initiated a debate about the importance of recognizing CGIassisted acting as Serkis played a crucial role in enhancing the realism of Gollum’s character. Some critics believed that since Serkis’s voice, body language and facial expressions were used, he should have been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Eventually, Serkis’s work in motion capture was recognized and gained him international visibility as an actor. Through the early 2000s, Serkis received several awards for his CG-assisted performances and established motion capture as ‘both a novel route to realism and spectacle as well as a legitimate form of performance’ (Allison 2011, 325). A number of critical studies on motion capture have addressed the theoretical issues it presents such as the difference between reality and representation, media convergence and the uncanny valley of photorealism. Industrial forces in Hollywood have debated whether motion capture should be categorized as animation, live action or visual effects (Freedman 2012, 38). Director/producer Robert Zemeckis, who worked with Peter Jackson on The Frighteners, suggested that motion capture should be considered as a wholly new form of film making and attempts to categorize it could potentially stifle a new art form in its infancy (Freedman 2012, 38). In the late 2000s, both Serkis and Zemeckis played a crucial role in developing motion capture technology by founding digital production companies such as The Imaginarium Studios (Serkis) and ImageMovers Digital (Zemeckis), which specialize in the production of performance capture animated films. Serkis’s association with motion capture technology increased as he was enlisted to play King Kong in Jackson’s 2005 remake of the Hollywood classic. King Kong presented additional challenges as in this case the character generated through motion capture technology was also the protagonist of the film. King Kong’s

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publicity relied on the promotion of advanced special effects: promotional material and ancillary products associated with the film, such as production diaries, emphasized the innovative character of motion capture technology and revealed technical details about the film-making process. However, as in LOTR, Jackson and the producers also intended to emphasize the authenticity and realism of a fantastic creature like Kong. As Allison points out, the discourse of authenticity evoked by Jackson and the producers relied on notions of character psychology and Method acting (Allison 2011, 326). Production press releases and other official texts, such as Jackson’s authorized biography, emphasized the extensive research on actual apes conducted by the film makers during the pre-production stages. Serkis was said to be intimately involved in the creation of the Kong character and studied gorillas’ behaviour at the London zoo and in the wild in Rwanda. Serkis’s research was to enhance the realism of Kong’s screen persona: When the original film was made very little research had been done into gorilla behavior, so there was a real sense in which they were seen as a real monster. What we are trying to bring to the film Kong is a characterization that includes as much as possible of what has been discovered in the past 100 years. (Serkis cited in Sibley 2006, 531) Jackson did not imagine Kong as a mere special effect but as a multidimensional character capable of emotions with which the viewer could identify. One of the most important strategies adopted by Jackson to encourage identification with Kong was photorealism. Kong had to seem as real as the other characters on screen and to this end Weta Digital worked for two years on the design of the CG ape. Digital artists painted individual pores, wrinkles, scars and even fingerprints on the Kong skin, while the Weta engineers designed a fur system which would control Kong’s 5.5 million hairs. At the same time, the film-making process was grounded in reality and relied on Serkis’s performance. In mocap sessions, Serkis wore a Lycra suit weighted in a way that allowed him to act more like a gorilla. After King Kong Serkis also played the role of Caesar in Rise of the Planet of Apes (2011) and Captain Haddock in The Adventures

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of Tintin (2011) before returning to the role of Gollum in The Hobbit trilogy. These three productions were all characterized by the involvement of Weta Digital, which further refined the technical skills and capability developed in LOTR, King Kong and Avatar (which also benefitted from Weta’s involvement). The Rise of the Planet of the Apes was the first film in which motion capture technology was used in real-life locations. In the film the reflective dots used in King Kong and LOTR were replaced by a helmet cam pointed at the actor’s face, a technical innovation tested in Cameron’s Avatar. Steven Spielberg, the director of The Adventures of Tintin, in which Peter Jackson featured as both producer and second unit director, claimed that motion capture was a particularly appropriate technology for bringing the comic book hero to life. Spielberg treated The Adventures of Tintin like a live-action film, moving the camera around the set and using a combination of motion capture and 3D animation. In The Hobbit, motion capture animated characters such as Gollum and Smaug looked even more real and grotesque than their counterparts in LOTR. The choice of filming The Hobbit in 3D at 48 fps also necessitated a more accurate and detailed rendition of digitally created characters. Jackson and Weta Digital used infrared suits (developed during the making of Planet of Apes) that can be picked up by special cameras in broad daylight and communicate information directly to a computer, freeing synthespians from special studios (Steinmetz 2012). Via motion capture, actors’ movements in the real world are translated into the movement of fantastic characters and creatures on screen. Motion capture seems almost to be a kind of a metamorphosis, a profound transformation in terms of form, time and space like that once attributed to witchcraft or the supernatural. The act of ‘magic’ that takes place during the film production process is, in a way, consistent with the fantastic character of the imaginary worlds recreated by Peter Jackson. With its ability to conflate new and traditional approaches to film making, art and technology, motion capture also embodies the duplicity of film as a medium. Jackson has been able to effectively control and direct the contribution of different collaborators, including Weta’s engineers and actors like Serkis, in order to seamlessly integrate motion capture techniques in his films.

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Representation, Ethnicity and Race Several scholars and commentators have accused Jackson and his films of eurocentrism and, in some cases, even of overt racism (Kavka and Turner 2008; Ibata 2014; NewsOne 2014). Jackson and his collaborators have always rejected these accusations and have never professed racist or discriminatory beliefs. While some of the afore-mentioned critiques are excessive or unfounded, it may be argued, however, that the representation of race and ethnicity in Jackson’s work reflects a conservative view of the world. All the protagonists of Jackson’s films are either white Europeans or Americans and very rarely do non-white human characters appear in his movies. All the actors that feature in his debut film Bad Taste are white and male, the only reference to indigenous culture being the Ma-ori name of the fictional rural community where the story is set, Kaihoro (which can be loosely translated as ‘Fast food’). Similarly, all the New Zealand films directed by Jackson, from Forgotten Silver to Heavenly Creatures, are oblivious to Ma-ori culture. When non-white, indigenous characters appear, they are often represented as mere caricatures of savages. The opening sequence of Braindead set in the fictional Skull Island (an explicit reference to the original King Kong) is a case in point. In the film, a New Zealand zoo official is chased by an exotic (as well as generic-looking) tribe of cannibals before being mutilated and killed by a group of superstitious locals. In Jackson’s King Kong, the representation of the dark skinned inhabitants of Skull Island is even more grotesque, conjuring traditional racial stereotypes in which non-Western characters are equated with evil, primitivism and savagery. Jackson has often chosen to adapt stories featuring a problematic representation of race. The Lord of the Rings, for example, is considered by most critics to be a conservative book (Rearick 2004). Jackson’s film adaptation of Tolkien’s novels replicated the racial coding of the original text. In the films, goodness correlates to whiteness and is associated with Western and Northern European culture and mythology. All the Middle Earth heroes are played by white actors (from New Zealand, Australia, UK and United States) and speak with British accents. By contrast, evil is associated with blackness, savagery and the

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East (or the South). Orcs, Nazgul and Uruk-hai are invariably black and the only men who join Sauron’s cause are dark-skinned and conform to stereotypical ‘Orientalist’ imagery. The trilogy goes as far as producing its own racial hierarchy of whiteness: the whitest characters (Gandalf, Saruman, Galadriel, Arwen) are also the purest or who hold positions of power in the films, while those who are darker and more corporeal in complexion are charged with undertaking the quest and/or threatening it (Redmond 2007, 95–96). The portrayal of Orcs and Uruk-hai, characterized by blazing nostrils, dreadlock hair and animalistic posturing, recalls established racist stereotypes (Redmond 2007, 97). Similarly, Jackson stated that the inspiration for the siege of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers came from Cy Endfield’s Zulu (1964): ‘Zulu was always in the back of my mind when I was thinking about Helm’s Deep’ (Jackson cited in Kim 2004, 879). Zulu, based on the real events of the 1879 battle between 150 British soldiers and 4,000 Zulu warriors at Rorke’s Drift in South Africa, is often considered to be a celebration of British imperialism. Despite its stylistic and technological achievements, the film has often been criticized for its racist undertones, which imply the superiority of the white protagonists over the uncivilized Zulu warriors. Jackson was also condemned for casting actors of Ma-ori or Polynesian descent in the role of orcs and Uruk-hai. Ma-ori actor Lawrence Makoare was selected to play both Lurtz, the general of the Uruk-hai army, and the Witch King. When Makoare was forced to leave the set because of previous commitments, he was replaced by Samoan performer, Sala Baker (Kim 2004, 877). Some critics noted that the look of the Uruk-hai strongly resembled Maori warriors (or even members of Ma-ori gangs). In particular, Kim suggested that the character of Lurtz was inspired by Te Wheke, the protagonist of Utu (1983), a New Zealand film directed by Geoff Murphy (one of the second unit directors in LOTR). In Utu, Te Wheke is a Ma-ori rebel who seeks revenge against British settlers by terrorizing the New Zealand countryside. Other scholars have gone even further by reading the LOTR films as carrying residues of New Zealand’s colonial past, in particular, Pa-keha- (white New Zealanders) fear of the indigenous element (Kavka and Turner 2008). The Uruk-hai are literally autochthonous as they pop out of the earth, and the scene in which the first Uruk-hai

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breaks out of an amniotic sack made of mud and soil evokes, in a grotesque fashion, the Ma-ori notion of whenua, the placental afterbirth which is inextricably connected to the land (Leotta 2012, 189). Like early European pioneers, Frodo and the fellowship need to traverse an untamed land populated by gangs of hostile ‘indigenous’ orcs. While the Uruk-hai articulates the settler dread of the savage indigenes, the hobbits, by contrast, display clothes, accents and a tendency to walk barefoot that equate them with displaced Britons or, possibly, Pa-keha-. From a New Zealand point of view, LOTR could be read as the story of peaceful, but strongminded Pa-keha- (hobbits) who are forced to confront hordes of barbaric indigenous peoples who threaten islands of civilization, such as the Shire (which, in turn, has been inspired by a mythical idea of rural England). Jackson’s decision to remake the 1933 version of King Kong was also deemed controversial by some commentators due to the racist connotations of the film. Many film critics have read the original film as a racial metaphor. Merian C. Cooper’s film was made in the early 1930s during the great depression, a period in American history characterizsed by rampant racism. King Kong can be read as an allegory of the primitive nature and potentially destructive power of African Americans, who were often depicted as sub-human, ape or monkey-like in the racist propaganda of the time. The ambiguous relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow has also been interpreted as suggesting the threat of interracial relationships and miscegenation. Ann is kidnapped by the savage Kong, but eventually rescued by a group of white men. According to David Rosen, this type of plot device is a recurrent element in films of the ‘jungle adventure’ genre. Often the white woman is the focus of tension between the white males and the ‘natives’, providing an opportunity for some of the former to display their virile heroism against the savages (D. Rosen 1975, 7). Jackson’s version of King Kong was particularly faithful to both the plot and tone of the original film, retaining some of the problematic racial stereotypes (particularly, as mentioned earlier, in its depiction of the natives of Skull Island). Jackson, however, often dismissed the various symbolical interpretations of Kong’s story: The idea of interpreting films to mean whatever you wish them to mean is a pastime in which I’ve never taken much interest. [. . .]

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Obviously I’m fully aware that the Kong story has any number of Freudian interpretations, but it’s not the point of the movie and it was something I was aware of when I was 9 years old and saw King Kong. I was, quite simply, swept away by it. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 539–40) A few years later, Jackson contributed to the cinematic adaptation of another text often criticized for both its caricatured portrayals of non-Europeans and its colonialist leanings: The Adventures of Tintin. Jackson had been a Tintin fan since his childhood, and the conservative ideology of the comic book series created by Hergé is likely to have influenced his worldview. Jackson collaborated with Spielberg (another director who has often been criticized for the racist connotations of some of his films) to launch a Tintin movie franchise. The two film makers, however, were particularly careful to eliminate the racist undertones which characterized the original books from the first episode of the film adaptation (see A–Z: The Adventures of Tintin). During the same period, Jackson also acted as producer on District 9, a film which was controversial due to its depiction of the Nigerian characters, who were portrayed as criminals, cannibals and prostitutes. In the film, the Nigerians are represented as the only people savage enough to deal with the aliens. District 9 was later banned in Nigeria where the national government demanded a formal apology from the producers and the film makers (Vanguard 2014). Only few months after District 9, Jackson was involved in another controversy regarding the casting for The Hobbit trilogy. A British actress of Pakistani descent accused the producers of the films of racism after a casting agent affiliated with Jackson had rejected her application on the basis of her skin colour. Shortly afterwards, Jackson apologized and dismissed the casting agent in question. A spokesperson for Wingnut Films told the press that the unnamed agent was not directed by the company to make such restrictions (NZPA 2010). The representation of race in The Hobbit films inevitably featured strong elements of continuity with the LOTR series. Once again the protagonists of the films (Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and the dwarves) reflected Western cultural references: most of the dwarves have Scottish or Irish accents, while Bilbo is a quintessentially English gentleman. In The Desolation of Smaug, however, Jackson made some concessions to multicultural

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society by including extras of African and Asian descent in some of the crowd scenes set in Laketown. He also emphasized the theme of interracial collaboration between Elves and dwarves by portraying the ‘anti-dwarf’ racism of certain characters in a negative light. Finally, while some Ma-ori actors were cast as orcs (Manu Bennett, for example, provided mocap performance for Azog the Defiler), the films eluded the binary racial coding (white = good versus black = evil) which characterized the LOTR trilogy. While the problematic representation of race and the lack of concern for indigenous issues in Jackson’s films reflects, perhaps, his own background and upbringing as a white New Zealander, it would be unfair to label him as racist. In her discussion about race and postmodernism in the LOTR films, Sue Kim argues that the idea of racism as a personal ‘failing’, expressed in representation and discourse, limits our understanding of how racialization functions. It is therefore important to place Jackson’s films within his broader social and cultural context (Kim 2004). Jackson’s biographers have often pointed out how Jackson is first and foremost a ‘fanboy’. Most of his films feature intertextual references to his best-loved movies or TV shows. When he has had the opportunity to direct films based on his favourite films, books or comic books (King Kong, Tintin, LOTR, etc.) he has been particularly faithful to the style and aesthetics of the original texts. From this perspective, the racial stereotyping in King Kong or LOTR may be considered symptomatic of the postmodern practice of the pastiche rather than the expression of political or racist beliefs. Similarly, Jackson should not be deemed solely responsible for certain infelicitous casting choices; for example, Makoare himself has noted that he has often been typecast as the ‘bad guy’ both on New Zealand television and in international productions such as Xena: The Warrior Princess. It would be inappropriate to attribute any explicit political or ideological message to Jackson’s films. Some scholars have also dismissed simplistic analysis of race representation in Jackson’s work by pointing out that some of his films present a contradictory representation of race. Sean Redmond, for example, highlights the complexity of racial politics in the LOTR trilogy by noting that the hyper-whiteness embodied by characters such as Saruman and Arwen is a dangerous, ultimately destructive subjectivity (Redmond 2007, 91). Finally, while it is possible to read part of his work as the reflection of Eurocentric views, it is

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also true that some of his early films feature a subversive, antiestablishment humour that is implicitly critical of the British colonial legacy in New Zealand (see A–Z: Splatstick).

Short films and minor projects Unlike many contemporary film makers who began their career directing professionally made short films conceived for the festivals circuit, Peter Jackson debuted with a feature-length film, Bad Taste. Later in his career Jackson produced several small projects involving some of his closest collaborators, and conducted some film tests, developing one of them, Crossing the Line, into a short film. Before Bad Taste Jackson had only made short (mostly silent) amateur films shot with his Super 8 camera. According to one of his biographers, Ian Pryor, between 1970 and 1983 Jackson directed between twelve and twenty such films (Pryor 2003, 322). Short excerpts from some of these films appeared on a documentary, Good Taste Made Bad Taste, directed by Tony Hiles, who transferred them to video by lining up a projector and camera (Hiles 2008a). In 2010, Jackson showed some clips of his early amateur films at the Ray Harryhausen Special BAFTA ceremony in London. In 2011, he claimed that Park Road Post had begun digitizing his entire Super 8 amateur films collection (Poland 2011). Most of Jackson’s early 8 mm films were never completed and were often conceived as experiments that allowed him to test basic film techniques and special effects. Jackson’s first reported exploration of special effects took place in 1970 and involved a cat disappearing in front of the camera. In the early 1970s, with the help of schoolmates Pete O’Herne and Ian Middleton, he shot Dwarf Patrol, a short film set during the Second World War featuring trenches dug in the family backyard. New Zealand film critic Lawrence McDonald defined these early experiments as Jackson’s own ‘home apprenticeship in genre film-making’ (L. McDonald 1993, 11). Many of these amateur films are indeed characterized by his attempts to emulate the aesthetic conventions of his favourite genre films. Around 1971/1973, Jackson attempted to remake King Kong by building a miniature gorilla and making a cardboard cut-out of the Empire State Building. In 1974 Jackson shot Ponty

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Mython, which imitated some of the sketches of the Monty Python Flying Circus TV show and featured Pukerua Bay School teacher Trevor Shoesmith who was blown up on film, thanks to Jackson’s special effects (Pryor 2003, 323). Jackson recalls that the film was screened several times in the school hall where he charged his schoolmates 10 cents per ticket, thus recouping the $12 film budget (Poland 2011). From 1973 Jackson built models of monsters and dinosaurs inspired by the work of Ray Harryhausen to experiment with stop motion animation (see A–Z: Special Effects). Jackson’s early experiments with stop motion, however, proved to be particularly frustrating: Unfortunately the Super 8 Movie Camera I had didn’t have a facility to allow you to shoot a single frame of film at a time. The best that I could do was to squeeze the trigger for the shortest possible interval and hope for the best. Inevitably, the camera would fire off at least two or three frames of film, which meant that the movements of my dinosaurs were always jerky and unconvincing. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 22) In 1977, Jackson’s parents bought him a new camera that was able to shoot single frames, enabling him to develop more elaborate sequences of stop motion animation (Sibley 2006, 35). In 1978, with the help of some friends and schoolmates, Jackson entered a children’s film-making contest for schools run by a New Zealand television programme called Spot On. Jackson and his friends made The Valley, a twenty-minute fantasy film heavily indebted to the work of Ray Harryhausen. The film tells the story of a small group of gold prospectors, who, after crossing a ‘space-time’ continuum, find themselves in a fantastic world inhabited by Harryhauseninspired monsters. At the end of the film the survivors come in sight of the Beehive, the iconic New Zealand parliamentary building, and realize (like in Planet of the Apes) that this mysterious world is actually the Earth in a future age. The Valley was shot over five or six weekends around Pukerua Bay and its storyline allowed Jackson to experiment with stop motion techniques and other special effects. The film did not win the competition since, according to some of the judges, it was too long and lacked a solid storyline. Nonetheless, The Valley received a consolation prize and was awarded a NZ$100

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scholarship in a competition sponsored by the local newspaper, The Kapiti Observer (Sibley 2006, 40). After making more amateur films inspired by popular films such as Clockwork Orange (Kubrick 1971) and the James Bond franchise, Jackson decided to shoot a feature film inspired by the Hammer Horror movies. Around 1981/1982, he began working on The Curse of the Gravewalker; however, after shooting more than one hour of footage he decided to abandon the project. In 1983, Jackson finally bought a second-hand 16 mm camera with the goal of making films on a more professional format: ‘I decided I was going to make a little ten-minute film: something short and entertaining that I could hopefully enter into festivals’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 70). On 27 October 1983, Jackson started shooting a short film called Roast of the Day about the alien invasion of a small New Zealand town. Jackson worked on the film for the following four years and Roast of the Day would eventually become his first feature film (see A–Z: Bad Taste). After the release of Bad Taste, Jackson briefly entertained the idea of directing a short pilot for a TV show featuring a cast of puppets; however, after securing funding from the New Zealand Film Commission he transformed this short treatment into another feature-length film, Meet the Feebles. Following the success of his first two films, Jackson continued to direct feature-length projects. During the 1990s, however, he became involved as producer in a number of short films directed by some of his collaborators. In 1992, Jackson’s company, Wingnut Films, produced Valley of the Stereos, a fifteenminute film directed by George Port, one of the future co-founders of Weta. The film, which featured sophisticated special effects, involved several of Jackson’s collaborators (including Costa Botes, Jamie Selkirk and Richard Taylor) and was shown as the opening short during the New Zealand release of Braindead (Pryor 2003, 329). Jackson was also credited as executive producer in Dirty Creature, a short film directed in 1995 by Grant Campbell (who had helped Jackson on Bad Taste), and The Long and Short of It (2002), a six-minute film directed by LOTR actor Sean Astin, during the making of The Two Towers. During the course of his career Jackson has conducted several test films, some of which have appeared as extra features in the home media releases of his movies. In 2007 the CEO of Red Camera, Jim

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Jannard, offered Jackson the possibility to test alpha prototypes of the Red One camcorders ‘Boris’ and ‘Natasha’. Jackson accepted and invited the Red Camera crew to New Zealand where he used the prototypes to shoot a ten-minute film called Crossing the Line. The film is set during the First World War and revolves around two British soldiers, a pilot and an infantryman, preparing for battle. During the battle the infantryman loses a photograph of his loved one, and as he attempts to retrieve it he enters into the sight of a German sniper. Just before the sniper is about to pull the trigger, his view is obstructed by a teddy bear that has fallen from the cockpit of the British pilot. By the time the sniper removes the teddy bear the infantryman has disappeared and is replaced by a tank that fires at the German soldier. The film, which was shot over two days in Masterton, near Wellington, made extensive use of the First World War replica aircraft owned by Jackson (see A–Z: Aviation). Crossing the Line featured a complex cinematography and the Director of Photography, Richard Bluck, devised innovative camera support systems for the numerous aerial, crane, vehicle-mounted and steadycam shots that feature in the film (TV Technology 2007). The film was screened at the 2007 NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention where it was praised for its technical achievements (NZPA 2007). Crossing the Line, the first short film to be shot with a Red Camera, played a crucial role in establishing the reputation of Jannard’s company. Neill Blomkamp, who assisted Jackson in directing Crossing the Line, used the Red One to make District 9, while in the following years Jackson himself purchased several Red models, using 48 Red Epic cameras to shoot The Hobbit trilogy (Cooper 2011).

Sound Scholars have often neglected the study of sound in Jackson’s cinema and yet the aural dimension of his films has often been a key ingredient of their success. Several Jackson films have gained critical acclaim for their use of sound: in 2003 The Two Towers received an Academy Award for Sound Editing, while the following year The Return of the King was awarded an Oscar for Best Sound Mixing. In 2006 King Kong received Academy Awards

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for both categories. Referring to the use of sound in his films, Peter Jackson has stated his preference for the construction of immersive soundscapes that draw audiences inside the film world: ‘Sound is a very important part of the creative process. It’s all about immersion, it’s all about creating the sense that you are experiencing it’ (Jackson cited in Dolby.com 2013). For most of his career Jackson relied on the same sound editor, Mike Hopkins, who collaborated on the making of most of his films since Braindead in 1992. After the success of LOTR, Hopkins, an influential figure in the New Zealand film industry, played a crucial role in transforming Wellington into one of the leading hubs of post-production sound in the world, attracting major international projects to Park Road Post. Hopkins (who died in a rafting accident in 2012) was often supported by a team of sound editors and sound designers that included Ethan Van Der Ryn, Chris Ward, Brent Burge, Dave Whitehead and David Farmer. Most of the sound editors and designers who currently collaborate with Peter Jackson were also involved in the making of LOTR, a project which raised a series of major practical and creative challenges for the sound department. Originally, New Line Cinema was reluctant to conduct the sound editing and mixing in New Zealand as much of the equipment had to be bought or hired from overseas. Following recommendations of some of the members of the sound department, however, it was decided that mixing would be done in Wellington (Isaza 2010). During the making of the trilogy, the Wellington Film Unit recording theatre, a post-production facility equipped with an analogue seventy-two channel Otari was completely refurbished with a Euphonic System 5 and Tascam MM8 in preparation for the Dolby Surround EX of the films (Cubitt and King 2008a, 162). At the creative level, one of the main challenges faced by the sound department was the concern that the epic nature and scale of the films would result in a loud soundtrack. To allow for a gradual crescendo in the climatic scenes of the final film the soundtracks of the first two films were kept deliberately more understated (Cubitt and King 2008a, 163). The risk of developing a monotously loud soundtrack was partly countered by the sound mixing philosophy embraced by the film makers. According to David Farmer, the key element of this strategy was avoiding overlaps between music and sound effects:

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Sound effects (for events on screen) don’t have a choice where they can go. They pretty much HAVE to be in sync with the picture. Music can choose to come before or after, but it isn’t necessary for music to hit action – or at least music does have a choice. If both music and effects hit the same moment on screen – neither one will have the intended impact. (Farmer cited in Isaza 2010) Supervising Sound Editor, Ethan Van Der Ryn, also stated that the film makers built the soundscape of the trilogy in ‘beats of silence’. Referring to the explosion of the castle wall at the battle of Helm’s Deep, Van Der Ryn claims that the momentary silence before the explosion produces ‘a dynamic contrast that heightens the aggression and visceral nature of the action’ (Van Der Ryn cited in Fisher 2008, 170). Most of the sound effects were recorded in New Zealand. Ready access to unspoilt rural areas was a major asset for the creation of the natural Middle Earth soundscapes (Isaza 2010). Jackson regarded realism in sound effects as paramount and he enlisted the crowd’s support at an international cricket match to provide the sound effects for some of the battles that featured in the trilogy (Dominion Post 2002). A combination of animal sounds and human voices was necessary to recreate sounds associated with some of the fantastic creatures that appear in the films. Fran Walsh, for example, provided her voice for the creation of the Nazgul scream, while David Farmer himself contributed to the sound of the Wargs’ howling (Isaza 2010). Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) was a major component of the post-production process as the majority of the set dialogue had to be re-recorded due to the proximity of some of the studios to Wellington airport (2009). For King Kong Jackson was able to rely on the skills and infrastructures developed during the making of the LOTR trilogy. Motion capture performance played an important role in the making of the film, with Andy Serkis providing movement and sound for Kong. The major innovation developed by the sound department for the film was the ‘kongaliser’, a system that picked up Serkis’s vocal responses through a headset mic, transmitted them to a computer, which, in turn, processed the actor’s voice (dropping the range and increasing the size) and broadcast it on the

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set in real time. This system enhanced the realism of the interaction between Serkis and other actors, thus improving their performances (Universal Studios 2005). Some of Jackson’s movies feature elements of continuity at both the visual and aural level. During the making of The Hobbit the sound designers could rely on the extensive sound libraries created for LOTR. As for the first trilogy, the sound department was instructed to develop a realistic set of soundscapes. According to sound designer Dave Whitehead, ‘It is important that we are grounded in the real world so that we can feel the characters’ emotions and can believe that they are experiencing the things they are going through’ (Whitehead cited in Sibley 2013, 55). The sound designers, for example, replicated the reverberation of sound in the Waitomo Caves, a major New Zealand tourist attraction, to recreate the ambience for Gollum’s underground lair in An Unexpected Journey. The basic elements of the Goblins’ voices included both human babies and animals such as baboons, dogs, raccoons and chickens (Sibley 2013, 56). Jackson has often embraced innovations in exhibition technology that favour an immersive movie-going experience. In the early 2000s, he contributed to the refurbishment of the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, where a new digital sound system was installed for the premiere of The Return of the King. According to the theatre director Kerry Robins, LOTR ‘was designed to move us physically, you feel the thump in your chest. The sound system is so good you can feel yourself being pushed back in your seat. It’s certainly not passive and was not designed to be’ (Robins cited in Allen 2002, 8). For The Hobbit, sound production techniques evolved to take advantage of Dolby Atmos, a system which allows sound mixers to designate a specific location in the theatre, as a three-dimensional space, where each sound source should seem to be coming from. Referring to this innovative sound system, Jackson stated that: ‘any technical developments like Dolby Atmos, alongside the various picture developments that are occurring with the image, anything that actually helps enhance that immersive experience and brings more people to the cinema, the better’ (Jackson cited in Dolby.com 2013). Jackson’s conception of sound is informed by his faith in the Bazinian ‘Myth of Total Cinema’, in other words, the idea that the

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evolution of film technology will eventually result in the integral, transparent rendition of the film world. From this point of view, Jackson’s enthusiasm for Dobly Atmos is in line with his adoption of 3D and HFR as technologies that would enhance the viewers’ immersion in the fantastic realms created in his films.

Special effects Jackson’s passion for special effects is one of the defining features of his film style. This fascination for the magical tricks of film making was spurred by his love for genres such as fantasy and horror, which are heavily reliant on visual effects. For a long time during the early stages of his career Jackson aspired to become a special effects creator and when he eventually became a director he made films characterized by an extensive and, in many cases, innovative use of special effects. Jackson played a crucial role in the foundation and development of companies such as Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, which are now considered to be among the best special effects firms in the world. In turn, his own success as both film maker and entrepreneur was made possible by the existence of these companies, which provided large quantities of affordable and effective special effects for the films he directed and produced. Jackson’s passion for both cinema and special effects began as a child watching fantasy films such as Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. TV shows were also important influences as the first time Jackson discovered a real interest in the making of special effects was after watching Thunderbirds, a sci-fi TV show made using marionette puppetry and scale-model special effects (Sibley 2006, 19). Thunderbirds fostered Jackson’s interest in model making, which in turn aligned with his fascination for special effects. After he became an established film maker, Jackson founded Wingnut Wings, a company which produces large-scale kits of vintage aircraft (see A–Z: Aviation). Jackson’s early experiments with his Super 8 camera focused on the recreation of some of the special effects he had seen in his favourite films. Jackson was particularly interested in stop motion animation, a technique designed to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. Stop

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motion animation is achieved by shooting a single frame of film, adjusting the model, taking another frame and so on until the end of the scene: ‘Perhaps I was drawn to stop-frame animation because I realized that it was one way in which I could attempt to make movies on my own. So I made little plasticine models of dinosaurs and filmed them as best as I could, achieving one or two rather crude animation effects’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 22). Jackson was also interested in experimenting with other techniques. In one of his first film projects, Dwarf Patrol (shot around 1970/1971), Jackson and his friends dug trenches in the family backyard to create a Second World War battle sequence. Later, Jackson made holes directly in the celluloid to simulate the flash of gunfire. In his last year of primary school, Jackson made a twelve-minute film titled Ponty Mython. The film, which was inspired by the Monty Python’s Flying Circus TV show, features one of Jackson’s teachers suddenly exploding. To create the effect Jackson cut the film and replaced the teacher with a homemade bomb, thereby achieving the illusion of the teacher’s explosion (Sibley 2006, 24). Jackson’s passion for special effects was also fuelled by genre-specific magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland, an American magazine founded in 1958, which focused on the secrets behind the visual effects used in the fantasy (or horror) movies of the period. Later on, Jackson would become a regular reader of other similar publications including Fangoria and Starbust (Pryor 2003, 29). It is conceivable that these magazines contributed to the development of Jackson’s interest in the making of the production diaries and ‘behind the scenes’ documentaries, which often complement (and in some cases anticipate) the release of his blockbusters. Thanks to Famous Monsters of Filmland, Jackson discovered the work of Ray Harryhausen, the creator of the special effects used in many of his favourite films. Harryhausen, one of the most influential producers and special effects developers in the history of cinema, achieved fame for his stop motion animation work on several fantasy films of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including Mighty Joe Young, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts (which featured an iconic sword fight against seven skeletons). Like Jackson, Harryhausen’s love for cinema had been inspired by the model animation created by Willis O’Brien for King Kong. Later in his career, Harryhausen worked as assistant animator for

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O’Brien on Mighty Joe Young, a gorilla film which won an Oscar for Best Special Effects in 1950. Significantly, Harryhausen became the indirect link between Jackson and his fetish film, King Kong. While O’Brien was Harryhausen’s mentor, Harryhausen himself became a major influence for the young Peter Jackson. Jackson has often expressed his admiration for Harryhausen’s work: I wanted to make the same type of films as Ray Harryhausen. [. . .] King Kong was an old film, and Willis O’Brien was no longer alive, but for a wonderful period during my teenage years and beyond, these stop motion artists like Harryhausen, Jim Danforth, Dave Allen and Randy Cook were my idols, doing exactly what I dreamed of doing as a career. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 35) During his teenage years Jackson attempted to replicate Harryhausen’s effects, including the famous sword fight with a skeleton, in many of his amateur films. The Valley, one of his early short films made for a local film-making competition, featured monsters that were reminiscent of the harpies and Cyclops created by Harryhausen for the Sinbad films. Harryhausen’s influence on Jackson was long lasting as many years later the harpies designed by the American producer inspired the look of the Nazgul fell-beasts in LOTR. Jackson has paid homage to Harryhausen on several occasions, including the 2010 BFI/BAFTA tribute to Harryhausen’s career, when Jackson unveiled a clip featuring his early work inspired by the legendary film maker. After graduating from high school, Jackson applied unsuccessfully for an internship at the National Film Unit, a government-funded production company. According to Jackson’s father, Bill, while the Film Unit management was impressed by Peter’s models, they were not interested in special effects. Bill Jackson thus recalls Peter’s disappointment after the job interview at the National Film Unit: ‘when he came home he was sort of flattened. He didn’t want to go back to school. He wanted to make special effects’ (Bill Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 35). After getting a job as photoengraver at the Evening Post, Jackson continued to develop models and special effects for amateur films in his free time. After seeing a gorilla suit he had created at home, the producers of a local fantasy TV series,

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Worzel Gummidge Down Under, offered Jackson his first paid job in the film industry. Jackson made only a couple of props for the show; however, this opportunity proved to be essential for his career as on the set of the show he met future collaborators Fran Walsh and Costa Botes. By the mid-1980s Jackson was already cultivating the ambition to become a director and had started working on the film that would later become Bad Taste. In the documentary Good Taste Made Bad Taste Tony Hiles reveals how most of the special effects that feature in the film were created by Jackson himself in his home workshop (see A–Z: Bad Taste). The ingenuity that characterized Jackson’s approach to special effects was later adopted by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, who joined Jackson’s creative team for the making of Meet the Feebles. Jackson’s partnership with Taylor and Rodgers, which would eventually result in the establishment of Weta, was a crucial turning point in Jackson’s career. Taylor and other Weta collaborators offered Jackson the possibility of exploring his passion for visual tricks while relieving him, to a certain extent, from the physical production of special effects. Even though in Meet the Feebles and Braindead Jackson maintained a hands-on approach to the development of special effects, he was now able to focus more on his directorial role. Physical visual effects featured prominently in Jackson’s early films. Meet the Feebles was made using a large cast of puppets; while Braindead included one of the goriest sequences in the history of cinema requiring hundreds of effects (see A–Z: Braindead). Given Jackson’s thematic and stylistic interests, it was logical that he invested in the foundation of Weta. Jackson’s emergence as a successful film maker was made possible by his symbiotic relationship with his special effects company. Jackson’s achievements were made possible by Weta’s innovative solutions, while, at the same time, Weta’s survival, at least prior to the success of LOTR, was guaranteed by the steady flow of work provided by Jackson’s films (see A–Z: Weta). Jackson’s fascination and familiarity with special effects techniques also meant that he constantly pushed Weta’s boundaries in terms of skills and technological capability. It was Jackson who in 1993 saw the potential of CGI and contributed to the establishment of the digital branch of the company. Since then Weta has assumed a pioneering

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role in the field of visual effects, developing or perfecting techniques such as Motion Capture, ‘Bigatures’ and the Massive software, and winning dozens of awards in the process. Jackson’s talent as a director lies in his ability to find the right balance between innovative visual effects and the story he needs to tell. In Jackson’s best films CGI and prosthetics are used to help tell the story, rather than simply providing spectacular interludes. In Heavenly Creatures, for example, the computer-generated fantasylands are used to give an insight into the minds of the girls, thus enhancing the viewers’ understanding of the protagonists’ psychology. Similarly, in LOTR, Jackson finds equilibrium between the exploration of the characters and the majestic settings that he builds around them. By contrast, Jackson’s least successful enterprises have been ones in which spectacular visual effects become the main focus of the film. The Lovely Bones, which has often been criticized for the excessive use of special effects, is a case in point. Jackson’s over-reliance on special effects has been one of the most common critiques of his work since LOTR. For example, in 2014, more than ten years after the release of the Return of the King, actor Viggo Mortensen (who played Aragorn in the trilogy) criticized Jackson for the excessive use of effects following the Fellowship of the Ring: The second movie already started ballooning, for my taste, and then by the third one there were a lot of special effects. It was grandiose and all that, but whatever was subtle, in the first movie, gradually got lost in the second and third. Now with ‘The Hobbit’, one and two, it’s like that to the power of 10. (Mortensen cited in C. Rosen 2014) Regardless of whether one considers Jackson’s fascination with special effects to be an asset or a liability, it is undeniable that this is one of the main aspects of his authorial signature. His interest in visual tricks is consistent with another important characteristic of his film-making style, namely, his constant attempt to develop photorealistic depictions of the fantastic worlds where his films are set. The combination of fantasy and special effects is one of the recurring elements that define Jackson’s creative vision.

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Splatstick ‘Splatstick’ is a term that refers to feature films that blend traditional film genres such as slapstick comedy, science fiction, horror and splatter. Stuart Gordon’s Reanimator (1985) and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II (1987), which achieved universal acclaim for their ability to mix comedy and horror, are usually considered as the first examples of splatstick, even though Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) was already experimenting with genre blending several years earlier. Some of these movies deeply inspired Jackson’s early work to the extent that his first three feature films (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead) are often referred to as the ‘splatstick trilogy’. In turn, Jackson’s films, particularly Braindead (a.k.a. Dead Alive), are now considered by critics as some of the most successful examples of splatstick. New Zealand literature has often blended comedy and horror. This tendency is particularly apparent in the work of writers such as Bruce Mason or Ronald Hugh Morrieson, who often construct a world of childhood reading and theatrics that involve safe adventures and vicarious experiences with death and dissolution (Schafer 1998). Jackson, like many other New Zealanders, is likely to have been exposed to some of these works; however, the most crucial influences on his formation as a film maker came from film and TV: the slapstick gags of Buster Keaton and the absurdist tendencies of Monty Python; the special effects of horror B-movies; and the style of fantasy epics such as King Kong. The combination of these influences later resulted in Jackson’s own inflection of ‘splatstick’. Cinema, particularly Hollywood, has played a crucial role in the construction of a ‘New Zealand culture’. The lack of any form of protection of the national film industry and the consequent virtual absence of local production until the 1970s led to the invasion of the New Zealand market by British and American cultural products. In Geoff Lealand’s words, the outcome of this process was that ‘the mythologies of Hollywood became “naturalized” in the absence of any more powerful propositions, integral to the ways of “reading” the world for New Zealanders’ (Geoffrey Lealand 1988, 90). New Zealand filmmakers have extensively drawn upon Hollywood genre conventions, adapting them to

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the cultural specificity of the country. Jackson is probably the most successful New Zealand artist in this enterprise of cultural bricolage. Jackson’s works are typically postmodern as his use of existing film conventions leads to creative and playful outcomes such as the reformulation of the splatstick genre. According to Lawrence McDonald, the comic power of Jackson’s films derives from their relation of second degree to the splatter sub-genre. For McDonald, what makes possible the amalgam of slapstick comedy and splatter is ‘the fortuitous fact that both derive from a physical, body based focus, rooted in a “low-cultural” comedic mode and a “low-cultural” sub-genre’ (L. McDonald 1993, 11). Jackson’s early production is located within the domain of low culture and consciously positioned in opposition to the accepted and recognized film tradition. An obsession with the absurd and the comically grotesque in splatstick films is a deliberate attack on the dominant Hollywood industry and the ‘serious’, highbrow tone of the national film production. The cultural tensions between high and low cultures generated by the splatstick became apparent when Jackson’s third film Braindead (1992) was selected as ‘Best Film’ of the year at the 1993 New Zealand Film and Television Awards. After the celebration, juror John Cranna publicly criticized the rest of the jury’s decision describing Braindead as ‘a crude horror that makes a mockery of serious film-making in New Zealand’ (John Cranna cited in Onfilm 1993, 8). The critical power of Jackson’s early films was aided by their economic marginality. Bad Taste was funded by Jackson’s salary as photo engraver at a Wellington’s newspaper; similarly, Braindead and Meet the Feebles were granted relatively low budgets. Paradoxically, the limited cost of his splatstick films and the lack of financial pressure deriving from the need to recoup investors’ money allowed Jackson great creative freedom and the possibility of experimenting with genres. Referring to his hopes for Braindead, Jackson claimed that: What would please me more than anything would be for people to rank Braindead right up there with Dawn of the Dead and the Evil Deads, films I’ve enjoyed the heck out of myself [. . .]. I’m operating completely independently here in New Zealand and can do whatever I like. It may take a while for me to get the

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money, but once I do I’m a free agent and have no restrictions put on me by anybody. (Jackson cited Helms 2004, 40) Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead targeted a niche market of cult fans by explicitly attacking the norms, values and standards of mainstream cinema. According to Harmony Wu, ‘By doggedly pursuing the niche cult market by pushing the limits of taste (. . .), Peter Jackson’s gross out films, it might be argued, afforded him the capital both (economic and cinematic) to transcend the limitations of working in a tiny national cinema’ (Wu 2003, 92). By the time Braindead was achieving success among international audiences Jackson was already planning to make Heavenly Creatures and move away from the genre with which he had made his name. Heavenly Creatures gave Jackson artistic legitimacy, and critics often dismissed the ‘splatstick trilogy’ as an unfortunate artistic detour. Despite the fact that Heavenly Creatures represented a significant shift in Jackson’s style, his future work, including major blockbusters such as LOTR, would feature some of the splatter elements that characterize his early films. The Frighteners, in particular, represented an attempt to return to some of the artistic territories explored in the splatstick trilogy by blending comedy and horror. The film, however, was a partial flop in the targeted mainstream American market as the audience was confused by the mixing of genres. At the same time the movie did not please the old splatstick fans as the grotesque comic and splatter elements were restrained by the American production, which was more concerned with appealing to family audiences. Elements of splatstick also re-emerge in the LOTR trilogy. Even though the film production attempted to guarantee fidelity to the original Tolkien text, elements of Jackson’s old splatstick style are apparent in the films, particularly in the battle scenes and in the representation of the villains: the Orcs, Goblins and Urukhai. In a scene from The Two Towers (2002), Saruman’s Uruk-hai are confronted by their allies, the Orcs, who have grown hungry and tired as they are chased by Aragorn. One of the Orcs suggests eating prisoners Merry and Pippin, but he is killed instead by the Uruk-hai’s leader, who then humorously announces, ‘Meat is back on the menu.’ The corpse of the Orc is subsequently dismembered

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and cannibalized by the hungry monsters in a sequence that is clearly reminiscent of Jackson’s early splatstick. In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the trio of trolls who debate whether to eat Bilbo and his companions are reminiscent of the hungry aliens of Bad Taste. Similarly, the grotesque look and maniacal laugh of the goblin scribe is strikingly similar to the zombie Baby Selwyn in Braindead (Staskiewicz 2013). The legacy of Peter Jackson is also particularly evident in the work of young New Zealand film makers such as Jonathan King, who in 2006 revived the tradition of the Kiwi splatter-comedy in his debut film Black Sheep. Black Sheep is the elaboration of a simple idea: what if sheep revolted by feasting on human flesh and turning their victims into huge ‘weresheep’? The tagline of the film encapsulates the essence of the narrative: ‘There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand. . . and they are pissed off!’. King’s collaboration with Weta Workshop lies at the heart of the film, which combines a defining image of New Zealand, sheep, with buckets of gore. The film plays upon the contemporary fear of genetic manipulation and the guilt associated with meat processing, one of New Zealand’s main exports and sources of wealth. Much of the humour derives from the reference to New Zealand culture: the opposition between the urban and the rural; New Zealanders’ attitude towards sheep; the subversion of the national cliché of the beautiful scenery, which in the film is associated with horror and death. More significantly, perhaps, Black Sheep, like Braindead, deals with the process of overcoming the childhood trauma of the father’s death. In both cases, trauma is linked to the colonial experience and alienation from the land. In Braindead, Lionel’s father is murdered by Mother, who, in turn, is a metaphor for the oppressive legacy of the British Empire. In Black Sheep, Henry’s father is symbolically swallowed by the land as he falls from a cliff to save a sheep. In both cases the trauma is overcome by facing an excess of horror that is so radical and extreme that it becomes comic. In cinematic Kiwi splatstick, the excess of horror and splatter is part of a maturation process in which alienation and fear are literally slashed and cut to pieces within the safe boundaries of the comic (Leotta 2010, 303). Gothic or splatter comedy is therefore a means to deal with settler history and the colonial experience by exposing the horror in all its physicality and confining it to the

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domain of the comic. Many New Zealanders (including Jackson) are only first- or second-generation citizens and splatstick could be understood as a device that counters the settler anxiety derived from the alienation experienced in an unfamiliar land. Kiwi splatstick has the therapeutic and liberating power of a carnival midway as, in Peter Jackson’s words, ‘there is a laugh with every drop of blood’ (Jackson cited in Hiles 2004).

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn Since the mid-2000s Peter Jackson has collaborated with Steven Spielberg on the development of a film franchise based on Tintin, a fictional character created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Jackson acted as producer and first unit director on the first film of the series, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Spielberg 2011), and announced that he would direct the second film of the franchise with the aim of a 2015 release date (Child 2012). Despite the fact that Jackson did not direct The Secret of the Unicorn, the director himself, Steven Spielberg, admitted that Jackson made an essential creative contribution to the project (Simpson 2011). The film, which was animated by Jackson’s own post-production company, Weta Digital, represented a significant milestone in the career of the Wellington film maker. On the one hand, the film reinforced the creative collaboration between Jackson and Spielberg (who had been Executive Producer on The Lovely Bones). On the other hand, as a 3D animated motion picture, The Secret of the Unicorn presented Jackson and Weta Digital with a set of new artistic and technical challenges. Jackson had been a fan of the Tintin comic books since his childhood: ‘I grew up reading Tintin, and I considered him to be a role model for me. He has all the adventures you dream of having’ (Jackson cited in Pilkington 2011). The series created by Hergé in 1929 revolves around the adventures of a young Belgian reporter, Tintin, and his faithful Fox Terrier dog, Snowy, who become involved in dangerous quests around the world. The Adventures of Tintin quickly became one of the most popular European comics of the twentieth century and was adapted in a variety of

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media, including a radio series, two animated television shows and several live-action movies. Unlike Jackson, Spielberg came into contact with Tintin only as an adult. In 1981, a French reviewer compared Indiana Jones, the character depicted by Spielberg, to the adventurous Tintin and Spielberg decided to read the books, which had never found extensive popularity in the American market. Spielberg purchased rights to produce a film based on the comic books series after Hergé’s death in 1983 and re-optioned them in 2002. Hergé himself supported Spielberg’s film project as he had been disappointed with the previous cinematic adaptations of the series. According to Michael Farr, Hergé was a Spielberg fan and he thought the Hollywood film maker was ‘the only person who could ever do Tintin justice’ (Farr cited in Bowie-Sell 2011). Spielberg had intended to make a film based on The Adventures of Tintin since the early 1980s, however, he was reluctant to shoot a live-action film as he thought it would have been dismissed as a mere Indiana Jones spin-off. Spielberg believed that Tintin characters had to look like Hergé’s original imagining; however, he was also opposed to using prosthetics and other traditional make-up effects. In the late 2000s, after visiting the set of James Cameron’s Avatar, Spielberg decided to make a Tintin film using the innovative motion capture technology adopted in Cameron’s movie. Spielberg then sought the collaboration of Jackson as the co-founder of Weta Digital, the company that produced the visual effects for Avatar and played a pioneering role in the development of motion capture technology in films such as LOTR and King Kong. After producing a test that featured the character of Snowy, Jackson claimed that motion capture technology was the most appropriate way to recreate Tintin. According to Jackson, the combination of motion-capture performance and animation allowed them to combine photorealism with the stylized portrayal of the characters typical of the comic books: ‘We’re making them look photorealistic; the fibres of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people – but real Hergé people!’ (Jackson cited in McClintock, Thompson). In close consultation with the Hergé Estate, the two film makers enlisted screenwriters Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish to develop the script for the film adaptation. To introduce viewers to the major characters of the Tintin series, the film makers decided

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to combine three popular books – The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackam’s Treasure – into the plot of the first movie adaptation. Referring to the original Hergé stories, Joe Cornish claimed that: ‘they’re filled with moral concepts, a sense of travel and exoticism, while always introducing you to the grandness of the world and to scientific ideas [. . .]. We [the screenwriters] wanted to bring all that scope to the screenplay’ (Columbia Pictures 2011). The Secret of the Unicorn begins with young reporter Tintin, and his loyal dog Snowy, buying a scale model of a ship called The Unicorn at a local market. When the model is accidentally broken, Tintin discovers a clue about the location of a mysterious treasure. During the treasure hunt, Tintin meets Captain Haddock and they discover that the treasure is actually the lost cargo of Haddock’s seventeenth-century ancestor, Sir Francis. Along the way Tintin is menaced by diabolical villain Ivan Sakharine who is also pursuing the treasure. Assisted by Snowy, Haddock and two clumsy detectives, Thompson & Thompson, Tintin travels around different regions of the world, eventually outrunning his enemies in the chase to The Unicorn’s treasure. The film makers attempted to emphasize the elements of film noir, the Hitchcockian suspense and the spectacular action sequences that characterized the original stories. At the same time, Jackson and Spielberg eliminated the racist undertones which characterized some of Hergé’s early comic books. Jackson chose British actor Jamie Bell to play the role of Tintin as he had previously cast him in King Kong. Similarly, Andy Serkis was selected as Haddock because of his extensive experience as mocap performer in several of Jackson’s films. Spielberg also enlisted Daniel Craig to play the role of the villain, Sakharine, and the comic duo Nick Frost and Simon Pegg to voice and give movements to Thompson & Thompson. The character of Snowy was animated traditionally without resorting to motion capture and his vocal effects were drawn from several different dogs. Principal photography for The Secret of the Unicorn began in early 2009 and lasted for thirty-two days. Spielberg directed the cast’s physical performance in the Giant Studios of Playa Vista in California, while Jackson supervised the shoot via teleconference. The film makers used an upgraded version of the motion capture technology developed by James Cameron in Avatar. The actors

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were prepped in custom suits, while 50 markers and head rigs were used to capture facial motion (Restuccio 2012). The film makers also developed an innovative system that projected the actors’ performances into a computer-generated environment in real time. As the actors performed on stage, the motion data was synchronized to character models, which, in turn, moved in the 3D virtual environments built by Weta Digital. Spielberg was able to use a virtual camera that allowed him to explore different angles while directing the actors: There was more freedom than in a normal film because I could place the virtual camera anywhere I liked. With the press of a button, I could control the up and down and side to side of the camera. [. . .] It’s another medium in between pure computer animation and a live-action movie. It’s an interesting hybrid. (Spielberg cited in Pilkington 2011) Jackson acted as second unit director as well as producer and shot some action sequences in New Zealand. Once the performance capture was locked, Weta Digital worked for more than eighteen months to animate and render the movie. Tintin was rendered a second time for the digital process required to create the 3D version. According to Jackson, for whom Tintin represented one of the first forays into 3D cinema, his own experience with 3D technology was positive: ‘because Tintin was fully rendered in a computer, it made the three-dimensional aspect of the film relatively easy to do’ (Columbia Pictures 2011). The film was well received by international viewers and critics alike, grossing US$374 million at the box office. The Secret of the Unicorn was particularly successful in Europe (where it benefitted from the presence of a pre-existing Tintin fanbase) and India where the film became the highest grossing animation film of all times. The film was nominated for Best Original Score at the 2012 Academy Awards and received several awards, including two BAFTAs. The Secret of the Unicorn was also the first non-Pixar production to receive a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film. The film received mainly positive reviews with international critics particularly praising the script, the use of motion capture technology and the spectacular 3D aesthetics. Several reviewers claimed that one of the strengths of the film lay in the balance

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between photorealism and the characters’ stylization. Daily Variety film critic, Leslie Felperin, for example, wrote that: With immense sensitivity, the animators have translated Hergé’s spare, elegant drawings into a multidimensional world that seems realistic (especially in its use of chiaroscuro lighting, which plays wonderfully with sunlight and shadows throughout) yet still charmingly stylized and cartoony. (Felperin 2011) The Secret of the Unicorn was an important turning point in Jackson’s career for several reasons. First, the film marked the beginning of a new franchise that has the potential to become as successful, both in commercial and in artistic terms, as LOTR/The Hobbit. Secondly, The Secret of the Unicorn provided Jackson with the opportunity to learn and experiment with new formats and technologies (digital animation and 3D technology). Finally, the Tintin project reinforced Jackson’s creative collaboration with another successful ‘auteur-entrepreneur’, Steven Spielberg. Jackson’s ongoing relationship with world-leading film makers such as Spielberg and Cameron has provided the Wellingtonian with a constant flow of creative opportunities for his visual effects companies.

The Frighteners Despite its limited critical and commercial success, The Frighteners represented a crucial turning point in Jackson’s career. By persuading Universal to make The Frighteners in Wellington Jackson was able, for the first time in his career, to bring Hollywood to New Zealand. The large scale of the film production contributed to rapidly increasing the skills and capability of Weta, thus paving the way for large-scale projects such as the LOTR trilogy. Jackson’s previous film, Heavenly Creatures, was nominated for an Academy Award and was distributed by Miramax, a company with a reputation for nurturing rising stars such as Quentin Tarantino. With the international success of Heavenly Creatures, Jackson both gained significant media exposure in the United States and attracted the interest of the studios. Jackson had established

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significant relationships in Hollywood, selling a script to New Line Cinema in the early 1990s for their Nightmare on Elm Street series. During the early stages of their career, Jackson and Walsh attempted to sell several movie ideas to Hollywood studios with no intention of directing them. Referring to their strategy, Jackson noted that: ‘we wouldn’t have anything to do with them, they’d just be a bit of work in between movies’ (Jackson cited in Pryor 2003, 183). In 1993, during the pre-production stages of Heavenly Creatures, Jackson and Walsh submitted an idea for a ghost movie titled The Frighteners to Robert Zemeckis, one of the producers of the TV series Tales from the Crypt. Robert Zemeckis, who had a prominent role within Universal after the success of the Back to the Future series, liked the brief treatment for The Frighteners and asked Walsh and Jackson for the full script. After reading the script, Zemeckis thought that The Frighteners would not fit the format of Tales from the Crypt; however, he felt the story had the potential to be a stand-alone feature film. In 1994 Zemeckis publicly announced that Universal would produce The Frighteners and the film would be directed by Jackson himself. During the negotiations for The Frighteners Jackson insisted that the film should be shot and postproduced in New Zealand. On the one hand, Jackson wanted to film in New Zealand in order to retain more creative control over the film away from the studio executives. On the other hand, Jackson also needed to provide Weta, his newly established visual effects company, with a steady stream of commissions. Universal’s top management, seduced by the availability in Wellington of cheap labour and infrastructures, agreed to the film being shot in New Zealand. The only condition set by Zemeckis and the studio was that the film should be set in (and actually look like) a Midwest American town. Referring to Universal’s decision to shoot the film in New Zealand, Jackson claimed that: ‘It’s a little bit of Hollywood coming to New Zealand. It’s not me going to Hollywood, that’s something I’ve always resisted. I just love making movies and there’s no logical reason to change that’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 302). New Zealand had previously attracted international ‘runaway productions’; however, The Frighteners was an important landmark in the history of the country’s film industry as it was the first Hollywood-funded film to be entirely produced and postproduced in New Zealand under the control of a local film maker. By making The Frighteners in his hometown, Wellington, Jackson

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reversed a common trend in the New Zealand film industry that has often forced successful film makers, including Jane Campion, Vincent Ward, Lee Tamahori and Geoff Murphy, to leave the country in order to achieve international success. At the stylistic and thematic level, The Frighteners represented a return to the ‘Splatstick’ genre, the playful blending of splatter, comedy and action, which characterized Jackson’s early career. The hybrid nature of the movie was described by Jackson himself as ‘Caspar meets The Silence of the Lambs’ (Jackson cited in Martin and Edwards 1997, 190). The film revolves around the adventures of Frank Bannister, a psychic who uses his abilities to befriend ghosts, convincing them to haunt rich suburban houses that he will then free for a fee. Troubles arise when Bannister has to confront the ghost of a vicious mass murderer who has promised to kill him. Jackson and Zemeckis cast major Hollywood star Michael J. Fox (who had played the leading role in Zemeckis’s Back to the Future series) as Frank Bannister. The other major asset of the film, however, was the quality of the special effects created by Weta. Almost every character in The Frighteners was to appear as a ghost during the course of the film and the film makers had to make extensive use of bluescreen effects and CGI in order to achieve this (Hawker 2014, 39). The film required more digital effects shots than almost any other production made up until that time and Weta had to quickly enhance its capability by hiring several new animators, technical directors, digital compositors and so on. The large number of physical and digital effects necessary for the ghost sequences meant that despite the rapid expansion of Weta, the film makers were forced to seek the assistance of international special effects professionals. Richard Taylor invited Rick Baker, an award-winning American make-up artist, to help with the complex design of some of the prosthetics (Hawker 2014, 38). The main problem, however, lay in the development of the digital effects as Weta’s lack of experience in this field meant the project quickly got behind schedule. Supervisor of digital effects and Weta co-founder, George Port claimed that: None of us had worked on a project of that scale before. Not producing, directing, certainly not effects-wise. So all we had to go on is what we knew from research and seeing other films. There was still a sense of being able to get by on the Kiwi numbereight wire mentality. (Port cited in Pryor 2003, 193)

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The large number of effects required put considerable pressure on the small team supervised by Port and Zemeckis enlisted Wes Takahashi, from Industrial Light and Magic, to collaborate on the development of the digital effects. Zemeckis also secured a US$6 million top up to hire fifteen American staff members and purchase new technology. Salary differences between the New Zealand and American staff created internal tensions, which led to George Port leaving the company he had co-founded only months before the completion of the film (Sibley 2006, 322). Weta eventually managed to deliver the 500 complex special effects shots required for the film. The quality of the effects was so high that Universal executives decided to move the film’s release (originally scheduled for Halloween) to the more profitable summer period. Despite Michael J. Fox’s performance and the impressive special effects, the film underperformed in the targeted mainstream American market as the audience was confused by the blend of comedy and horror. At the same time it did not please the old splatstick fans as the grotesque comic and splatter elements were restrained by the American studio more concerned with appealing to family audiences. The film did particularly well in New Zealand; however, it barely managed to recoup its budget in the rest of the world. Some critics were particularly enthusiastic about the special effects, while others remained sceptical. Philip Matthews wrote a particularly negative review for the New Zealand Listener in which he criticized the film’s over-reliance on pastiche and intertextual references ‘[the film is] built so completely from its references that, if one brick came out, the whole structure would collapse’ (Matthews cited in Martin and Edwards 1997, 190). The mixed reviews and the film’s poor performance at the box office did not stop Jackson’s transition from cult film maker to major blockbuster director and producer. The work produced by Weta for The Frighteners raised the international profile of the film-making skills available in New Zealand. Most importantly, despite the budget top up required to complete the film, Weta proved to be considerably cheaper than its American counterparts, thus catching the attention of the Hollywood studios. In particular, Universal quickly realized the potential benefits associated with continuing a partnership with Jackson; in 1996 (when The Frighteners was still in the post-production stage) the studio’s vice-president, Lenny Kornburg asked the Wellington film maker

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to direct a remake of King Kong (see A–Z: King Kong). While The Frighteners is often considered as one of Jackson’s weakest artistic endeavours, the film was a significant stepping stone in his career as it established Weta as one of the leading visual effects companies in the world.

The Hobbit With an estimated budget of US$750 million, The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014) is the biggest project undertaken by Peter Jackson to date. The Hobbit series is based on the eponymous J.R.R. Tolkien novel and comprises three films: The Unexpected Journey; The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies. The Hobbit franchise is considered the prequel of the LOTR series and features several characters and storylines that appear in the first cinematic adaptation of the Middle Earth saga. Like the LOTR trilogy, The Hobbit films were shot back to back in New Zealand and were released over a three-year period between 2012 and 2014. The Hobbit film series has earned around US$3 billion and is considered a commercial success; however, the three films have received mixed reviews and have failed to achieve the same critical acclaim of the LOTR trilogy. In particular, Jackson has been accused of betraying the spirit of the original text by turning the adaptation of The Hobbit (a much shorter book compared with LOTR) into a trilogy. The conclusive episode of The Hobbit franchise, The Battle of the Five Armies, is the last instalment of the Middle Earth saga as Jackson announced that it is unlikely that he will direct another cinematic adaptation of Tolkien’s work (Ritman 2014).

Plot The story takes place sixty years before the events narrated in LOTR and revolves around the adventures of Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is a hobbit who has been convinced by Gandalf the wizard to join a company of dwarves intending to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. The mountain hosts the immense treasure of the dwarf kings who had been forced from their realm following

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Smaug’s attack. The party, which comprises Bilbo, Gandalf and thirteen dwarves, is led by the heir to the dwarf kingdom, Thorin Oakenshield, who promises an equal share of the treasure to all the members of the company. During their journey through Middle Earth the fellowship is chased by a pack of orcs led by Azog the Defiler, who is seeking revenge against Thorin after the dwarf prince defeated him in a previous battle. As they cross the Misty Mountains the company is captured by the Goblin king who plans on delivering Thorin to Azog. Bilbo, who has become accidentally separated from the dwarves falls into a cave where he finds a gold ring that belongs to a mysterious creature called Gollum. After discovering that the ring grants invisibility, Bilbo escapes Gollum’s attack and rejoins the dwarves, who meanwhile have been freed by Gandalf. As Gandalf leaves the company to investigate the ruins of Dol Guldur, Bilbo and the dwarves are captured by the elves of the Mirkwood forest. Bilbo manages to free the dwarves, thanks to his magic ring; however, the company is attacked once again by Azog’s orcs. Elf prince Legolas and she-elf warrior Tauriel help the dwarves to defeat the orcs and reach Lake Town where the members of the company are welcomed as saviours. After entering the mountain, however, the dwarves are discovered by Smaug who, in retaliation, flies off to destroy Lake Town before being killed by Bard the Bowman. In the meantime, Gandalf discovers that Gol Guldur is actually inhabited by Sauron, who is breeding a powerful army of orcs to conquer Middle Earth. As various armies of elves, dwarves and men prepare to battle for the treasure of the Lonely Mountain, they are attacked by a horde of orcs led by Azog. Elves, dwarves and men join forces against the orcs, but in the ensuing battle Thorin, Fili and Kili (who sacrifices himself to save Tauriel) are killed. As the great eagles join the conflict, the orcs are quickly decimated and Azog’s armies defeated. After the battle Bilbo bids farewell to the surviving dwarves and returns to the Shire with the ring and a small portion of Smaug’s treasure. Sixty years later, as he begins writing his recollection of the events for the benefit of his nephew Frodo, Bilbo receives a visit from Gandalf. The final sequence of The Battle of the Five Armies corresponds to the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring (the first instalment of the LOTR series), thus bridging, chronologically, the two trilogies.

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Development The development of The Hobbit film trilogy was fraught with a complex series of negotiations, lawsuits and production delays. Peter Jackson had attempted to direct an adaptation of The Hobbit since completing The Frighteners in 1996. Following Jackson’s enquiries, Harvey Weinstein, the CEO of Miramax, a production company which had signed Jackson on a first look deal, discovered that the film rights for both LOTR and The Hobbit belonged to Saul Zaentz. Miramax agreed to produce The Hobbit, which, if successful, would have been followed by two films based on the LOTR novel. Since Weinstein was unable to secure the rights for The Hobbit, Miramax signed a deal with Jackson to produce only two films based on LOTR. After a series of tortuous negotiations, the LOTR adaptation was eventually produced by New Line Cinema as three films that were eventually released in the early 2000s. The major success of the LOTR series meant that speculations about the making of a movie based on Tolkien’s The Hobbit began shortly after the release of The Return of the King in 2003. The complex legal situation regarding The Hobbit rights meant that the film would have been produced by New Line Cinema and MGM, which owned part of the rights (Sibley 2012, 17). In 2006, however, Jackson initiated a lawsuit against New Line Cinema over royalties from the LOTR films. During the legal dispute, Robert Shaye, the CEO of New Line, declared that he did not intend to work with the Wellingtonian film maker on the adaptation of Tolkien’s book: ‘I do not want to make a movie with someone who is suing me. It will never happen on my watch’ (Shaye cited in AFP and NZPA 2007). By 2007, however, Shaye backtracked and attempted to convince Jackson to direct the film (Dominion Post 2007). In late 2007, New Line Cinema finally announced that it would produce two Hobbit films to be written and produced (but not directed) by Peter Jackson (Fleming 2007). Referring to his decision not to direct the films, Jackson claimed that: If I were to make these films, I would be frustrated because I would be constantly thinking about what I had done on The Lord of the Rings. I would somehow feel that I had to build

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or improve on that. I thought it would be a fairly unsatisfying experience to compete against my own movies. (Jackson cited in Sibley 2012, 17) Shortly after the public announcement, the Tolkien Estate filed a lawsuit against New Line Cinema for breach of contract and fraud, demanding compensation for the LOTR trilogy. The directors of the Tolkien Estate, who had disliked Jackson’s cinematic adaptation of LOTR, also sought to rescind New Line Cinema’s rights to make The Hobbit. The legal dispute was eventually settled; in the meantime, New Line Cinema had merged with Warner Brothers, which would eventually distribute the films internationally. In 2008, the producers hired Mexican-born director Guillermo Del Toro to direct the film series. Pre-production began shortly afterwards in August 2008 with Del Toro, Jackson, Walsh and Boyens writing the scripts for the two films. Del Toro claimed that his version of The Hobbit would have emphasized the ‘fairy tale’ quality of the original text: ‘it will be a more “golden world”, a more wide-eyed world. But by no means we will depart from the canon, we will take the previous films as canon’ (Del Toro cited in Xoanon 2008). Del Toro began working on design concepts with Alan Lee, John Howe and Weta Workshop, attempting to develop visual elements, which simultaneously reflected continuity with the LOTR films and Del Toro’s own vision of Middle Earth. Despite the intense pre-production work conducted by Jackson and Del Toro, by 2010, The Hobbit had still to be officially green-lit due to MGM’s financial difficulties. Following a long production delay, in May 2010, Del Toro left the project forcing New Line to find a new director. After a series of speculations, in October 2010, New Line and Warner Brothers announced that Jackson would replace Del Toro as director of the film series. Commenting on Jackson’s decision to direct The Hobbit movies, Philippa Boyens claimed that: ‘by the time it became clear that Guillermo wasn’t going to direct, I think Pete had become so involved in the writing and creation of the world that it felt a lot easier to take on the task than he probably originally imagined’ (Boyens cited in Sibley 2012, 19). Meanwhile, MGM had been bailed out and the producers also confirmed that the project had been green-lit, with principal photography starting in February 2011.

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Pre-production for The Hobbit was also marred by an industrial dispute between the producers and the International Federation of Actors. Following Warner Brothers’ refusal to engage performers on union-negotiated agreements, the actors’ union issued a boycott order, which in turn was quickly followed by the producers’ announcement that the production would be moved out of New Zealand. A large section of the country’s population sided with Jackson and Warner Brothers, organizing public rallies in support of the producers. The government offered further financial incentives to keep the production in the country and introduced new legislation that limited the right of workers to organize unions in the film industry (see Chapter 3). The producers accepted the government’s offer and the union reached an agreement with Warner Brothers, however, the beginning of filming was further delayed as Jackson was hospitalized in early 2011 for a perforated ulcer (McNary 2011). Pre-production preparations continued and principal photography eventually began on 21 March 2011 after Jackson was released from hospital.

Adaptation The cinematic adaptation of The Hobbit had been envisioned as a two parts since 2006 when MGM expressed an interest in the project. Initially, Del Toro believed that due to the relative light weight of the original novel, The Hobbit could have been contained in the first film, with the sequel bridging the gap between The Hobbit and LOTR. By November 2008, Del Toro had decided to abandon the idea of a ‘bridge film’ as he acknowledged that the book contained enough material for a two-part adaptation (Ferrante 2009). Jackson initially followed the original decision to make two films containing only material from The Hobbit; however, in 2012, he announced that he would turn the adaptation of the novel into a trilogy. The screenwriters drew upon Tolkien’s Appendices to The Return of the King, which tell of events leading up to and following those narrated in The Hobbit: ‘using this material has helped us take the story into Tolkien’s broader mythology’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2012, 22). For Jackson, one of the major challenges of the adaptation process resided in the tone of the original novel: while LOTR had been written for an adult readership, Tolkien

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had conceived The Hobbit as a children’s book. Jackson himself decided that the stylistic and narrative continuity between the two trilogies was an essential aspect of the project: ‘I was going to be the same film-maker I had been on The Lord of the Rings, but was simply returning to Middle Earth to tell a new story’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2012, 7). The film makers were aware of Tolkien’s plan to rewrite The Hobbit to bring it in line with the more complex mythology of Middle Earth he had created in LOTR. Anticipating potential critiques they claimed that the decision to expand on the material featured in the original novel was respectful of Tolkien’s vision: ‘In our adaptation of The Hobbit we have done something that Tolkien didn’t succeed in doing in print and, hopefully this will come fresh to people who have never seen the full story playing in chronological order’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2012, 22). Jackson and his team of screenwriters added several new scenes that were not mentioned in the book with the aim of filling some of the unexplained gaps in the original story. In particular, the films included numerous sequences that describe Gandalf’s encounter with the Necromancer after he leaves the company. The cinematic adaptations also emphasized the narrative significance of minor figures like Radagast and Azog the Defiler (which were only briefly alluded to in the novel) and introduced completely new characters like She-Elf Tauriel, who does not appear in any of Tolkien’s works. The screenwriters believed it was important to introduce a female presence to counterbalance a narrative dominated by male characters (Sibley 2013, 97). Consequently, they also added a number of new sub-plots that did not appear in the book, most notably the love affair between Fili, one of the members of Thorin’s company, and Tauriel. Another major challenge was represented by the need to develop individual characteristics for each member of the large group of main characters, which comprised thirteen dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf. In particular, the screenwriters’ team struggled with the need to endow each dwarf with a distinct personality: ‘normally in a film you wouldn’t start with thirteen characters who are all very similar. There is just too many of them to ask the audience to get to know’ (Boyens cited in Sibley 2013, 16). While the overall look of the dwarves was inspired by Gimli, the only major dwarf character appearing in LOTR, each member of Thorin’s company was given a unique personality as well as distinctive make-up, hair, costume and props. From this point of

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view, the cinematic adaptation differs from the book in which the dwarves were only vaguely defined. Another major difference between Jackson’s version of The Hobbit and the original source material is constituted by the representation of the character of Thorin Oakenshield. While in the book Thorin is an elderly dwarf with a long white beard, in the film he is played by forty-three-yearold actor Richard Armitage. Referring to this significant difference between the novel and its cinematic adaptation, Armitage stated that, ‘Thorin shouldn’t be played as an old man, but as a mighty warrior who rekindled and reignited, comes back into his prime to lead the Dwarves’ quest to recover their treasure’ (Armitage cited in Sibley 2012, 48). The screenwriters regarded Bilbo Baggins as the most important character in the series. Bilbo is both the protagonist of The Hobbit films and the link to the previous trilogy; at the same time, however, his personality in the two franchises is markedly different. In The Fellowship of the Ring the old Bilbo Baggins, played by Ian Holm, is an eccentric character treated with suspicion by the rest of the community. The young Bilbo that appears in An Unexpected Journey, by contrast, is a much more conservative hobbit who is averse to the idea of leaving his home in the Shire. According to Peter Jackson, the ‘real story’ of The Hobbit is about the way in which Bilbo, an innocent, comfort-loving hobbit, copes with the hazards of the adventurous journey to the Lonely Mountain and ‘begins his transformation into the Bilbo we meet, sixty years later, in The Lord of the Rings’ (Jackson cited in Sibley 2013, 9).

Production The major commercial success of LOTR limited the financial risks associated with a second Middle Earth film franchise and encouraged the producers to invest significant financial resources onto the making of The Hobbit films. When The Hobbit franchise was announced for the first time in 2007 as a two-film series, it was estimated that each instalment would cost about US$150 million. As of March 2014, Warner Bros financial statements revealed that the production costs had reached US$745 million, three times as

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much the budget of LOTR. Since the 2014 report does not take into account post-production on The Battle of the Five Armies, it is estimated that the overall budget of The Hobbit film series will reach US$800 million, making it one of the most expensive trilogies in the history of cinema. New Zealand taxpayers covered a significant portion of the budget, contributing US$122 million through a financial incentive scheme designed to attract major productions to the country (Bulbeck 2014). Most of the members of the production crew of LOTR returned for The Hobbit. The screenwriters’ team (Jackson, Walsh and Boyens) was virtually unchanged, although Del Toro, who had left the production in 2010, was also credited as a writer for the three films. Alan Lee and John Howe, two prestigious Tolkien illustrators who had served as chief conceptual designers on LOTR came back to create much of the imagery for The Hobbit. Similarly, Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, which had won several Academy Awards for their work on LOTR, provided the special effects for the latest trilogy. Jackson also enlisted the help of trusted collaborators such as Andrew Lesnie (DOP), Howard Shore (composer), Christian Rivers (storyboarding) and Carolyne Cunningham (producer), who had all participated to the first Middle Earth film series. Dan Hennah, who had been a supervising set decorator for LOTR, replaced Grant Major as production designer, while Jabez Olssen, assistant editor on Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, supplanted Jamie Selkirk as principal editor. Andy Serkis, the motion capture performer who played Gollum in the first trilogy, was also hired as second unit director, despite his limited directing experience. Referring to his film-making role in The Hobbit, Serkis stated that: ‘I think I understand Peter’s sensibility and we have a common history of understanding Middle Earth. A lot of the crew from The Lord of the Rings was returning to work on The Hobbit. There is really a sense of Peter wanting people around him who totally understand the material and the work ethic’ (Serkis cited in Giardina, 2011). The casting process for the major roles began in October 2010 when it was announced that Martin Freeman had been chosen to play Bilbo Baggins. Despite being ten years younger than Bilbo at the time of his adventures, Martin Freeman was the film makers’

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first choice. Referring to the decision to cast the English actor as the protagonist of the trilogy, Philippa Boyens stated that: It had been in the back of our minds that, if we ever did The Hobbit, Martin was the hobbit. Bilbo is a difficult character to play; [. . .] you need an actor with a great range who can play not just the comedy but, in a very real way the drama. He can be vulnerable at the same time as being staunch and strong; he can be funny at the same time as having great pathos. (Boyens cited in Sibley 2014, 64) As for LOTR, Jackson selected a mix of unknown performers alongside popular stars. Shortly after the casting of Martin Freeman the studios announced that several other international actors had joined the project. The producers hired Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, Graeme McTavish as Dwalin, Aidan Turner as Kili, James Nesbitt as Bofur, Ken Stott as Balin and Adam Brown as Ori. Jackson made extensive use of local actors to play the members of the company casting Mark Hadlow as Dori, John Callen as Oin, Peter Hambleton as Gloin, Stephen Hunter as Bombur and William Kircher as Bifur. Jed Brophy, who had collaborated on several Jackson’s films, was cast as Nori. Jackson also recruited several returning cast members from LOTR, including Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee and Orlando Bloom. Shortly after the beginning of filming Rob Kazinsky, who had been hired to play the role of Fili, left the film for ‘personal reasons’. He was quickly replaced by Dean O’Gorman, a young New Zealand actor who had appeared in various local films and TV shows. During the making of the first film it was also announced that several other actors had joined the production. Luke Evans and Evangeline Lily were cast as Bard the Bowman and Tauriel, respectively, while Benedict Cumberbatch was chosen to play the roles of Smaug and The Necromancer through motion capture. Jackson also hired some experienced popular stars, including Stephen Fry, Barry Humphries, Sylvester McCoy and Billy Connolly, to play secondary roles. Principal photography for the three films began on 21 March 2011 and lasted for 266 days until 6 July 2012, with two units filming simultaneously. Additional filming for the second and third

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film began in May 2013 and lasted for ten weeks (One News 2013). The films were shot on 3D at 48 fps instead of the industry standard of 24 fps. Jackson intended to shoot LOTR in 3D; however, due to technical complexities he had soon abandoned the idea. Technological advances and the expertise gained by Jackson’s collaborators during the making of Avatar and other major productions shot in Wellington made 3D filming a viable option. The film makers used a special rig designed by 3ality Technica, which enabled shooting simultaneously with two cameras that simulated the visual depth characteristic of human sight. The adoption of 3D technology meant that many of the optical tricks employed by Jackson in LOTR such as ‘forced perspective’ (which previously enabled Frodo to ride alongside Gandalf in his cart) could not be used in The Hobbit. Consequently, the film makers made extensive use of scale-doubles and green screen to create the illusion of height difference between the different characters. The cinematographers used forty-eight Red Epic cameras, which were customized to shoot at 48 fps. Jackson’s decision to shoot at a higher frame rate was justified by the need to eliminate the eyestrain caused by blurred images in traditional 3D films (see A–Z: High Frame Rate). High Definition filming at 48 fps showed objects and human figures with the sharpest clarity, and therefore posed a significant challenge to the production designers due to the necessity for extremely realistic sets, props and make up. According to Weta Workshop Production Manager Jamie Wilson: Filming in HD means that you have to be extra vigilant because there is no way of hiding any blemishes or imperfections. It’s not that it sees anything more, it is merely that, being in HD, it is less forgiving and every seam, join or chip will be seen for ever in glorious colour high-definition. (Wilson cited in Sibley 2012, 149) The Hobbit films were shot at the Stone Street Studios in Wellington and several other locations around New Zealand. Due to his fragile health, some of the scenes featuring Christopher Lee were filmed at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. The film makers returned to the original set of Hobbiton in Matamata, which had been partially dismantled after the making of LOTR and rebuilt it using permanent materials with a view to transforming it into a popular

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tourism attraction. For The Hobbit Jackson used fewer locations than LOTR and most of the scenes were shot in the Wellington studios using artificial sets. The art department erected more than 120 sets using a team of 350 people on a 24-hour rotation, seven days a week. In many cases the same set was built to two different scales in order to shrink actors from human height to dwarf size (Brodie 2015, 18). Weta Workshop developed an innovative prosthetic silicone system for the dwarves and other Middle Earth Creatures, creating up to forty prosthetics a day during the production period (Hawker 2014, 192). Weta Digital played a crucial role in the making of the films, developing approximately 2,000 visual effects shots for each instalment of the trilogy (nearly double the number they had created for LOTR) (Mitchell 2004; Frei 2013). For The Hobbit films Peter Jackson made extensive use of CGI to create some of the fantastic places and beings that inhabit Middle Earth. While in the LOTR Jackson had employed miniatures to generate imaginary environments such as Rivendell and Mordor, in The Hobbit most of the film space was digitally generated, with the actors being filmed on sets against giant green screens. Similarly, while in the first trilogy the film makers had often resorted to full-body make up and prosthetics, many of the fantastic creatures, including orcs and trolls, that appear in The Hobbit were entirely computer generated. Some of the digital characters that had appeared in LOTR were also greatly enhanced. Gollum, for example, featured much more realistic skin textures and hair detailing. Senior Effects supervisor Joe Letteri claimed that the upgrading of Gollum was complemented by a more sophisticated use of motion capture: On The Two Towers MoCap was experimental, on King Kong we found we could capture face as well as body, on Avatar we put the two together in a virtual world and for The Rise of Planet of the Apes we figured how to do it live on a set. By the time we got to The Hobbit we were able to do it all. (Letteri cited in Sibley 2013, 31) The films required the creation of a series of new digitally generated creatures, including hedgehogs, armies of goblins, stone giants and Smaug, an enormous fire-breathing dragon. Jackson conceived Smaug as being nearly 140 metre long and it took six months for

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the Textures team of Weta to hand model and hand paint more than one million scales for Smaug’s body (Sibley 2014, 32). The music of The Hobbit films was composed by Howard Shore who had scored all the three LOTR films. Like Jackson, Shore regarded the two trilogies as part of the same saga. Therefore, the musical themes of The Hobbit, particularly those related to characters and places that had appeared in LOTR, were characterized by significant elements of continuity with the first trilogy. The music for An Unexpected Journey was performed by the London Philarmonic Orchestra and recorded at Abbey Studios. The score for the remaining two films, however, was performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and recorded at the Wellington Town Hall. This decision was motivated by Jackson’s inability to leave New Zealand during post-production for the second and third film. Continuing a tradition established in LOTR, popular singers like Neil Finn and Ed Sheeran contributed to the score, writing and performing original songs for the closing credits. Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin Tuck in LOTR, composed and sung The Last Goodbye for the final instalment of the trilogy. Shortly before the release of The Battle of the Five Armies in December 2014, a music video of the song featuring clips from the entire Middle Earth filmography was uploaded onto You Tube.

Reception The three films were released between 2012 and 2014 and are considered a commercial success, grossing nearly US$3 billion internationally. An Unexpected Journey out grossed the first two LOTR films; however, this does not take into account inflation and the dramatic increase of ticket prices for 3D films. In reality, in the United States, only 32.3 million people saw An Unexpected Journey, while more than 60 million watched The Return of the King. According to The Sunday Times film critic, Tom Shone, The Hobbit’s inability to match the results achieved by LOTR was caused by lack of originality of the second trilogy: My general feeling is that the Hobbit movies have gone down to their core fan base. And that’s really the difference between the figures. The Lord of the Rings movies managed to transcend their

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fan base. [. . .] For the mainstream audiences that went to see The Lord of the Rings, I think that once the film won its Oscars, there was a sense of, ‘That’s good – what now?’ When the Hobbit trailers popped up, I think Orc fatigue set in. The heaving grey armies amassing in the distance don’t look sufficiently different to get mainstream audiences out of their homes and into the cinema. (Shone cited in Vaughan 2014) The films received mixed reviews: while many critics praised the actors’ performances, the high production values and the quality of the visual effects, some reviewers criticized Jackson’s decision to turn the adaptation of The Hobbit (a much shorter book compared with LOTR) into a trilogy. In a particularly scathing review, The Telegraph critic Tim Robey defined The Battle of the Five Armies as ‘a paragraph on steroids’ that ‘begs not to exist’ (Robey 2014). Several critics also disliked the overall effect of the High Rate Frame format, which was often compared to the aesthetic of cheap daytime television. The first two instalments of the series were each nominated for three Academy Awards, however, The Hobbit franchise only managed to win one technical Oscar (the Scientific and Engineering Award for An Unexpected Journey). Shortly after completing The Battle of the Five Armies Jackson announced that he would not direct any further cinematic adaptations of Tolkien’s work: ‘It’s a legal thing. The Tolkien Estate owns the writings of Professor Tolkien [. . .]. So without the cooperation of the Tolkien estate there can’t be more films’ (Jackson cited in Ritman 2014). As the last film of the Middle Earth saga The Battle of the Five Armies represented the end of a significant chapter of Jackson’s career. Since the early 2000s, mainstream international audiences have associated his name with the cinematic adaptations of Tolkien’s novels; however, the end of The Hobbit series will present Jackson with the challenge (and opportunity) to explore new creative territories. Despite their box office success, The Hobbit films have dented Jackson’s reputation internationally. Many fans of the Wellingtonian film maker expressed scepticism at the commercial opportunism that animated the development and the making of The Hobbit trilogy. The film makers blatantly attempted to maximize profits by simultaneously extending the adaptation of a popular novel into a

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trilogy and adding new (and supposedly commercially appealing) plot elements such as the love affair between Tauriel and Kili. Although The Hobbit films featured some of the characteristic marks of Jackson’s style, they lacked the originality and freshness of many of his previous works. The fine balance between realism and fantasy that characterized the first trilogy was often sacrificed to the commercial imperatives of the studios, with Jackson producing repetitive and uninspired action sequences. It remains to be seen whether in the future Jackson will manage to successfully reconcile his unique creative vision with the commercial pressure characteristic of the Hollywood studio system.

The Lord of the Rings LOTR has been acclaimed as one of the most important and revolutionary film projects in the history of cinema in terms of its scale, its extensive use of CGI and its worldwide critical and commercial success. The film series is based on the trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien and consists of three films: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). The three films, shot back to back by Peter Jackson during a fifteen-month period in New Zealand, represented a major turning point in his film-making career. The worldwide diffusion of the films boosted his international profile, and Jackson, who previously played a secondary role in the global film industry, became a familiar face to international audiences. The three parts of the trilogy are amongst the highest grossing feature films of all time. The whole franchise earned US$3 billion for the theatrical release alone. Taking into account the DVD releases and various ancillary products, the total earnings of LOTR are estimated to be about US$10 billion and rising. According to film scholar Kristin Thompson, the LOTR trilogy may be considered among ‘the most historically significant films ever made’ (Thompson 2007, 8). The three films have won more Oscars than any other film franchise in the history of world cinema and The Return of the King (2003), the concluding episode of the series, alone picked up a staggering eleven Academy awards, equalling the record of Ben Hur and Titanic.

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Plot The films are set in the fictional world of Middle Earth and revolve around the quest to destroy the One Ring and its maker, Sauron. Sauron had created the Ring in order to conquer Middle Earth; however, during a battle between Sauron and a coalition of Elves and Men, Prince Isildur defeats the former by cutting the ring from his hand. Both Sauron’s physical form and his armies are destroyed and the ring falls in the hands of Isildur, who, despite being aware of the evil power of the ring, refuses to destroy it. Isildur is eventually killed and the ring is lost for centuries, until it is recovered by a hobbit called Smeagol. The corrupting influence of the ring transforms Smeagol into Gollum, who in turn keeps the ring for several more centuries. The ring is eventually found by another hobbit, Bilbo, who brings it back to the Shire. Several decades later a wizard called Gandalf visits Bilbo, announcing that Sauron has risen again and is seeking the ring in order to subdue Middle Earth. Gandalf convinces Bilbo to pass the ring on to his nephew Frodo, who is entrusted with the dangerous task to destroy it. Frodo and his companions, Sam Gamgee, Merry and Pippin, embark on a journey to Mount Doom in order to destroy the ring. Gandalf recruits other representatives of the free people of Middle Earth (Legolas, Gimli, Boromir and Aragorn) to accompany the hobbits on their journey. The Fellowship needs to face both Sauron and his ally Saruman, who, meanwhile, have created several armies of Orcs with the goal to subdue the people of Middle Earth. After several attacks from Saruman’s emissaries the fellowship is divided. While Frodo and Sam continue their journey to Mount Doom with the help of the treacherous Gollum, the rest of the fellowship led by Aragorn, heir to the throne of the powerful kingdom of Gondor, attempts to rally the different races of Middle Earth in the war against Sauron. Eventually, Frodo and his friends manage to destroy the ring and defeat Sauron, thus re-establishing peace in Middle Earth.

Development Jackson’s first encounter with LOTR took place through Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptation of Tolkien’s novels. As a fan of fantasy

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and sci-fi films, Jackson was already familiar with some of Bakshi’s films and had been particularly impressed by Wizards (1977), one of the director’s early forays into fantasy (Sibley 2006, 47). Jackson watched Bakshi’s version of LOTR in 1978 as a seventeen-year-old: I saw Bakshi’s Rings when it first came out and at the time, I hadn’t read the book. As a result I got pretty confused! I liked the early part – it had some quaint sequences in Hobbiton, a creepy encounter with the Black Rider on the road, and a few good battle scenes – but then, about half way through, the storytelling became very disjointed and disorientating and I really didn’t understand what was going on. However, what it did do was to make me want to read the book – if only to find out what happened! (Sibley 2006, 47–48) Afterwards, Jackson bought a copy of the book and began reading it during a train journey to Auckland. Jackson, however, did not become an ardent Tolkien fan and he would not read the book again until 1995. As The Frighteners went into post-production Jackson and his collaborators began thinking about their next project. During the making of The Frighteners Weta’s capability had expanded dramatically, with the company buying thirty-five computers and hiring several new employees. The need to find major projects able to guarantee the survival of Weta became paramount for Jackson. During this period, Jackson had the idea of making a fantasy film as he thought that this niche had not been extensively explored by film makers. A fantasy film requiring extensive digital and physical effects would be particularly suitable for the kinds of skills and expertise that Weta had been able to generate since Heavenly Creatures: So, my first idea was to make a picture in the style of The Lord of the Rings, but to keep it very real: amazing buildings and creatures but real environments, characters and emotions. It should be a story that was relatively serious, have depth and complexity, but nothing should look artificial or fake [. . .]. Then Fran said, ‘Why would you want to create your own story when The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit are the really great fantasy stories; and, anyway, we could never write anything as good as that’? (Jackson cited in Sibley 2006, 312–13)

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Tolkien was not a movie fan and for a long time he was opposed to film or radio adaptations of his novels, fearing that they would trivialize the complexity of his work. During the late 1960s, however, the popularity of the books peaked and a number of film makers and artists (including The Beatles) had become interested in adapting the books. Eventually, Tolkien resolved to sell the rights for the respectable sum of 10,000 pounds; however, nobody attempted to turn LOTR into a film until Bakshi’s adaptation in 1978. When Jackson and Walsh inquired about the LOTR film rights in the mid-1990s they discovered that they were controlled by Hollywood producer Saul Zaentz. Zaentz had acquired the rights in the early 1970s from MGM who had purchased them from Tolkien himself (Sibley 2006, 314). Jackson enlisted the help of Miramax, the company that had distributed Heavenly Creatures, to negotiate with Zaentz and secure the rights to LOTR. Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein agreed to produce The Hobbit as one movie and, if successful, LOTR as two movies to be shot back to back. In the meantime, Universal, the studio that had produced The Frighteners, contacted Jackson proposing to make King Kong. Jackson, an avid fan of the 1933 version of the film, accepted enthusiastically and while Miramax was still working to buy the rights for LOTR, he began writing the script for King Kong. After a few months, however, Universal cancelled King Kong and Jackson went back to focusing on The Hobbit and LOTR. Meanwhile, it had become apparent to Miramax that the rights situation for The Hobbit was particularly complex as Saul Zaentz owned the rights to produce the film, but not those to distribute it, which were controlled by United Artists. As a consequence of this, Miramax and Jackson decided to begin by making LOTR and postpone The Hobbit to a later date. Miramax set a budget of US$75 million for the project and in 1997 Jackson and Walsh began drafting a script for two LOTR films, as agreed with Weinstein. After a few months of pre-production, however, it became clear that it would be impossible to make two films with the original budget. Miramax attempted, in vain, to find financial partners willing to back the project and eventually insisted that Jackson make only one LOTR film (Pryor 2003, 234). Jackson was particularly concerned about compressing a long saga such as LOTR into only one film as it would have resulted in a sub-standard adaptation. Jackson’s agent in Hollywood, Ken Kamins, convinced Miramax to give Jackson the chance to find

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another studio willing to support the LOTR project as a twofilm series and pay the Weinstein brothers out of their expenses to date. Miramax agreed and Jackson was given four weeks to find another producer willing to support the project. Jackson and his collaborators made a short film that displayed digital effects and physical prosthetics created by Weta, as well as enticing images of New Zealand scenery, and showed it to Bob Shaye, the founder of New Line Cinema (Sibley 2006, 401). New Line Cinema was born as an independent production company in the late 1960s and achieved significant financial success in the 1980s producing and distributing the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. In the early 1990s, Jackson himself had collaborated with New Line writing a script for the Elm Street series that was never used. During the 1990s, New Line Cinema acquired more experience with franchise films, producing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films (1990–1993) and the Austin Powers trilogy (1997–2002). In 1996, the company became a subsidiary of Time Warner and sought to develop more successful franchises. After watching the promotional video created by Jackson, Shaye agreed to produce the LOTR on the condition that Jackson would make three films (instead of two). According to the New Line producers, a three-film series would be both more true to the spirit of Tolkien’s trilogy and would also provide more commercial opportunities (Sibley 2006, 403). After Shaye’s approval, Miramax and New Line entered a quitclaim agreement, which resulted in Miramax transferring its Tolkien’s rights to New Line; New Line paid US$12 million to cover Miramax’s expenses for LOTR pre-production and Miramax become entitled to 5 per cent of the revenues generated from the LOTR franchise. As part of the agreement Harvey and Bob Weinstein were also given the credits of executive producers on the LOTR films (Whetsell 2014). On 24 August 1998, New Line Cinema circulated a press release announcing that the company would produce three LOTR films to be shot back to back and released during the period between 2001 and 2003.

Adaptation The popularity of the books represented a significant asset for Jackson as he could rely on a significant existing fanbase as the potential audience for his films. As producer Barrie Osborne

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explained, however, the adaptation process also represented a potential liability: It’s a strange relationship when you start a movie and you have such a wide fanbase. The book as you know was read by over a hundred million people, and when you set out to make a movie you want to keep it fresh. You want the audience to walk into the theatre and be surprised by what they see, so it’s a real tricky balance between what you let out during production and what you don’t. (Osborne cited in Cubitt and King 2008b, 196) The adaptation of a novel as long as LOTR posed particular challenges to the team of writers as the process demanded significant abridging and cutting of the original text. As Tolkien critic Tom Shippey pointed out: Even in their extended versions, Peter Jackson’s three Lord of the Rings movies will run to not much over twelve hours duration. Meanwhile, marathon public readings of The Lord of the Rings have shown that each volume takes some forty to fifty hours to complete while even fast silent reading of the texts would take, at the very least, considerably longer than watching the movies. Nor is it always the case that pictures convey information faster than words. (Shippey 2005, 235) Jackson’s loyalty to the original text was an important component of the marketing strategy devised by the producers. Jackson and his team of writers attempted to write a screenplay that was as faithful as possible to the original story in order to appeal to Tolkien’s fans. Despite their loyalty to the original text, the writers were inevitably forced to cut certain scenes and characters. Among the most notable omissions in the film trilogy are the character Tom Bombadil, who featured prominently in the first book, and several chapters of the last volume. The writers also included a number of sequences which did not feature in the books in order to enhance the clarity of narrative development. The prologue to the first film, which depicts the battle between Sauron and Isildur, is a case in point. The lack of significant female characters in the novel posed a problem in terms of developing a love story sub-plot, a common narrative element of most Hollywood blockbusters.

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To this purpose the screenwriters emphasized the role of female characters such as Galadriel, Eowyn and Arwen. In particular, the film makers greatly expanded the role of Arwen, who is only a marginal character in the books, fully developing her romantic involvement with Aragorn.

Production New Line Cinema invested between US$280 and US$310 million dollars in the ambitious project. The artistic failure of previous film adaptations of Tolkien’s epic novel, in particular those by Ralph Bakshi (1978) and Rankin/Bass (1980), represented for years an exemplary warning for film makers seeking to translate the adventures of Frodo and his fellowship to the screen. Jackson’s approach to the project was characterized by both respect for the original texts and a realistic representation of Middle Earth: From the beginning I wanted to make something that felt real. [. . .] Tolkien writes in a way that makes everything come alive, and we wanted to set that realistic feeling of an ancient world-come-to-life right away with the first film then continue to build it as the story unravels. (Jackson cited in Cubitt and King 2008a, 136) To realize his vision Jackson relied in part on pre-existing images of Middle Earth. To this purpose he hired Alan Lee and John Howe, two famous Tolkien illustrators, who produced hundreds of sketches to define the films’ imagery. To guarantee the consistency of a single vision for Middle Earth all the special effects were created by Weta. The vast scale of the project was a major challenge for the company, which had to undergo a rapid expansion to cope with Jackson’s requests. During the making of the trilogy Weta Workshop produced more than 1,200 suits of hand-made armour, more than 2,000 rubber and safety weapons, more than 10,000 body and facial prosthetics and more than 1,600 pairs of prosthetic feet and ears, all individually sized and shaped (Feld 2004, 10). Production designer Grant Major supervised the construction of 350 sets, including the planting of 5,000 cubic feet of plants at the Matamata Hobbiton location one year before the shoot. Jackson

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himself was responsible for coordinating a 3,000-person crew, 500 actors and 26,000 extras (Feld 2004, 10). The process of casting the major roles took place in 1999 when Jackson and Walsh flew to Los Angeles and London to meet with potential actors (K. Thompson 2007, 37). The trilogy featured a notable absence of major stars in leading roles. The producers sought to recruit actors with a distinguished professional reputation, but limited international recognition and small fees. Eventually, Jackson selected a group of relatively unknown performers, including Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom and Sean Astin alongside classical actors and prestigious Oscar nominees such as Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Ian Holm. Some of the least known actors regarded the LOTR as the opportunity of a lifetime and agreed to work for a small fee on a project that promised to boost their international recognition. Sean Austin, for example, accepted the relatively small fee of $250,000 for the three films hoping to gain star status and greater compensations in the future (K. Thompson 2007, 37). The first days of shooting were marred by casting problems as Jackson decided to dismiss Irish actor Stuart Townsend, who had been hired to play the role of Aragorn. Townsend was quickly replaced by Viggo Mortensen, an American actor of Scandinavian descent who had appeared in supporting roles in a number of films during the 1990s. Jackson also cast an unknown English actor, Andy Serkis, as the character of Gollum. Originally, Gollum was to be completely computer generated and Serkis was only asked to provide the voice for his character. However, after watching Serkis’s audition Jackson decided to use motion capture technology (mocap) to animate Gollum’s character. Serkis ended up spending almost two years working on Gollum’s character becoming an experienced mocap performer and establishing a strong collaborative relationship with Jackson in the process. Principal photography for the three films began on 11 October 1999 and lasted for 438 days until 22 December 2000 (K. Thompson 2007, 38). Several pick-up shots were conducted in the following years until the release of the last episode of the trilogy. Jackson directed the main unit and enlisted the help of several second unit directors including Geoff Murphy, a veteran New Zealand film maker, Rick Porras, Barrie Osborne, John Mahaffie and Fran Walsh, who directed several scenes involving Gollum and Arwen. The producers set up a complex digital satellite network

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that allowed Peter Jackson to monitor and direct the work of as many as six units shooting simultaneously (Thompson 2007, 38). Overall, LOTR used twenty-one cameras supplied by Arri Munich and was shot on Super 35 mm film (Cubitt and King 2008a, 139). Director of photography Andrew Lesnie created the complex LOTR colour scheme, defining each realm of Middle Earth with a distinct set palette: lavender blues for Lothlorien, magenta salmons for Rivendell’s autumnal appearance in the first film and blue-greens for Weathertop (Cubitt and King 2008a, 139). Jackson made extensive use of miniatures which allowed for aerial camera movements that at once enhanced the realism of Middle Earth and added to the spectacular nature of the film. For this purpose Weta Workshop built extremely large miniature models that allowed cameras to capture details such as dust and moss. As some of the miniatures measured some 9 metres high, they were soon renamed ‘bigatures’. A number of computer-controlled cameras operated by miniatures’ director of photography Alex Funke and extensive computer-generated graphics produced by Weta Digital were used to blend the photography of miniature environments with live actors and sequences (Cubitt and King 2008a, 143–4). LOTR was shot in more than 140 locations around New Zealand and used several studios and post-production facilities in Wellington and Queenstown. Despite the fact that the films were produced by an American studio, they could not be defined as simple runaway productions taking advantage of cheaper labour and exotic locations. The involvement of the New Zealand government, the use of local film production facilities, the participation of a substantial sector of the country’s population and, most of all, the leadership of a charismatic local director, were important factors that contributed to the global perception of the trilogy as a ‘made in New Zealand’ product. LOTR had a dramatic impact on New Zealand from an economic, social and cultural point of view. This small Antipodean country has, in fact, incorporated LOTR into its national identity to the extent that the films have become an acknowledged component of the country’s heritage. The most obvious example of the impact of LOTR on the country’s self-perception has been the marketing campaign launched by several government agencies: ‘New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth’. The successful application of the campaign for purposes of tourist promotion generated significant tourist spinoffs and has reshaped New Zealand’s destination image.

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Post-production The production of the films was revolutionary not just in scale, but also from a technical point of view, as new digital technologies played a crucial role in the realization of the films. The trilogy blurred the boundaries between the different stages of film making as most of the shots were created with a view to adding digital effects in post-production. Visual effects supervisor, Jim Rygiel, noted that in LOTR, ‘the making of the effects is not treated as postproduction. It’s actually part of the process itself, which is a very interesting way to work. We are all playing off each other’ (Rygiel cited in Cubitt and King 2008a, 151). Jackson used traditional forms of optical illusion such as forced perspective to diminish the height of actors who played hobbits or dwarves. Similarly, he used prosthetics for some of the characters and miniatures to recreate several fantastic locations in Middle Earth. However, despite the importance of these physical effects, the LOTR would have not been possible without the extensive use of digital technologies that were needed to generate large crowd scenes, enhance film landscapes and recreate fantastic creatures and characters. Weta Digital adopted some of the standard industry programmes of the time (including Maya for modelling and animation, RenderMan for the addition of surface textures and colours and Shake for composition mocap) to realize some of the digital effects needed in LOTR. Weta Digital was also responsible for the development of Massive, a programme specifically designed for Jackson’s films. Massive was essential for recreating some of the battle sequences featuring as many as 200,000 soldiers. The programme allowed for the automatic reproduction of individualized digital soldiers with unique fighting styles and movements. This enabled the film makers to generate automated battle scenes rather than individually animate every character (Aitken et al. 2004). Weta Digital and Jackson also contributed to further refining motion capture technology, a film technique that emerged during the 1990s, in order to enhance the realism of Gollum, one of the central characters in LOTR. Motion capture records a performer’s movements and applies them to a 3D digital model that can be used by film makers to create entirely computer-generated creatures. Weta’s innovative use of mocap

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in The Two Towers was rewarded with an Academy Award for special effects in 2003 and this technology became a staple feature of most of Jackson’s subsequent films including King Kong and The Hobbit. Howard Shore was selected to compose the original music for the trilogy. The London Philharmonic Orchestra played most of the score that was mixed at the Abbey Road Studios. Many popular singers, including Enya and Annie Lennox, also contributed with original songs written and composed in collaboration with Shore, Boyens and Walsh. Inspired by the operatic tradition, Shore considered the score for LOTR as a single, coherent and dramatic work, with each film constituting an individual act (Adams cited in Bernanke 2008, 176). Shore composed over 10 hours of music for the trilogy and his approach was influenced by Wagner’s Ring cycle in terms of creating a strong association between music and action over the entire story to generate dramatic unity. Shore also borrowed other aspects of symphonic and operatic compositional techniques such as the use of leitmotifs, recurring melodies associated with certain characters, places, objects or situations. Shore won three Academy Awards for his work on LOTR, including best Original Score for The Fellowship of the Ring, Best Original Score for The Return of the King and Best Original Song (shared with Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh) for Into the West, the end-credit song for The Return of the King.

Marketing LOTR proved to be innovative also in terms of the marketing strategies associated with the trilogy. Virtual communities of Tolkien’s fans played a crucial role in building expectations surrounding the film series. During the making of LOTR fan websites such as www.theonering.net dispatched correspondents to New Zealand in order to find out about the film locations and obtain glimpses of the film-making process. Initially, New Line Cinema’s attitude towards fan communities was characterized by explicit hostility. New Line felt particularly threatened by fan spies and issued a trespass notice on Erica Challis, the founder of The One Ring website, who had repeatedly attempted to enter the film set. However, both Jackson and his producers gradually realized

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that fan websites could be transformed into valuable marketing tools. The producers normalized their relationship with the website managers by inviting them on set, while New Line publicist Gordon Paddison provided the website with press releases and other material regarding LOTR. Referring to The One Ring website, Alyson McRae, the film’s first marketing coordinator claimed: I think [Gordon Paddison] had to develop relationships with them because [New Line] really wanted to control the release of information, and a lot of these fan sites were very effective in cutting across that. It was very important to him to build a relationship so that he could say, ‘All right, you’ve got that, but we’d like you to hold off’ or ‘I can give you this, but-’. (McRae cited in K. Thompson 2007, 160) Fan communities such as The One Ring helped to promote LOTR merchandise and contributed to generating the New Zealand tourist craze by dedicating discussion forums to the experience of fans visiting Middle Earth/New Zealand. The fans’ interest in the films’ locations led to New Line’s awareness of the great potential of a co-marketing strategy that would involve local tourist stakeholders such as Investment New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand. This collaboration, in turn, led to the famous ‘New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth’ campaign, which, among other things, involved the temporary re-branding of Air New Zealand as the ‘Airline to Middle Earth’. The One Ring website played a crucial role in New Line’s attempt to turn LOTR into a ‘film franchise’ through and beyond the series. Kristin Thompson defined the notion of film franchise as ‘a movie that spawns additional revenue streams beyond what it earns from its various forms of distribution, primarily theatrical, video and television’ (Thompson 2007, 4). In the ideal franchise an important slice of the revenue stream comes from the licensing of ancillary products such as T-shirts, video-games and other forms of merchandising. The modern Hollywood franchise started in the late 1970s with Jaws (Spielberg 1975) and particularly Star Wars (1977), films which provided a model for future franchises by linking the movies to an extensive range of merchandise. The emergence of the franchise was caused by the need to find alternative revenue streams to recoup the big budget of massive

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blockbusters such as Star Wars, which required special effects and high star salaries. The sequels and the seriality of the franchise play a crucial role in the creation of a brand that can be easily translated to other non-filmic products. In the case of LOTR, New Line Cinema built on the knowledge it had already gained in marketing and producing merchandise for its previous products such as Nightmare on Elm Street and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The role of merchandise was even more important for LOTR because of the early connection between the novels and the fantasy gaming industry. According to Perry, ‘Merchandising is an important part of a film like this. Most Tolkien fans are either gamers, modellers, collectors or all three’ (Perry cited in Conrich 2006, 128). In his examination of the range of LOTR products and promotions, Ian Conrich identified a large target market which included at least four different consumer groups: mainstream consumers, families, children and ‘cult’ consumers (Conrich 2006). The merchandise of LOTR ranged from traditional posters, books and figurines to trading cards, board games and video games. The cult collectibles extended to specially crafted full-size replicas of screen props. According to Conrich, ‘this superior movie merchandising is just one aspect of the fascinating series of high class products marketed for an executive consumer; materials of this sort have never been so well exploited in the selling of a film’ (Conrich 2006, 122). After its theatrical run, each episode of the trilogy was released for the home media market as a two-disk set containing the theatrical version of the film and some extras. Following the success of the theatrical cuts, the producers also released the four-disk Special Extended DVD Editions, which featured a new, extended version of the film and extensive supplementary material. The Extended Version of The Fellowship of the Ring contained thirty minutes of additional footage and it was released in November 2002, just a few weeks before the opening of the second instalment of the trilogy. Similarly, the special editions of The Two Towers and The Return of the King contained forty-four and fifty-one minutes of extra footage, respectively. Critics and commentators hailed the Special Extended DVD Editions as setting a new benchmark in terms of DVD releases of mainstream cinema (Hight 2008, 32). The Extended Editions represented the beginning of a new, two-tiered marketing strategy developed by Hollywood studios for DVD releases. While the standard DVD edition targeted mainstream

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audiences, the Special Extended DVD Edition appealed to a consumer elite made up of dedicated fans of the films. Jackson himself claimed that the Special Editions were closer to the original narrative constructed within the books and were conceived for ‘true’ Tolkien fans. Both the Standard and the Extended Edition contained additional material in the form of several ‘making of’ featurettes. In 1999 New Line Cinema contracted New Zealand film maker and former Jackson collaborator, Costa Botes, to produce a series of documentaries about the making of the trilogy. Before the end of the production New Line also brought in Michael Pellerin to create an additional series of more commercially oriented documentaries. Extracts of Pellerin’s footage were included as additional features in both the Standard and the Extended Editions, while Botes’s documentaries were released in their entirety in the 2006 Limited Edition DVD box set (which included both versions of the film) and the 2011 Blue Ray Extended Edition of the trilogy (Botes 2011). LOTR was a major turning point in Peter Jackson’s career transforming the Wellingtonian into one of the most internationally acclaimed film makers in the history of cinema. Discourses around LOTR have often focused on both the difficulty of translating Tolkien’s novels and the celebration of Jackson’s entrepreneurial skills. Some film critics have defined LOTR as one of Jackson’s least personal films; however, from an auteurist perspective, the films clearly fit Jackson’s artistic ambitions (Grant 2007). The LOTR trilogy seamlessly blends elements of fantasy, action and horror, genres which have deeply influenced Jackson’s style and career. As Barry Keith Grant points out, in LOTR, the ‘production design emphasizes above all else the materiality of Middle Earth, recalling the bodily emphasis of Jackson’s horror films’ (Grant 2007, 328). Like the majority of Jackson’s films, LOTR attempts to find a balance between fantastic creations and a realistic mode of representation. Through the use of the camera and the mise-en-scene, Jackson attempted to highlight the real and authentic texture of Middle Earth. The visual style of the trilogy is also consistent with the predilection for spectacle which animated most of Jackson’s career. According to Kirsten Moana Thompson, the LOTR films are based on an ‘aesthetics of spectacle’ which capitalizes on visual attractions such as special effects and stunning landscapes. Finally, the making of the films also reflects Jackson’s passion for the technical aspects

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of film making (K.M. Thompson 2006, 283). The films are, among other things, major technological achievements made possible by some of the innovative techniques developed by Jackson and his collaborators. The trilogy had a profound impact on both Jackson’s career and the New Zealand film industry more broadly. On the one hand, Jackson became the most influential (both in economic and in political terms) film maker in New Zealand, establishing an extensive network of film infrastructures in the Wellington suburb of Miramar. On the other hand, some of his firms, particularly Weta Workshop, Weta Digital and Park Road Post-Production, gained an international reputation as some of the world’s best production and post-production companies, at the cutting edge of digital visual effects and innovation. By enhancing New Zealand’s standing as a quality film-making location, the success of Jackson’s films contributed, in turn, to attracting major international blockbusters, such as The Chronicles of Narnia and James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, to the country. Wellington has become one of the major centres for post-production, digital graphics and international production, as well as the gateway for LOTR-themed tourism. The dramatic expansion of production skills and capability generated by the LOTR has influenced Jackson’s approach to film making throughout the rest of his career.

The Lovely Bones The Lovely Bones is often considered to be one of Jackson’s most disappointing films, both in commercial and in artistic terms. Based on Alice Sebold’s highly regarded novel of the same title, The Lovely Bones represented a significant shift away from the monumentality of epics such as LOTR and King Kong, promising a return to some of the territories explored in Heavenly Creatures. Like Heavenly Creatures, The Lovely Bones deals with teenagers and murder in a suburban setting through the intimate portrayal of an adolescent girl’s world. However, whereas Heavenly Creatures benefitted Jackson’s career by endowing him with artistic credibility, The Lovely Bones somewhat dented his reputation among both critics and viewers.

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Alice Sebold’s novel was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece by critics and readers alike, following its publication in 2002. LOTR co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens became ardent fans of the novel and recommended it to Jackson, who read it while still in post-production on The Two Towers (Dreamworks 2009, 4). Jackson became interested in the story and sought to acquire the rights for the book. The novel had been optioned while still in an unfinished form by Film4, a London-based production company. Jackson and his partners managed to purchase the rights, convincing the author, Alice Sebold, of their ability to adapt The Lovely Bones to the big screen (Dreamworks 2009, 4). The New Zealand filmmakers developed a script in the second half of 2006 and Dreamworks committed US$65 million to the project in 2007 (McClintock and Fleming 2007). Dreamworks co-founder, Steven Spielberg, both a fan of the book and an admirer of Jackson’s work, became part of the film-making team as an executive producer. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens, who had collaborated on the script for LOTR and King Kong, worked on the adaptation of the novel. The non-linearity of the narrative in The Lovely Bones presented the screenwriters with significant challenges: We all like puzzles and I think we saw The Lovely Bones as the ultimate puzzle for screenwriters. How do you take Alice’s very intricate, poetic book, which doesn’t in any way scream ‘I’m a movie’ and structure it as a film? We became obsessed with how to move the pieces around to tell this story on the screen. (Jackson cited in Dreamworks 2009, 5) The film is set in the early 1970s and revolves around the story of Susie Salmon, a fourteen-year-old girl who is brutally murdered by a neighbour, George Harvey. Unable to accept her own death, Susie finds herself in ‘The In-Between’, a liminal space between Heaven and Earth. From there Susie watches over her family members as they struggle to cope with her death. Her father Jack suspects Harvey of the murder, but he and the detective in charge of the case, Len Fenerman, are unable to find any incriminating evidence. Meanwhile, Susie explores the fantastic world of ‘The In-Between’ with her new afterlife friend, Holly, and finds out that Harvey has murdered several other girls. Eventually, Susie’s sister, Lindsey, breaks into Harvey’s house and finds evidence of Susie’s murder.

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Harvey is forced to leave town and dispose of Susie’s corpse, which had been hidden in a safe. While on the run, Harvey is killed in an accident and Susie is finally able to enter Heaven. One of the major challenges associated with the adaptation of the novel was the portrayal of the place which Susie, the protagonist, refers to as ‘The In-Between’. Jackson wanted Susie’s experience of the afterlife to transcend religious traditions and reflect Susie’s inner consciousness and emotional life: What we attempted to do is to present an afterlife that is evocative, elusive and ephemeral. It is a place which reflects the eye of the beholder; it isn’t filled with any particular religious iconography, I wanted to keep it mysterious and intangible. (Jackson cited in Dreamworks 2009, 5) Like many of Jackson’s other films, the screen adaptation of The Lovely Bones blended several genres, including horror, thriller, comedy and fantasy. To appeal to a wide audience and recoup the large budget, Jackson and his collaborators targeted a PG13 rating. The film makers de-emphasized some of the graphic violence and sexual undertones that characterized the novel: Susie’s murder was not shown on screen and the rape perpetrated by Harvey was hinted at only. The extensive budget available for the film allowed Jackson to hire a cast of major Hollywood stars, including Saoirse Ronan as Susie, Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz as Susie’s parents, Susan Sarandon as Susie’s grandmother and Stanley Tucci as George Harvey, the serial killer who murders Susie. Similarly, English popular musician Brian Eno was selected to compose the score for the film. Originally, Jackson contacted Eno to request permission to use two of his early tracks for some of the sequences; however, after a brief discussion about the project, Eno proposed to write an original score for the whole film (Dreamworks 2009, 27). Jackson and his collaborators felt compelled to shoot part of the film in Pennsylvania, the place that inspired Sebold’s novel. This was a significant decision for Jackson as it was the first time he had shot a film on location in the United States. Before The Lovely Bones Jackson had made all of his films, including The Frighteners and King Kong (partially or entirely set in the United States), in his

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native New Zealand. Jackson did not renew his collaboration with Grant Major (who had built most of the sets for Jackson’s films since Heavenly Creatures) and partnered instead with American production designer Naomi Shohan, known for her work on American Beauty (Mendes 1999). Despite some significant changes in terms of collaborative relationships, there were also elements of continuity as Jackson enlisted the help of older collaborators such as Andrew Lesnie (D.O.P.) and Jabez Olssen (editing). Principal photography was scheduled over separate shoots and began in Pennsylvania in late summer 2007. The film makers shot through the following winter, taking advantage of the region’s dramatic change of season (S. Gray 2010, 49). Most of the studio shooting was done in New Zealand where Weta Digital created some of the spectacular CGI for the sequences set in ‘The In-Between’. Director of Photography Andrew Lesnie shot most of the film on Super 35 mm; however, he also used a Red One camera for some sequences (S. Gray 2010, 58). Peter Jackson had conducted some tests with two prototypes of the Red One in 2007 and played an important role in promoting the brand to the international filmmaking community by using it in The Lovely Bones. Despite the popularity of the novel, the high production values of the film and the involvement of major stars, The Lovely Bones’ takings at the box office (US$93 million worldwide) were relatively modest compared to its budget (US$65 million). The film received mixed reviews, with some critics going as far as defining it as ‘a significant artistic disappointment’ (McCarthy 2009). Several reviewers found the film’s running time (135 minutes) excessive and disliked Jackson’s overly saturated CGI vision of ‘The In-Between’, arguing that many of the sequences set in Susie’s magical world were redundant and undramatic. Referring to the use of CGI in The Lovely Bones, The Wall Street Journal claimed that ‘the result is dumbfounding and ludicrous in equal measure, a too-muchness that makes the excesses of What Dreams May Come [1998] seem downright spartan’ (K.M. Jones 2014). Similarly, the NPR reviewer wrote that: ‘Jackson’s adolescent New Age computer generated fantasyland is an excruciating fusion of the novel’s primal trauma and his own sensibility, which is more at home with juvenile, male-dominated Lord of the Rings epics. There isn’t a second that rings true – on any level’ (Edelstein 2009).

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Other aspects of the adaptation were also criticized. Some reviewers, for example, claimed that Susie’s voice-over comments sounded too preachy and ‘Oprah-esque’, thus undermining the emotional depth and complexity that characterized the novel (Hartman 2009). Other critics pointed out that the film makers’ attempt to target a family market diluted the sexual undertones of the story, which constituted one of the major strengths of the novel (Schwarzbaum 2010). Despite the criticism directed at the film makers, the actors’ performances were generally praised and Stanley Tucci was nominated for an Academy Award for his interpretation of George Harvey. The Lovely Bones is usually considered as a low point in Jackson’s career; however, when the New Zealand director was questioned about the negative reviews received by the film he defended his approach to the story: ‘I wouldn’t change anything in the film [. . .]. The film is very much what we set out to make I don’t know what I’d do differently’ (Jackson cited in Leopold 2010). The Lovely Bones can be considered as part of Jackson’s attempt to reject the label of blockbuster film maker that both the critics and the film-making community were ready to assign him after LOTR and King Kong. Jackson himself claimed that the decision to make a small-scale film such as The Lovely Bones was motivated, in part, by the desire to avoid repeating himself. Jackson’s artistic ambitions, however, were negatively affected by the need to address the project’s commercial imperatives. On the one hand, Jackson diluted the edgy character of the original story in order to appeal to a broader audience and recoup the large budget for the film. On the other hand, the necessity to provide Weta with steady work and income led to an overemphasis on CGI and special effects, which was considered one of the main shortcomings of the film. The artistic failure of The Lovely Bones reveals that by developing extensive film infrastructures Jackson has been forced to take on economic and political responsibilities that have paradoxically constrained his authorial ambitions.

West of Memphis West of Memphis is a 2012 documentary directed by Amy J. Berg and co-produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (along with

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Damien Echols and Lorri Davis). The film charts the ongoing fight for justice of the so-called West Memphis Three (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin) who were convicted as teenagers in 1993 for the murders of three eight-year-old children in West Memphis, Arkansas. The film uncovered new evidence surrounding the murder case, suggesting that the Memphis Three were wrongfully convicted. West of Memphis differs significantly, in aesthetic terms, from most of the films directed and produced by Jackson. Jackson himself claimed on several occasions that his interest in the case was not professional and that originally he and Walsh had no plans to turn the trio’s story into a film. Jackson and Walsh’s involvement in the West Memphis Three case began around 2004 when the two film makers watched Paradise Lost (1996, Berlinger and Sinofsky), an HBO documentary about the trial that resulted in the conviction of Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin. The film, which was followed by two sequels, was sympathetic towards the defendants and highlighted the inconsistent evidence provided by the prosecutors. Paradise Lost contributed to popularizing the West Memphis Three’s case and inspired thousands of supporters, including celebrities such as Eddie Vedder, Natalie Maines and Johnny Depp. Jackson thus recalls how he and Walsh developed an interest in the case: You look at that movie and you see justice derailing, a train wreck happening right in front of your eyes. So we were interested in the outcome, and we looked it up and saw that the guys were still in jail. Nothing had happened. So we contacted [Echols’ wife] Lorri Davis and we just sent her a donation [. . .]. Lorri wrote back and Fran and Lorri struck up a really amazing friendship, and then Fran became very involved with Lorri on the investigative side of the case. (Jackson cited in Vineyard 2012) In 2004, Jackson and Walsh began funding private investigations to get the three men released. The Wellington film makers hired leading forensic experts to re-evaluate the case, find new witnesses and uncover new DNA evidence (Nashawaty 2012). During this period, Jackson and Walsh actively participated in the defence team, communicating regularly with both Echols’s wife and lawyers. Echols himself described Jackson’s personal involvement in the case: ‘it’s not like he just threw money at it, he was literally

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part of our legal team’ (Echols cited in Leigh 2012). By the end of 2007 the defence lawyers presented new compelling evidence to David Burnett, the original trial judge, who rejected their request for an evidentiary hearing. Following Burnett’s refusal to review the evidence, Jackson and Walsh decided that making a new documentary about the case would be the best way to pressure the authorities: ‘we always thought of the film as the evidentiary hearing that was denied’ (Jackson cited in Vineyard 2012). The film makers hired Amy Berg, who had been nominated for an Academy Award in 2006 for Deliver Us from Evil, a documentary about sex abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church. Berg told the story of the case from the outset, revealing new witnesses and crucial DNA evidence, which cleared Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley of the original accusations. The new forensic evidence discovered by the film makers and the defence team contributed to the Arkansas Supreme Court’s decision to reopen the case in 2010. The film ends with an account of a deal which allows the defendants to enter Alford pleas whereby the defendants assert their innocence, but admit evidence exists that theoretically could find them guilty. The deal involved the immediate release of the West Memphis Three on the condition that they would not question their original murder conviction. Both international media and the activist group ‘Free West Memphis 3’ praised Jackson and Walsh for playing an instrumental role in the release of the three men (Bulbeck 2011). Jackson and Walsh celebrated the release of the West Memphis Three, while expressing disappointment at the circumstances of the deal, which did not clear them of their murder convictions. Jackson and Walsh described the case against Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley as a blatant miscarriage of justice and hoped that, in the future, they could fully exonerate the trio (Bulbeck 2011). In particular, they regarded Arkansas state prosecutor, Scott Ellington, responsible for forcing the three men into a deal which prevented them from suing the state for unjust incarceration. In 2012, Jackson actively opposed Ellington’s candidature to Congress by financing a series of free screenings of West of Memphis in which the prosecutor was portrayed in a negative light. West of Memphis was well received by the critics who praised the film’s ability to simultaneously indict the American justice system and celebrate ‘the dedication of selfless civil rights lawyers and their supporters from all over the world’ (French 2012). Prestigious film

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reviewer Roger Ebert gave West of Memphis a perfect four-star rating. Referring to the Paradise Lost trilogy that also dealt with the case, Ebert said: ‘Do we need a fourth film? Yes, I think we do. If you only see one of them, this is the one to choose, because it has the benefit of hindsight’ (Ebert 2013). Despite these critical accolades, West of Memphis also sparked some controversy as Joe Berlinger, the co-director of the Paradise Lost trilogy, accused the film makers of failing to acknowledge the contribution of other parties involved, including Baldwin’s lawyers, the online community at wm3.org and his own films (Leigh 2012). As mentioned earlier, West of Memphis represents a significant departure from the rest of Jackson’s oeuvre. The film makers renounced the use of special effects and the exploration of fantastic worlds for the sake of ‘documentary truth’. Despite its substantial aesthetic and stylistic differences from Jackson’s other films, however, West of Memphis also features important elements of thematic continuity. The film deals with gruesome violence (the documentary presents new evidence to explain the mutilation of the victims’ bodies); the psychological exploration of marginalized characters (during the trial, the members of the community cast Echols and his friends as the town’s misfits); the analysis of a real-life murder case (a theme previously explored in Heavenly Creatures); the protagonists’ struggle against the odds (a common narrative element in Jackson’s body of work from Bad Taste to The Hobbit). Although the film was not a major commercial hit, it represented a personal and public success for Jackson and Walsh; enabling them to achieve their personal goal (the release of the West Memphis Three). The film also demonstrated and reinforced their influence in the United States where they were able to mobilize both large communities of fans and other celebrities to raise awareness about the case.

Weta Weta Workshop and Weta Digital are part of a cluster of Peter Jackson co-owned companies that also include Park Road Postproductions, Wingnut Films and Camperdown studios. Today both Weta Workshop and Weta Digital are considered to be among

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the leading visual effects companies in the world, along with Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic. Weta Limited was founded in 1994 by a group of Wellington film makers (which included Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk, George Port, Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger) to provide the special effects for Heavenly Creatures. In 2000, the company split into two arms: Weta Workshop, which specializes in the creation of physically built props and special effects, and Weta Digital, which is responsible for handling CGI visual effects (Hawker 2014, 41). Since their establishment, the two branches of Weta have collaborated to create the special effects for all the films directed or produced by Jackson, including Heavenly Creatures, Jack Brown Genius, The Frighteners, the LOTR trilogy, King Kong, District 9, The Lovely Bones, The Adventures of Tintin and The Hobbit trilogy. The name of the company is inspired by the New Zealand weta, one of the largest insects in the world. Referring to the weta, Richard Taylor claimed: ‘[it is] a cool little beast. We like to think that the product we produce aspires to the complexity, beauty, and occasionally, even the monstrosity of the weta’ (Taylor cited in Finlay 2006, 12). The name of the company can also be read as an acronym – Wingnut Entertainment Technical Allusions – Wingnut being Jackson’s first production company. Weta formerly began as RT Effects in the back room of Richard Taylor’s and Tania Rodger’s flat in Wellington. RT Effects was established in 1987 with the goal to service the New Zealand creative industry with their model and prop work. In 1988, Taylor and Rodger achieved their first major break as they were commissioned to create sixty-eight puppets for Public Eye, a New Zealand weekly satirical TV show. During this period the couple met Peter Jackson who had just finished his first feature film, Bad Taste, and was planning further projects, including Meet the Feebles and Braindead. Jackson needed puppet-makers for Meet the Feebles and hired Taylor and Rodger to build the puppets under the supervision of Cameron Chittock (Pryor 2003, 74). A few months later, RT effects worked with Jackson again in order to create the make-up and special effects required in Braindead, a film which featured some of the goriest sequences in the history of cinema. After the success of Braindead Taylor and Rodger became a stable part of the creative team that surrounded Jackson. In 1994, RT effects was reborn as Weta Ltd. to provide the visual effects for Heavenly Creatures, Jackson’s fourth feature film.

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The new company comprised a digital branch responsible for the creation of CGI effects for the new Jackson’s film. Jackson later admitted that computer effects were not really necessary on Heavenly Creatures, however, he had been deeply affected by seeing the digital dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993) and came to believe that after that film the future of special effects meant computer effects (Sibley 2006, 257). Given the limited budget available for Heavenly Creatures, it would have been impossible for Jackson to outsource the production of special effects to an American company such as Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). The Weta founding group decided therefore to invest in digital technology and produce in-house CGI effects. The digital arm of Weta began with only one staff member (George Port), one prototype film scanner (the third Oxberry 6300 ever produced) which converted negative film into digital data, one Silicon Graphics SGI computer, and a Solitaire film recorder which transferred the digital data back onto film (Burgess 2014, 59). Referring to the new digital equipment Jackson claimed: ‘We bought this gear and didn’t have a clue how it worked. We figured it out for ourselves and learnt a lot from it. It was the same equipment as ILM were using but on a much smaller scale. They can do it, so we can do it too; that’s a real kiwi attitude’ (Jackson cited in Burgess 2014, 60). Despite a complex process of trial and error, Port and Jackson managed to produce convincing CGI effects for Heavenly Creatures, thus setting the basis for the future of Weta. In the meantime, Richard Taylor began working as the Prosthetic and Creature Effects supervisor on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess, two US television shows produced in West Auckland. The shows would eventually run for seven years and would provide Weta with both a steady stream of commissions and significant opportunities for upskilling. During the mid-1990s Weta expanded rapidly and eventually relocated from the city centre into a new facility in Camperdown Road in the suburb of Miramar. In 1994, the digital branch of the company hired its second staff member, Matt Aitken, who joined as Port was completing the post-production for Heavenly Creatures. Aitken, who had received a Mathematics degree at Victoria University of Wellington and had trained in London in computer graphics, would remain one of the key members of the company for the next twenty years.

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Due to Weta’s small staff and relatively low salaries, its services were about 20 per cent cheaper than those provided by similar American visual effects producers (Pryor 2003, 177). This proved to be one of the company’s main assets and determined its future success. Meanwhile, the international acclaim of Heavenly Creatures in 1994 attracted the interest of Hollywood, transforming Jackson into a respectable film maker who had demonstrated creative and technical proficiency. In the mid1990s, Jackson was contacted by Robert Zemeckis and was asked to make a film for Universal. Instead of moving to Hollywood, however, Jackson managed to convince the Universal executives to shoot the film in New Zealand in order to take advantage of both the cheaper labour available in the country and the technological infrastructures developed by Weta. The production of The Frighteners was a significant event in the history of the company. The film, which focused on the adventures of a ghost buster, featured more special effects than almost any other movie made until then (Pryor 2003, 193). Universal’s significant investment into the film, coupled with the technical challenges that the Weta effects supervisors had to overcome, led to both a rapid expansion and upskilling of the company. Even though The Frighteners was not a major success at the box office, it demonstrated that Weta could create large quantities of both physical and digital effects at very competitive rates compared with its American counterparts. Weta’s reputation as a company able to deliver high-quality, inexpensive special effects played an important role in persuading the American producers to film the LOTR trilogy in New Zealand. A project of the scale of LOTR, which required thousands of props, special effects and prosthetics to recreate the fantastic world of Middle Earth, would have been almost impossible to realize in the United States due to the sheer cost associated with film labour and infrastructures. One of the key factors behind the success of LOTR was Weta’s ability to deliver enormous quantities of effective physical and digital special effects at a relatively low cost. For LOTR effects supervisor Richard Taylor divided his collaborators into six departments: Creatures, Special effects, Make Up and Prosthetics, Armour and Weapons, Miniatures and Model Effects. During the making of the three films, Weta Workshop produced more than 1,200 suits of hand-made armour, more than 2,000 rubber and

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safety weapons, more than 10,000 body and facial prosthetics and more than 1,600 pairs of prosthetic feet and ears all individually sized and shaped (Feld 2004, 10). To cope with the constant demand for props and prosthetics Weta created an armoury and a purposebuilt latexing oven which ran twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week during the three and a half years necessary to produce the trilogy films (Finlay 2006, 6). During the making of the trilogy Weta Workshop devised important innovations including the invention of a very realistic-looking PVC chainmail (which replaced the heavier chainmail traditionally used in fantasy or historical films) and the creation of ‘bigatures’, large miniature models (up to 9 metres high) that were used to recreate fantastic places such as Minas Tirith or Saruman’s tower (see A–Z: Miniatures). The LOTR project also enabled Weta to demonstrate its proficiency with digital special effects. In interviews Jackson frequently claimed that digital technology was essential to realize Tolkien’s vision with the proper scope, accuracy and believability (K. Thompson 2007, 97). In production and post-production terms, one of the most interesting characteristics of LOTR was the fact that the making of CGI effects was often planned from the pre-production stage, thus blurring the boundaries between the traditionally distinct phases of film making. From this point of view the close interconnection between the two branches of Weta – Weta Digital and Weta Workshop – was an important asset in terms of the effective planning and realization of visual effects. To recreate the fantastic world of Middle Earth, Weta Digital adopted some of the standard industry programmes of the time, including Maya for modelling and animation, RenderMan for the addition of surface textures and colours and Shake for composition. However, some of the technology available was simply unable to realize the films as envisioned by Jackson. Some of the main challenges included the character of Gollum as well as the creation of vast crowds of extras in the battle sequences. In 2002, Weta Digital hired Joe Letteri, an American visual effects specialist, who had gained a reputation for devising techniques that bring photographic quality to digital effects. Under Letteri’s leadership, the company developed some key innovations in the field of animation and CGI. To present Gollum in a believable way, for example, they devised a revolutionary subsurface scattering technique. This technique enhanced the realism of Gollum’s skin

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by providing the film makers with an accurate simulation of how light scatters when interacting with translucent objects such as skin (Burgess 2014, 83). Another major accomplishment was the Massive programme developed by Stephen Regelous and Jon Allitt specifically for LOTR. The programme allowed the film makers to digitally recreate thousands of characters that acted as individuals without having to animate them by hand. Through the use of fuzzy logic, the software enabled the animated characters to respond in an individual way to their surroundings, including other agents. The programme was successfully employed in a number of sequences in LOTR, including the scene in which ten thousand Uruk-hai attack the fortress of Helm’s Deep (Burgess 2014, 78). Weta Digital rapidly grew in size and sophistication between the first and the third episode of the trilogy. This is particularly apparent in the increasing number of CGI shots used in the films: from 540 in The Fellowship of the Ring to 799 in The Two Towers to 1,488 in The Return of the King (K. Thompson 2007, 96). These important accomplishments led to both Weta Digital and Weta Workshop winning several Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects (for all the episodes of the trilogy), Best Make Up, Best Costume Design and a Technical Achievement Award for Gollum. During the decade that followed the release of the last episode of the LOTR trilogy, both Weta Workshop and Weta Digital were commissioned to design visual effects and props for dozens of major international productions such as Avatar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Iron Man 3 (Black 2013) and various instalments of The Chronicles of Narnia. The company culture encouraged exploration and experimentation and Weta’s production engineers developed more groundbreaking software tools and pipelines, including Barbershop (an interactive grooming software that lets visual artists build complex hair grooms), Facuda (a tool which helps speed up artists workflows by letting animators adjust expressions by directly moving parts of the facial model) and PantaRay (an innovative system that allowed for the real-time rendering of huge data sets) (Burgess 2014). Despite the global reach of the company, however, the majority of Weta’s commissions remained associated with the films produced or directed by Peter Jackson. In 2005 the production of Peter Jackson’s favourite boyhood film, King Kong, provided both arms of Weta with new challenges and renewed international recognition. To create

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a photorealistic representation of 1933 New York, Weta Digital developed a software called CityBot, which created thousands of 3D buildings and simulated the Manhattan cityscape (Mottle 2006). The fur of Kong also required the development of a new modelling software which recreated 460 billion individual strands of fur that would move realistically based on Kong’s interaction with the surrounding environment. For its work on King Kong Weta received a further Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. In 2009 Weta collaborated with James Cameron to bring to life the world of Pandora for Avatar. The extraordinary quality of the visual effects not only resulted in another Academy Award, but also persuaded James Cameron to return to New Zealand to film three Avatar sequels (to be released between 2016 and 2018). Meanwhile, Weta also developed a solid partnership with the creators of both Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, providing the franchise films with special effects and an innovative motion capture technique that could be used outside the studio for location shooting. Parallel to the increasing centrality of digital technology in contemporary blockbusters, Weta Digital has progressively gained a more important place within Jackson’s empire. For the making of The Hobbit trilogy Jackson has heavily relied on the visual effects created by Weta Digital. Similarly, the decision to shoot in 3D at 48 fps has led to an expansion of Weta Digital’s infrastructure and digital capability. The current creative and economic significance of Weta Digital is reflected in the vast number of its employees (around 1,000 permanent staff members as opposed to only a few dozen working for Weta Workshop). Similarly, the bulk of the economic contribution of the Wellington film industry is represented by the production of CGI, digital technology and animation (Leotta and O’Regan 2014, 97). The New Zealand government has been particularly supportive to the growth of Weta Digital by providing competitive screen incentives to attract major international producers who represent the majority of the company’s clients. Weta Digital is today one of the leading visual effects producers in the world, offering cutting-edge technology and skills. Since its humble beginnings in 1994 the company has undergone a steady development. One of the main issues the company has had to face is precisely the necessity to keep up with its constant growth. In particular, over the past few years, Weta Digital had to deal with

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a significant shortage of visual effects specialists in New Zealand. According to David Madigan, spokesman for the New Zealand Film and Video Technicians Guild ‘since Weta Digital has been successful in winning large budget contracts for effects and animation, they have needed a lot of people’ (Madigan cited in Greenwood 2012). In 2012 alone, during the making of The Hobbit trilogy, the company sought to import 369 foreign workers for specialist technical roles. New Zealand labour MPs attacked the national government over Weta Digital’s need to import foreign workers criticizing the Prime Minister John Key for not doing enough to educate New Zealanders to do the work (Greenwood 2012). Weta Digital now boosts employees from 35 different countries, but it has recently attempted to develop the local pool of potential crew by designing various training programmes, in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington (Fairfax News 2011). In the future, Weta will have to keep developing both its artists’ community and its technology base in order to attract more international producers and guarantee a constant flow of commissions. For a long time the main imperative for Weta has been the servicing of Peter Jackson’s films. Jackson’s career and the development of Weta as a major visual effects producer has been characterized by a symbiotic relationship. The ongoing partnership with a new charismatic figure such as James Cameron within the context of a large-scale project like the Avatar sequels (scheduled to be produced in Wellington between 2016 and 2018), will represent another major development in the history of the company. In turn, the way in which Weta will evolve over the next few years is likely to influence the future work of Peter Jackson.

Appendix 1 Filmography

1987: Bad Taste (93 minutes, R16 certificate). First official screening, Cannes Film Festival, May 1988. Working Titles: Roast of the Day, Giles’ Day Out. Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Peter Jackson. Additional Script Material: Tony Hiles, Ken Hammon. Producer: Peter Jackson. Consultant Producer: Tony Hiles. Director of Photography: Peter Jackson. Editors: Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk. Music: Michelle Scullion. Sound Mix: Brent Burge. Makeup: Peter Jackson. Makeup Effects Assistant: Cameron Chittock. Special Effects: Peter Jackson. Post-Production Supervisor: Jamie Selkirk. Film Crew: Ken Hammon, Peter O’Herne, Terry Potter, Mike Minett, Craig Smith, Dean Lawrie, Philip Larney. Songs: ‘Bad Taste’ (closing credits song) composed by Mike Minnett, Dave Hamilton; performed by The Remnants. ‘Rock Lies’ (first appearance of ‘the boy’ in their Ford Capri) composed and performed by Madlight. Cast: Ozzy, Terry Potter; Barry, Peter O’Herne; Giles, Craig Smith; Frank, Mike Minett; Derek/Robert, Peter Jackson; Lord Crumb, Doug Wren; Voice of Lord Crumb, Peter Vere-Jones; Lord Crumb (after transformation), Dean Lawrie; Aliens, Ken Hammon. Filmed around Greater Wellington (WingNut Films in association with the New Zealand Film Commission). 1989: Meet the Feebles (96 minutes, R16 certificate). Premiere Film Fantastique Festival, Paris 1990. Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Frances Walsh, Stephen Sinclair, Danny Mulheron, Peter Jackson. Producers: Jim Booth, Peter Jackson. Director of Photography/Stills: Murray Milne. Camera Operator: Peter Jackson. Editor: Jamie Selkirk. Music: Peter Dasent. Production Design: Mike Kane. Puppet Design: Cameron Chittock, Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger, Peter

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Jackson. Production Management: Angela Mills, Jamie Selkirk, Martin Walsh. Second Unit Director: Chris Short. Special Effects: Steve Ingram. Songs: Composed by Peter Dasent, Fane Flaws, Danny Mulheron; lyrics by Fane Flaws, Arthur Baysting, Peter Dasent, Garth Frost, Danny Mulheron, Fran Walsh. Performed by Mark Hadlow, Stuart Devenie and Fane Flaws. Puppeteers: Eleanor Aitken, Carl Buckley, Sarah Glensor, Danny Mulheron, George Port, Ian Williamson, Justine Wright, Terri Anderson, Sean AshtonPeach. Heidi performed by Danny Mulheron. Voices: Donna Akersten, Stuart Devenie, Mark Hadlow, Ross Jolly, Brian Sergent, Peter Vere-Jones, Mark Wright. Filmed in a railway shed and around the city, Wellington, New Zealand (WingNut Films with the New Zealand Film Commission). 1992: Braindead (105 minutes, R16 certificate). First screening Cannes Film Festival, May 1992. Working title: Housebound. North American title: Dead Alive (cut to 97 minutes). Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Stephen Sinclair, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson. Original Story Idea: Stephen Sinclair. Producer: Jim Booth. Director of Photography: Murray Milne. Editor: Jamie Selkirk. Creature and Gore Effects: Richard Taylor. Prosthetics Makeup Designer: Bob McCarron. Prosthetics/Makeup Supervisor: Marjory Hamlin. Supervising Puppeteer: Ramon Aguilar. Stop-motion Animation: Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor. Production Designer: Kevin Leonard-Jones. Art Director: Ed Mulholland. Costume Design: Chris Elliott. First Assistant Director: Chris Short. Sound Design: Mike Hopkins, Sam Negri. Associate Producer: Jamie Selkirk. Casting: Fran Walsh. Music Composer, Performer and Producer: Peter Dasent. Songs: ‘The Stars and Moon’ (closing credits song) composed by Peter Dasent, Jane Lindsay; sung by Kate Swadling. Cast: Lionel, Tim Balme; Paquita, Diana Peñalver; Mum (Vera Cosgrove), Elizabeth Moody; Uncles Les, Ian Watkin; Father McGruder, Stuart Devenie; Nurse McTavish, Brenda Kendall; Vold, Jed Brophy; Zombie Vera Cosgrove, Brenda Kendall; Zombie Father McGruder, Stephen Papps; Nazi Vet, Brian Sergent; Undertaker’s Assistant, Peter Jackson. Filmed at Avalon Studios, around Wellington city and Wairarapa (WingNut Films in association with the New Zealand Film Commission and Avalon/ NFU Studios). 1994: Heavenly Creatures (99 minutes, PG Certificate). World Premiere, Wellington Film Festival, 8 July 1994. Note: Overseas versions are usually shorter in length.

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Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson. Producer: Jim Booth. Co-Producer: Peter Jackson. Executive Producer: Hanno Huth. Director of Photography: Alun Bollinger. Music: Peter Dasent. Editor: Jamie Selkirk. Production Design: Grant Major. Costume Design: Ngila Dickson. Art Director: Jill Cormack. Prosthetic Effects: Richard Taylor. Visual Effects: WETA Ltd, Richard Taylor. Borovnian Prosthetics and Suit Co-ordinator: Tania Rodger. Digital Effects: George Port. Makeup and Hair Supervisor: Marjory Hamlin. Wardrobe Supervisor: Pauline Laws. Line Producer: Bridget Bourke. Second Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Post-Production Supervisor: Jamie Selkirk. Sound Editors: Micheal Hopkins, Greg Bell. Music Supervisor: Chris Gough. Orchestrator: Bob Young. Conductor: Peter Schols. Casting (UK): John Hubbard, Ros Hubbard, (NZ) Liz Mullane. Songs: ‘You’ll never walk alone’ (closing credits song) composed by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, sung by Mario Lanza. Cast: Pauline Parker, Melanie Lynskey; Juliet Hulme, Kate Winslet; Honora Parker, Sarah Peirse; Hilda Hulme, Diana Kent; Dr Henry Hulme, Clive Merrison; Herbert Rieper, Simon O’Connor; John/Nicholas, Jed Brophy; Bill Perry, Peter Elliot; Dr Bennett, Gilbert Goldie; Rev. Norris, Geoffrey Heath; Wendy, Kirsti Ferry; Jonathan, Ben Skjellerup. Filmed in Christchurch and Canterbury, New Zealand (Miramax presents WingNut Films in association with the New Zealand Film Commission and Fontana Productions). 1995: Forgotten Silver (53 minutes, PG certificate). First television screening, 29 October 1995. Working title: Forgotten Silver. The Extraordinary Life and Death of Colin McKenzie. Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Peter Jackson, Costa Botes. Script Consultant: Frances Walsh. Producer: Sue Rogers. Executive Producers: Jamie Selkirk, Peter Jackson. Series Executive Producer: Caterina De Nave. Director of Photography: Alun Bollinger, Gerry Vasbenter. Archive Stills Recreation: Chris Coad. Editors: Eric De Beus, Michael Horton. Music: Dave Donaldson, Steve Roche, Janet Roddick. Production Designer: John Girdlestone. Casting: Liz Mullane. Artificial Film Degradation: Brian Scadden, Geoff Rogers. Post-Production Supervisors: Ross Chambers, Charlie McClellan. Sound Post-Production: Craig Tomlinson. Props and Set Construction: Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger. Digital Effects: Matt Aitken, Frank Wegerhoff. Visual Effects: Steve Ingram. Cast: Narrator, Jeffrey Thomas; As themselves, Peter Jackson, Costa Botes; Colin McKenzie, Thomas Robins; Hannah McKenzie, Beatrice Ashton; Maybelle, Sarah McLeod; Stan the Man, Peter Corrigan; Brooke McKenzie,

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Richard Shirtcliffe; As themselves, Jonathon Morris, Leonard Maltin, Sam Neill, Harvey Weinstein, John O’Shea, Lindsay Shelton. Filmed around Greater Wellington (WingNut Films in association with the New Zealand Film Commission and New Zealand on Air). 1996: The Frighteners (112 minutes, M certificate). Initial Release USA, July 1996. (Laserdisc version approx 124 minutes.) Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson. Producers: Jamie Selkirk, Peter Jackson. Coproducer: Tim Sanders. Executive Producer: Robert Zemeckis. Associate Producer: Fran Walsh. Directors of Photography: Alun Bollinger, John Blick. Editor: Jamie Selkirk. Associate Editor. John Gilbert. Music: Danny Elfman. Production Designer: Grant Major. Art Director: Dan Hannah. Costume Designer: Barbara Darragh. Second Unit Director: John Blick. Casting: (US) Victoria Burrows, (NZ) Liz Mullane. Digital and Creature Effects: Weta Ltd. Digital Effects Producer: Charlie McClellan. Visual Effects Supervisor: Wes Ford Takahashi. Creature, Makeup and Miniature Effects Designer: Richard Taylor. Judge Makeup Design: Rick Baker. Songs: ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ (closing credits song) written by Donald Roeser of Blue Oyster Cult; performed by The Muttonbirds. Cast: Frank Bannister, Michael J Fox; Lucy Lynskey, Trini Alvarado; Milton Dammers, Jeffrey Combs; The Judge, John Astin; Ray Lynskey, Peter Dobson; Patricia Bradley, Dee Wallace Stone; Johnny Bartlett, Jake Busey; Cyrus, Chi McBride; Stuart, Jim Fyfe; Old Lady Bradley, Julianna McCarthy; Man on Street with Grim Reaper Shirt (Uncredited), Peter Jackson. Filmed at Camperdown Studios, Wellington, and in Wellington, Lyttelton and the Wairarapa (WingNut Films for Universal Pictures). 2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (178 minutes, PG certificate). World Premiere, London, 10 December 2001. Extended version released 12 November 2002 (219 minutes, M certificate). Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson. Based on the book by: J.R.R. Tolkien. Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Tim Sanders. Executive Producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Mark Ordesky, Robert Shaye, Michael Lynne. Co-Producers: Rick Porras, Jamie Selkirk. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Editor: John Gilbert. Music: Howard Shore. Production Designer: Grant Major. Art Director: Dan Hennah. Makeup and Hair Design: Peter Owen and Peter King. Costume Design: Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor. Conceptual Designers: Alan Lee and John Howe. Second

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Unit Directors: John Mahaffie and Geoff Murphy. Unit Production Managers: Nikolas Korda, Zane Weiner. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Key Second Assistant Director: Guy Campbell. Associate Producer: Ellen M Somers. Supervising Sound Editor/Co-Designer: Ethan Van der Ryn. Supervising Sound Editor: Michael Hopkins. Sound Designer: David Farmer. Special Makeup, Creatures, Armour and Miniatures: Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop. Digital Effects: Weta Digital Ltd. Visual Effects Supervisor: Jim Rygiel. Animation Designed and Supervised by: Randall William Cook. Visual Effects Producer: Eileen Moran. Visual Effects Supervisor (Research and Development/Pre): Charlie McClellan. Digital Effects Supervisor (Research and Development/Pre): John Sheils. Additional Visual Effects: Digital Domain, Animal Logic Film, Oktobor Films and Rhythm & Hues GMD. Casting: (UK) John Hubbard and Amy Maclean, (US) Victoria Burrows, (NZ) Liz Mullane, (Aust) Ann Robinson. Song: ‘May It Be’ (closing credits song) composed and performed by Enya, lyrics by Roma Ryan. Cast: Frodo Baggins, Elijah Wood; Gandalf, Ian McKellen; Aragorn, Viggo Mortensen; Sam Gangee, Sean Astin; Peregrin Took, Billy Boyd; Merry Brandybuck, Dominic Monaghan; Boromir, Sean Bean; Gimli, John RhysDavis; Legolas, Orlando Bloom; Arwen, Liv Tyler; Bilbo Baggins, Ian Holm; Saruman, Christopher Lee; Elrond, Hugo Weaving; Galadriel, Cate Blanchett; Lurtz, Lawrence Makoare; Albert Dreary (Uncredited Cameo), Peter Jackson. Filmed at Camperdown and Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and at locations around New Zealand (WingNut Films/New Line Cinema). 2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (172 minutes, M certificate). World Premiere, New York, 5 December 2002. Extended version released 18 November 2003 (222 minutes). Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, Peter Jackson. Based on the book by: JRR Tolkien. Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Tim Sanders. Executive Producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Mark Ordesky, Robert Shaye, Michael Lynne. Co-Producers: Rick Porras, Jamie Selkirk. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Editor: Michael Horton, Jabez Olssen. Music: Howard Shore. Production Designer: Grant Major. Art Director: Dan Hennah. Makeup and Hair Design: Peter Owen, Peter King. Costume Design: Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor. Conceptual Designers: Alan Lee, John Howe. Second Unit Directors: John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy. Unit Production Managers: Nikolas Korda, Zane Weiner. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Key Second Assistant Director: Guy Campbell. Associate Producer: Ellen M Somers. Supervising Sound Editor/Co-Designer: Ethan

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Van der Ryn. Supervising Sound Editor: Michael Hopkins. Sound Designer: David Farmer. Special Makeup, Creatures, Armour and Miniatures: Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop. Digital Effects: Weta Digital. Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Animation Designed and Supervised by: Randall William Cook. Visual Effects Producer: Eileen Moran. Visual Effects Supervisor (Research and Development/Pre): Charlie McClellan. Digital Effects Supervisor (Research and Development/Pre): John Sheils. Additional Visual Effects by: Sony Pictures Imageworks and Oktobor Films. Casting: (UK) John Hubbard and Amy Maclean, (US) Victoria Burrows, (NZ) Liz Mullane, (Aust) Ann Robinson. Song: ‘Gollum’s Song’ (closing credits song), music by Howard Shore, lyrics by Fran Walsh, performed by Emiliana Torrini. Cast: Frodo Baggins, Elijah Wood; Gandalf, Ian McKellen; Aragorn, Viggo Mortensen; Sam Gangee, Sean Astin; Peregrin Took, Billy Boyd; Merry Brandybuck, Dominic Monaghan; Boromir, Sean Bean; Gimli, John Rhys – Davis; Legolas, Orlando Bloom; Arwen, Liv Tyler; Bilbo Baggins, Ian Holm; Saruman, Christopher Lee; Elrond, Hugo Weaving; Galadriel, Cate Blanchett; Lurtz, Lawrence Makoare; Gollum, Andy Serkis; Theoden, Bernard Hill; Eowyn, Miranda Otto; Faramir, David Wenham; Wormtongue, Brad Dourif; Eomer, Karl Urban; Soldier at Helm’s Deep (Uncredited Cameo), Peter Jackson. Filmed at Camperdown and Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and at locations around New Zealand (WingNut Films/New Line Cinema). 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (201 minutes, M certificate). World Premiere, Wellington, 1 December 2003. Extended version released November 2004 (251 minutes). Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson. Based on the book by: JRR Tolkien. Producers: Barrie M Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Tim Sanders. Executive Producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Mark Ordesky, Robert Shaye, Michael Lynne. Co-Producers: Rick Porras, Jamie Selkirk. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Editor: Jamie Selkirk. Music: Howard Shore. Production Designer: Grant Major. Art Director: Dan Hennah. Makeup and Hair Design: Peter Owen, Peter King. Costume Design: Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor. Conceptual Designers: Alan Lee, John Howe. Second Unit Directors: John Mahaffie and Geoff Murphy. Unit Production Managers: Nikolas Korda, Zane Weiner. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Key Second Assistant Director: Guy Campbell. Associate Producer: Ellen M Somers. Supervising Sound Editor/Co-Designer: Ethan Van der Ryn. Supervising Sound Editor: Michael Hopkins. Sound Designer: David Farmer. Special Makeup, Creatures, Armour and Miniatures: Richard

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Taylor and Weta Workshop. Digital Effects: Weta Digital. Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Animation Designed and Supervised by: Randall William Cook. Visual Effects Producer: Eileen Moran. Visual Effects Supervisor (Research and Development/Pre): Charlie McClellan. Digital Effects Supervisor (Research and Development/Pre): John Sheils. Additional Visual Effects by: Sony Pictures Imageworks and Oktobor Films. Casting: (UK) John Hubbard and Amy Maclean, (US) Victoria Burrows, (NZ) Liz Mullane, (Australia) Ann Robinson. Song: ‘Into the West’ (closing credits song), music by Howard Shore, Annie Lennox, lyrics by Fran Walsh, performed by Annie Lennox. Main Cast: Frodo Baggins, Elijah Wood; Gandalf, Ian McKellen; Aragorn, Viggo Mortensen; Sam Gangee, Sean Astin; Peregrin Took, Billy Boyd; Merry Brandybuck, Dominic Monaghan; Boromir, Sean Bean; Gimli, John Rhys – Davis; Legolas, Orlando Bloom; Arwen, Liv Tyler; Bilbo Baggins, Ian Holm; Saruman, Christopher Lee; Elrond, Hugo Weaving; Galadriel, Cate Blanchett; Lurtz, Lawrence Makoare; Gollum, Andy Serkis; Theoden, Bernard Hill; Eowyn, Miranda Otto; Faramir, David Wenham; Wormtongue, Brad Dourif; Eomer, Karl Urban; Denethor, John Noble. Filmed at Camperdown and Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and at locations around New Zealand (WingNut Films/New Line Cinema). 2005: King Kong (187 minutes, M certificate). World Premiere, New York USA, 5 December 2005. Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson. Based on a story by: Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace. Producers: Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh. CoProducers: Philippa Boyens, Eileen Moran. Music: James Newton Howard. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Editor: Jamie Selkirk, Jabez Olssen. Production Design: Grant Major. Art Direction: Joe Bleakley, Simon Bright, Dan Hennah. Set Decoration: Simon Bright, Dan Hennah. Costume Design: Terry Ryan. Special Makeup, Creatures and Miniatures: Richard Taylor. Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Animation Directors: Christian Rivers, Eric Leighton. Unit Production Manager: Anne Bruning. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Key Second Assistant Director: Marc Ashton. Associate Producer: Annette Wullems. Visual Effects On-Set Supervisor: Brian Van’t Hul. Post-Production Supervisor: Pippa Anderson. Supervising Sound Editor: Mike Hopkins. Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer: Ethan van der Ryn. Conceptual Designers: Jeremy Bennett, Gus Hunter. Colour Supervisor: Peter Doyle. Makeup and Hair Designer: Peter

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Swords King. Casting: Victoria Burrows, Daniel Hubbard, John Hubbard, Liz Mullane, Ann Robinson. Cast: Ann Darrow, Naomi Watts; Carl Denham, Jack Black; Jack Driscoll, Adrien Brody; Captain Englehorn, Thomas Kretschmann; Preston, Colin Hanks; Kong/Lumpy, Andy Serkis; Jimmy, Jamie Beel; Hayes, Evan Parke; Choy, Lobo Chan; Mike, Craig Hall; Herb, John Sumner. Filmed around Greater Wellington, Auckland and Stone Street Studios (Universal Pictures presents WingNut Films, Big Primate Pictures, MFPV Film). 2008: Crossing the Line (15 minutes). Screened at NAB convention (National Association of Broadcasters) USA, 2008. Directors: Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp. Screenplay: Peter Jackson. Producer: Carolynne Cunningham. Executive Producers: Jim Jannard, Fran Walsh. Editor: Jabez Olssen. Assistant Art Director: Ra Vincent. Sound Mixer: Chris Ward. Post-Production Supervisor: Pamela HarveyWhite. Special Effects: Karl Chisholm, Doug Falconer. Visual Effects: Matt Aitken, Andrew Lambert, Charles Tait. Stunts Coordinator: Kirk Maxwell. Stunt Performer: Tim Wong. Cast: Soldier, Kyle Ashley; Soldier, Rocky Curby; Pilot, Calum Gittins; Young Soldier, Tom Hobbs; Soldier, Patrick Kalyn; Soldier, James Willingham III. Filmed in Masterton, Wairarapa, New Zealand on Red prototype cameras Boris and Natasha (WingNut Films and Red Digital Cinema). 2009: The Lovely Bones (135 minutes, M certificate). Royal Premiere, 24 November 2009, UK. Director: Peter Jackson. Writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson. Based on the novel by: Alice Sebold. Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Aimee Peyronnet. Co-Producers: Marc Ashton, Philippa Boyens, Anne Bruning. Executive Producers: Ken Kamins, Tessa Ross, Steven Spielberg, James Wilson. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Music: Brian Eno. Editor: Jabez Olssen. Production Design: Naomi Shohan. Art Direction: Jules Cook, Chris Shriver. Set Decoration: George DeTitta Jr., Meg Everist. Costume Design: Nancy Steiner. Supervising Sound Editors: Chris Ward, Brent Burge. Sound Designers: Dave Whitehead, Christopher Boyes. Unit Production Manager: Anne Bruning, Denise Pinckley. Production Manager, Second Unit: Brigitte Yorke. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Visual Effects Supervisor: Christian Rivers. Post-Production Supervisor: Pippa Anderson. Music

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Supervisor: Nigel Stone. Makeup and Hair Design: Peter Swords King. Casting: Scot Boland, Victoria Burrows, Jina Jay, Avy Kaufman, Liz Mullane. Cast: Jack Salmon, Mark Wahlburg; Abigail Salmon, Rachel Weisz; Grandma Lynn, Susan Sarandon; George Harvey, Stanley Tucci; Len Fenerman, Michael Imperioli; Susie Salmon, Saoirse Ronan; Lindsey Salmon, Rose McIver; Buckley Salmon, Christian Thomas Ashdale; Ray Singh, Reece Ritchie; Ruth Connors, Carolyn Dando; Holly, Nikki SooHoo; Samuel Heckler, Andrew James Allen. Filmed around Pennsylvania, USA and Camperdown Studios and Stone Street Studios, Miramar, Wellington (DreamWorks SKG in association with Film4 present a WingNut Films Production with the participation of New Zealand Large Budget Screen Production Grant). 2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (169 minutes, M certificate). World Premiere, 28 November 2012, Wellington, New Zealand. Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro. Based on the novel by: JRR Tolkien. Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Zane Weiner. Co-Producers: Philippa Boyens, Eileen Moran. Executive Producers: Carolyn Blackwood, Toby Emmerich, Alan Horn, Ken Kamins. Associate Producers: Matthew Dravitzki, Amanda Walker. Music: Howard Shore. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Editor: Jabez Olssen. Production Design: Dan Hennah. Art Direction: Simon Bright, Brian Massey, Andy McLaren, Brad Mill. Set Decoration: Simon Bright, Ra Vincent. Costume Design: Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor. Armour, Weapons, Creatures and Special Makeup: Richard Taylor. Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Visual Effects Supervisor: Eric Saindon. Animation Supervisor: David Clayton, Eric Reynolds. Unit Production Managers: Zane Weiner, Brigitte Yorke. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Key Second Assistant Director: Guy Campbell. Second Unit Director: Andy Serkis. Supervising Sound Editors: Brent Burge, Chris Ward. Sound Designer: David Farmer, Dave Whitehead. Hair and Makeup Designer: Peter Swords Kings. Conceptual Designers: John Howe, Alan Lee. Casting: (UK) Amu Hubbard, John Hubbard, (US) Victoria Burrows, Scot Boland, (NZ) Liz Mullane, (AUST) Ann Robinson. Song: ‘Song of the Lonely Mountain’ (closing credits song) lyrics by Neil Finn. Music composed by Neil Finn, David Donaldson David Long, Steve Roche, Janet Roddick; performed by Neil Finn.

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Cast: Gandalf, Ian McKellen; Bilbo, Martin Freeman; Thorin, Richard Armitage; Balin, Ken Stott; Dwalin, Graham McTavish; Bifur, William Kircher; Bofur, James Nesbitt; Bombur, Stephen Hunter; Fili, Dean O’Gorman; Kili, Aidan Turner; Oin, John Callen; Gloin, Peter Hambleton; Nori, Jed Brophy; Dori, Mark Hadlow; Ori, Adam Brown; Old Biblo, Ian Holm; Frodo, Elijah Wood; Elrond, Hugo Weaving; Galadriel, Cate Blanchett; Saruman, Christopher Lee; Gollum, Andy Serkis; Radagast, Sylvester McCoy; Thror, Jeffrey Thomas; Thrain, Michael Mizrahi; Thranduil, Lee Pace; Necromancer, Benedict Cumberbatch. Filmed across New Zealand and Stone Street Studios, Wellington and Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, UK (New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer present WingNut Films). 2013: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (161 minutes, M certificate). Premiere 2 December 2013, California, USA. Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro. Based on the novel by: JRR Tolkien. Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Zane Weiner. CoProducers: Philippa Boyens, Eileen Moran. Executive Producers: Carolyn Blackwood, Toby Emmerich, Alan Horn, Ken Kamins. Associate Producers: Matthew Dravitzki, Amanda Walker. Music: Howard Shore. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Editor: Jabez Olssen. Production Design: Dan Hennah. Art Direction: Simon Bright, Brian Massey, Andy McLaren, Brad Mill. Set Decoration: Simon Bright, Ra Vincent. Costume Design: Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor. Armour, Weapons, Creatures and Special Makeup: Richard Taylor. Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Visual Effects Supervisor: Eric Saindon. Animation Supervisor: David Clayton, Eric Reynolds. Unit Production Managers: Zane Weiner, Brigitte Yorke. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Key Second Assistant Director: Guy Campbell. Second Unit Director: Andy Serkis. Supervising Sound Editor: Brent Burge, Chris Ward. Sound Designer: David Farmer, Dave Whitehead. Hair and Makeup Designer: Peter Swords Kings. Conceptual Designers: John Howe, Alan Lee. Casting: (UK) Amu Hubbard, John Hubbard, (US) Victoria Burrows, Scot Boland, (NZ) Liz Mullane, (Aust) Ann Robinson. Song: ‘I See Fire’ (closing credits song) written by Ed Sheeran; performed by Ed Sheeran. Cast: Gandalf, Ian McKellen; Bilbo, Martin Freeman; Thorin, Richard Armitage; Balin, Ken Stott; Dwalin, Graham McTavish; Bifur, William Kircher; Bofur, James Nesbitt; Bombur, Stephen Hunter; Fili, Dean O’Gorman; Kili, Aidan Turner; Oin, John Callen; Gloin, Peter Hambleton; Nori, Jed Brophy; Dori, Mark Hadlow; Ori, Adam Brown; Old Biblo,

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Ian Holm; Frodo, Elijah Wood; Elrond, Hugo Weaving; Galadriel, Cate Blanchett; Saruman, Christopher Lee; Gollum, Andy Serkis; Radagast, Sylvester McCoy; Thranduil, Lee Pace; Necromancer/Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch; Legolas, Orlando Bloom; Tauriel, Evangeline Lilly; Beorn, Mikael Persbrandt; Bard, Luke Evans; Master of Laketown, Stephen Fry. Filmed across New Zealand and Stone Street Studios, Wellington and Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, UK (New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer present WingNut Films). 2014: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (144 minutes, M certificate). Premiere 1 December 2014, London. Director: Peter Jackson. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro. Based on the novel by: JRR Tolkien. Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Zane Weiner. CoProducers: Philippa Boyens, Eileen Moran. Executive Producers: Carolyn Blackwood, Toby Emmerich, Alan Horn, Ken Kamins. Associate Producers: Matthew Dravitzki, Amanda Walker. Music: Howard Shore. Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie. Editor: Jabez Olssen. Production Design: Dan Hennah. Art Direction: Simon Bright, Brian Massey, Andy McLaren, Brad Mill. Set Decoration: Simon Bright, Ra Vincent. Costume Design: Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor. Armour, Weapons, Creatures and Special Makeup: Richard Taylor. Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Visual Effects Supervisor: Eric Saindon. Animation Supervisors: David Clayton, Eric Reynolds. Unit Production Managers: Zane Weiner, Brigitte Yorke, Belindalee Hope. First Assistant Director: Carolynne Cunningham. Key Second Assistant Director: Guy Campbell. Second Unit Director: Andy Serkis. Supervising Sound Editor: Brent Burge, Chris Ward. Sound Designer: David Farmer, Dave Whitehead. Hair and Makeup Designer: Peter Swords Kings. Conceptual Designers: John Howe, Alan Lee. Casting: (UK) Amy Hubbard, John Hubbard, (US) Victoria Burrows, Scot Boland, (NZ) Liz Mullane, Miranda Rivers (Aust) Ann Robinson. Song: ‘The Last Goodbye’ (closing credits song) written by Billy Boyd, Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh; performed by Billy Boyd. Cast: Gandalf, Ian McKellen; Bilbo, Martin Freeman; Thorin, Richard Armitage; Balin, Ken Stott; Dwalin, Graham McTavish; Bifur, William Kircher; Bofur, James Nesbitt; Bombur, Stephen Hunter; Fili, Dean O’Gorman; Kili, Aidan Turner; Oin, John Callen; Gloin, Peter Hambleton; Nori, Jed Brophy; Dori, Mark Hadlow; Ori, Adam Brown; Frodo, Elijah Wood; Elrond, Hugo Weaving; Galadriel, Cate Blanchett; Saruman, Christopher Lee; Old Bilbo, Ian Holm; Gollum, Andy Serkis; Radagast, Sylvester McCoy; Thranduil, Lee Pace; Necromancer/Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch; Legolas, Orlando Bloom; Tauriel, Evangeline Lilly; Beorn,

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Mikael Persbrandt; Bard, Luke Evans; Master of Laketown, Stephen Fry; Dain Ironfoot, Billy Connolly; Azog, Manu Bennett; Bolg, Lawrence Makoare. Filmed across New Zealand and Stone Street Studios, Wellington and Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, UK (New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer present WingNut Films).

Other films involving Jackson 1992: Valley of the Stereos (15 minutes). Director: George Port. Screenplay: Costa Botes, George Port. Story Consultants: Costa Botes, George Port, Peter Jackson, Danny Mulheron. Executive Producers: Jim Booth, Peter Jackson. Line Producer: Michelle Turner. Director of Photography: Richard Bluck. Stop Motion DOP: Murray Milne. Editor: Jamie Selkirk. Art Director: Adam Strange. Model Supervisor: Richard Taylor. Robot Designer: Dominic Taylor. Music: Michelle Scullion. Sound: Pacific Sound, Mike Hopkins, Sam Negri. Sound Mixer: Mike Hedges. Wardrobe/Makeup: Clifford Hughes. Cast: River, Danny Mulheron; Ted, Murray Keane. Filmed on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand (WingNut Films in association with the Short Film Fund of the New Zealand Film Commission). 1995: Dirty Creature (11 minutes). Screened at Wellington Film Festival, 1995. Director: Grant Campbell. Screenplay: Grant Campbell, Fran Walsh. Producer: Carole Pagonis. Executive Producers: Vincent Burke, Peter Jackson. Cinematography: Richard Scott. Art Department: Clive Memmott. Editor: John Gilbert. Sound Editor: Mike Hopkins. Music: Clive Cockburn. Special Effects: Weta Ltd. Creature Effects Designer: Richard Taylor. Digital Effects Supervisor: George Port. Casting: Fran Walsh. Makeup and Hair Design: Gail Wilson. Wardrobe: Rachel Little. Sound: Pacific Sound. Cast: Groom, Jed Brophy; Bride, Miranda Harcourt; Daphne, Kylie Kerrison; Photographer, William Kircher; Mr Laselles, Martyn Sanderson. Filmed in Wellington (WingNut Films and Top Shelf Productions in association with the Short Film Fund of the New Zealand Film Commission). 1995: Jack Brown Genius (91 minutes, M certificate). Screened at Cannes Film Festival, May 1995.

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Director: Tony Hiles. Screenplay: Tony Hiles, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh. Producers: Jim Booth, Peter Jackson. Associate Producer: Sue Rodgers. Executive Producer: Jamie Selkirk, Hanno Huth. Director of Photography: Allen Guilford. Editor: Jamie Selkirk. Digital Effects: Matt Aitken. Special Effects: George Port, Richard Taylor. Special Makeup Effects: Vance Hartwell. Production Designer: Richard Kofoed. Sound Designer: Ken Saville. Music Composer: Michelle Scullion. Special Effects Coordinator: Tania Rodger. Second Unit Director: Peter Jackson. Costume Design: Chris Elliott. Line Producer: Bridget Bourke. Casting: Rachel Bollock. Assistant Director: David Norris. Cast: Jack Brown, Tim Balme; The Boss, Edward Campbell; Sylvia, Lisa Chappell; Dennis, Marton Csokas; Elmer, Stuart Devenie; Eileen, Nicola Murphy; Dr Aubrey Gillies, Jeffrey Thomas. Filmed around Wellington (WingNut Films and Senator Film Produktion with the New Zealand Film Commission). 2003: The Long and the Short of It (5 minutes). Official entry at the Sundance Film Festival, 2003. Director: Sean Astin. Screenplay: Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan. Producers: Sean Astin, Jamie Selkirk, Zane Weiner, Peter Jackson. Cinematography: Rob Marsh. Editor: Jo Priest. Cast: Andrew Lesnie, Praphaporn Chasantor, Paul Randall, Peter Jackson. Filmed in Wellington. 2009: District 9 (112 minutes, R16 certificate). Initial Release New Zealand/Australia, 13 August 2009. Director: Neill Blomkamp. Writers: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell. Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson. Co-Producer: Philippa Boyens. Executive Producers: Bill Block, Ken Kamins. Co-Executive Producers: Elliot Ferwerda, Paul Hanson. Director of Photography: Trent Opaloch. Editor: Julian Clarke. Production Designer: Philip Ivey. Music: Clinton Shorter. Music Supervisor: Michelle Belcher. Line Producer: Trishia Downie. Supervising Producer: Michael S. Murphy. Unit Production Manager: Steven St. Arnaud. Post-Production Supervisor: Pippa Anderson. Supervising Sound Editors: Chris Ward, Brent Burge. Sound Designer/ Alien Vocals: Dave Whitehead. First Assistant Director: Paul Grinder. Weapons, Creatures and Makeup Effects: Weta Workshop. Lead Concept Designer: Greg Broadmore. Lead Creature Designer: David Meng. Design and Effects Supervisor: Richard Taylor. Workshop Makeup Supervisor: Frances Richardson. Workshop Costume Supervisor: Matt Appleton. Props Supervisor: John Harvey. 3D Model Supervisor: Charlotte Key. Art Direction: Mie Berg, Emilia Weavind. Lead Set Decoration: Guy Potgieter.

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Makeup and Hair Supervisor: Leon von Schiff. Costume Design: Diana Cilliers. Prosthetic Effects Supervisor: Joe Dunckley. Special Effects Supervisor: Max Poolman. Cast: Wikus Van De Merwe, Sharlto Copley; Grey Bradnam, Jason Cope; Koobus Venter, David James; Sarah Livingstone, Nathalie Boltt; Dr Katrina McKenzie, Sylvaine Strike; Les Feldman, John Sumner; Dirk Michaels, Willian Allen Young; Francois Moraneu, Nick Blake; James Hope, Jed Brophy; Tania Smit van de Merwe, Vanessa Haywood; Fundiswa Mhlanga, Mandla Gaduka; Thomas, Kenneth Nkosi; Obesandjo, Eugene Khumbanyiwa; Piet Smit, Louis Minnaar; Ross Pienaar, Robert Hobbs. Filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa and Stone Street Studios, Miramar, New Zealand (A WingNut Films Production in association with TriStar Pictures, Block/Hanson, QED International). 2011: The Adventures of Tintin (107 minutes, PG certificate). Premiere 23 October 2011, Brussels. Director: Steven Spielberg. Screenplay: Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish. Based on the comic by: Hergé. Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg. Co-Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Jason McGatlin. Executive Producers: Ken Kamins, Nick Rodwell, Stephane Sperry. Associate Producer: Adam Somner. Music: John Williams. Editor: Michael Kahn. Casting: Scot Boland, Victoria Burrows, Jina Jay. Art Direction: Andrew L. Jones, Jeff Wisniewski. Senior Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri. Visual Effects Supervisor: Scott E. Anderson. Animation Supervisor: Jamie Beard. Costume Design (VFX): Lesley Burkes-Harding. Makeup Department Head: Tegan Taylor. Unit Production Manager: Georgia Kacandes. Second Unit Director: Peter Jackson. First Assistant Director: Adam Somner, Ian Stone, (Second Unit) Liz Tan. Sound Designer: Dave Whitehead. Supervising Sound Editor: Brent Burge. Visual Effects Supervisor (Weta Digital): Matt Aitken, Keith Millar, Matthias Menz. Animation Technical Director: Regina Cachuela, Taisuke Tanimura. Cast (all voices): Tintin, Jamie Bell; Captain Haddock/Sir Frances Haddock, Andy Serkis; Sakharine/Red Rackham, Daniel Craig; Thomson, Nick Frost; Thompson, Simon Pegg; Allan, Daniel Mays; Ben Salaad, Gad Elmaleh; Silk, Toby Jones; Barnaby, Joe Starr; Nestor/Mr Crabbtree, Enn Reitel; Tom, Mackenzie Crook; Lieutenant Delcourt, Tony Curran; Mrs Finch, Sonje Fortag. Filmed in Wellington (Columbia Pictures and Paramount Pictures present in association with Hemisphere Media Capital, an Amblin Entertainment/ WingNut Films production, a Kennedy/Marshall Company production).

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2012: West of Memphis (147 minutes, M certificate). Premiere Sundance Film Festival, 21 January 2012. Director: Amy Berg. Screenplay: Amy Berg, Billy McMillin. Producer: Amy Berg, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Lorri Davis, Damien Echols. Executive Producer: Ken Kamins. Co-Producer: Matthew Dravitzki. Director of Photography: Maryse Alberti, Ronan Killeen. Editor: Billy McMillin. Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis. Music Supervisor: Jonathan McHugh. Associate Producers: Katelyn Howes, Alejandra Riguero. Line Producers: Tina Elmo, Dan Kaplow. Second Unit Director of Photography: Jeff Dailey. Post-Production Supervisor: David Serafin. Supervising Sound Editors: Brent Bruge, Chris Ward. Digital Intermediate/Sound/Laboratory Services: Park Road Post Production. Head of Production: Dean Watkins. Park Road Post Producer: Tracey Brown. Cast: as themselves, Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, Terry Hobbs, Michael Baden, Jason Baldwin, Holly Ballard, Jamie Clark Ballard, Jennifer Bearden, Patrick Benca, Steve Braga, Karen Bruewer, David Burnett, John Mark Byers, Michael Carson, Dennis Carter, Joyce Cureton, Lorri Davis, Vincent Di Maio, Julie Ann Doan, Stephanie Dollar, John Douglas, Jerry Driver, Steven Drizin, Scott Ellington, John N. Fogleman, Mildred French, Sharon French, Joseph Garner, Rachael Geiser, Gail Grinnell, Martin Hill, Cindy Hobbs, Pam Hobbs, Don Horgan, Vicki Hutchenson, David Jacoby, Steve Jones, Mike Ledford, Mara Leveritt, Robert Heath Meeks, Erin Moriarty, Sheila Muse, Laura Nirider, Capi Peck, Dennis Riordan, Henry Rollins, Judy Sadler, Barry Scheck, Carlos Seals, Patti Smith, Dan Stidham, Eddie Vedder. Filmed at West Memphis, Arkansas and Wellington (Disarming Films and WingNut Films).

Appendix 2 Selected Bibliography

Books Barratt, Jim. 2009. Bad Taste. London: Wallflower. Bogstad, Janice M., and Philip E. Kaveny, eds, 2011. Picturing Tolkien Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. Bordoni, Andrea, and Matteo Marino. 2002. Peter Jackson. Milano: Il Castoro. Cicala, Giulio. 2006. Il cinema di Peter Jackson. Alessandria: Falsopiano. Grant, Barry Keith. 1999. A Cultural Assault: The New Zealand Films of Peter Jackson. Nottingham: Kakapo Books in Association with Nottingham Trent University, Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies. Margolis, Harriet et al., eds, 2008. Studying the Event Film: The Lord of the Rings. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Mathijs, Ernest, and Murray Pomerance, eds, 2006. From Hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Pryor, Ian. 2003. Peter Jackson: From Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings. Auckland: Random House New Zealand. Sánchez, José Luis, and Luis Miguel Carmona. 2012. Peter Jackson: de Mal Gusto a El Hobbit. Madrid: Jaguar. Sibley, Brian. 2006. Peter Jackson: A Film-Maker’s Journey. Sydney: HarperCollins Publishers. Thompson, Kristin. 2007. The Frodo Franchise: How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Became a Hollywood Blockbuster and Put New Zealand on the Map. Auckland: Penguin Group New Zealand, Limited. Woods, Paul A., ed. 2004. Peter Jackson: From Gore to Mordor. London: Plexus. Ultrascreen Series. Wright, Greg. 2004. Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema’s the Lord of the Rings: A Look at Hollywood’s Take on Tolkien’s Epic Tale. Burien, WA: Hollywood Jesus Books.

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Book chapters and journal articles Barr, Jim, and Mary Barr. 1996. ‘NZFX: The Films of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh’. In Film in Aotearoa New Zealand, edited by Jonathan Dennis and Jan Bieringa, 150–60. Wellington: Victoria University Press. Grant, Barry Keith. 2007. ‘Bringing It All Back Home: The Films of Peter Jackson’. In New Zealand Filmmakers, 320–35. Wayne State University Press. 14 November 2013. Lealand, Geoff. 2011. ‘The “Jackson Effect”: The Late 1990s to 2005’. In New Zealand Film: An Illustrated History, edited by Diane Pivac, Frank Stark, and Lawrence McDonald, 259–82. Wellington: Te Papa Press. McDonald, Lawrence. 1993. ‘A Critique of the Judgement of Bad Taste or Beyond Braindead Criticism: The Films of Peter Jackson’. Illusions 21–22 (Winter): 9–15. Morris, Jo. 2007. ‘Peter Jackson as Auteur’. In The Cinema of Australia and New Zealand, edited by Geoff Mayer and Keith Beattie, 45–51. London: Wallflower. Simmons, Laurence. 2007. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’. In The Cinema of Australia and New Zealand, edited by Geoff Mayer and Keith Beattie, 223–32. London: Wallflower. Tonkin, Keith. 2004. ‘Peter Jackson’. In New Zealand Film-Makers. Petone: Gilt Edge Pub. Wu, Harmony H. 2003. ‘Trading in Horror, Cult and Matricide: Peter Jackson’s Phenomenal Bad Taste and New Zealand Fantasies of Inter/ national Cinematic Success’. Defining Cult Movies: The Cultural Politics of Oppositional Taste, edited by Mark Jancovich, 84–108. New York: Manchester University Press.

Unpublished theses Emmitt, Stephanie Rose. 2000. ‘A Bibliography of the Work of Peter Jackson: New Zealand Film Maker’. Victoria University of Wellington. Robinson, Rebecca. 1998. ‘Peter Jackson: A New Zealand Film Auteur’. University of Canterbury.

Online Botes, Costa. n.d. ‘Made in New Zealand: The Cinema of Peter Jackson’. NZEDGE. N.p. Web. 14 November 2013. http://www.nzedge.com /peter-jackson/

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Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2014. ‘Sir Peter Jackson’. Encyclopaedia Britannica. N.p. Web. 11 February 2015. http://www.britannica.com /EBchecked/topic/914231/Sir-Peter-Jackson NZOnScreen. 21 August 2008. ‘NZ On Screen – Peter Jackson’. N.p.. Web. 11 January 2015. http://www.nzonscreen.com/person /peterjackson/biography Stephenson, Matthew. n.d. ‘Senses of Cinema – Peter Jackson’. N.p. Web. 14 November 2013. http://sensesofcinema.com/2008/great-directors /peter-jackson/

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INDEX

Academy Awards 10, 11, 36, 38–39, 42, 45, 50, 52–53, 56, 128, 136, 140, 151, 171, 181, 187, 199, 204, 215, 231. See also Oscars Actors Equity Union 102 Adamson, Andrew 14, 46, 76, 102 adaptation 13, 17, 35, 37, 56, 126– 127, 163, 166, 185–186, 192, 194–198, 204, 206, 208–210, 220–221, 223 adventure 2, 25, 81, 100, 108, 133, 143, 165 The Adventures of Tintin 11, 13, 17, 28, 49, 51, 108, 113, 161–162, 166, 184–185, 227 aeroplanes 112. See also aircraft Africa 127, 164 AIDS 116 aircraft 112–114, 129, 150, 155, 171, 175. See also aeroplanes Aitken, Matt 214, 228 aliens 18–20, 25, 54, 90, 116–117, 127–128, 166, 183 Alive in Joburg 127–128 allegory 165 amateur 3, 29, 115, 118, 123, 155, 168, 170, 177 animals 39, 117, 174 animation 4, 7, 11, 39, 143, 155, 159–160, 162, 169, 175–176, 185, 187–188, 214, 230, 232–233

animatronics 54, 122 Antipodean 104, 213 Aotearoa 61, 104. See also New Zealand ape 3, 10, 20, 51, 143, 145, 161, 165 Aragorn 179, 182, 206, 211–212 Argonaths 93 armies 20, 94, 141, 193, 202, 204, 206 Armitage, Richard 198, 200 armours 22, 53, 211, 229 Arri cameras 213 art 15, 24, 44, 54, 61, 63, 65, 71, 79–80, 89, 113, 135–136, 160, 162, 202 Art Deco 49, 71 Arwen 164, 167, 211–212 Astin, Sean 170, 212 Auckland 19, 35, 43–44, 46, 52–53, 60, 66, 69, 76, 78, 102, 117, 150, 207, 228 audiences 15, 28, 100–101, 123, 125, 135–136, 145, 147, 172, 182, 191, 204–205, 218. See also viewers Australia 40, 61, 69, 73, 75, 121–122, 163 auteur 8–9, 14–16, 28, 131, 188 authenticity 22, 88–90, 92–93, 95–96, 156, 161 Avalon studios 66, 119–120 Avatar 14, 40, 42–43, 76–78, 103, 107–109, 111, 128, 162,

272

INDEX

185–186, 201–202, 219, 231–233 aviation 13, 112–114, 150, 171, 175 Azog 167, 193, 197 Babe 38–39 Baby Selwyn 21, 122, 183 Bad Taste 14, 18–20, 22, 24–27, 30, 32, 46–47, 52, 56, 63, 87, 90–91, 114–119, 121, 123–124, 127, 132–133, 136–138, 140, 152, 154–155, 163, 168, 170, 178, 180–183, 226–227 BAFTA 36, 39, 52, 56, 168, 177, 187 Bakshi, Ralph 206–208, 211 Balin 200 Balme, Tim 138 Bannister, Frank 124, 190 Barbershop 231 Bard the Bowman 193, 200 Batman 102 Bats Theatre 57, 71 battles 22, 25, 94, 116–117, 120, 164, 171, 173, 176, 182, 193, 206–207, 210, 214, 230 BBC 43, 142, 151 bear 111, 171 beasts 123, 144, 177, 227 The Beatles 208 Beehive 169 Behind the Bull 33 Bell, Jamie 186 Bennett, Manu 167 biblical 129, 131 Bifur 200 bigatures 93, 149, 156–157, 179, 213, 230 Bilbo 18, 20, 25, 94–95, 100–101, 111, 125, 166, 183, 192–193, 197–200, 206

birds 87, 93 Black, Jack 32, 54, 129, 147, 183, 207, 231 Black Sheep 32, 54, 129, 183 Blakeney, Don 62 Blanchett, Cate 27, 200, 212 Bletch 21, 25, 153 blockbusters 11, 13, 17, 38, 72, 76, 112, 123, 126, 140, 176, 182, 191, 210, 217, 219, 223, 232 Blomkamp, Neill 38, 126–129, 171 blood 23–25, 121, 184 Bloom, Orlando 200, 212 Blubberhead 7 Bluck, Richard 109, 171 Bofur 200 Bolex camera 5, 31 Bollinger, Alun 39, 130 Bombadil 210 Bombur 200 Booth, Jim 6–8, 44, 46–47, 63–64, 115–116, 137–138, 140 Boromir 206 Borovnia 18, 20, 69, 83, 90–91, 135, 156 Botes, Costa 5–6, 9, 26, 30–35, 56, 116, 118, 125, 129–133, 138, 170, 178, 218 boycott 77–78, 196. See also ‘Hobbit labor dispute’ Boyd, Billy 112, 203 Boyens, Philippa 30–31, 35–38, 56–57, 145, 147–148, 195, 197, 199–200, 215, 220 Bradbury, Ray 32 Braindead 6–8, 18–26, 32, 35, 44, 47, 52–53, 56, 63, 90–91, 109, 118–124, 132–138, 144, 152, 154–156, 163, 170, 172, 178, 180–183, 227

INDEX

Bree 124 Britain 8, 19, 59, 61, 79, 85–86 Britishness 20, 121 Brodie, Ian 93, 99, 202 Brophy, Jed 8, 27, 200 Caesar 51, 161 Cahiers du Cinema 15–16 Callen, John 200 cameos 22, 25, 113, 123–125, 147 Cameron, James 14, 17, 40, 42–43, 49, 65, 71, 76, 102, 107–109, 129, 141, 152, 154, 162, 185–186, 188, 219, 227, 232–233 Camperdown Studios 8, 17, 47, 49, 71, 226, 228 Campion, Jane 24, 44, 54, 65, 136, 190 Canada 75 Cannes 6, 31, 44, 96, 118, 122, 139 cannibals 163, 166 Caro, Niki 44, 46, 77, 134 cartoon 153 Caspar 190 casting 56, 72, 125, 148, 164, 166–167, 199–200, 212 Cavendish, John 51 celebrities 224, 226 censorship 119, 122 CGI 39, 88, 141, 148–149, 156, 158, 178–179, 190, 202, 205, 222–223, 227–228, 230–232 chainmail 54, 230 chainsaw 117–118 Challis, Erica 215 charity 113, 116. See also philanthropic activities childhood 23, 56, 112, 114, 166, 180, 183–184 Chittock, Cameron 152–154, 227

273

Christchurch 19–20, 25, 31, 56, 88, 90–91, 124, 133, 135 Christmas 32, 125 The Chronicles of Narnia 76–77, 103, 219, 231 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 77, 102, 135 Prince Caspian 102 CinemaCon 142 cinemascope 24 cinematographers 31, 38–40, 109, 201 cinematography 27, 29, 109, 158, 171 cinephilia 125 Civic Theatre 150 Clark, Helen 72–73 A Clockwork Orange 170 colonization 61 comedy 24–25, 32, 56, 63, 117, 121, 127, 129–130, 136, 138, 154, 180–183, 190–191, 200, 221. See also humour comics 120, 184 commercials 46, 125–126 Commonwealth 44 composer 15, 151, 199 computer 41, 51, 89, 113, 120, 135, 147, 156–160, 162, 173, 179, 187, 202, 207, 212–214, 222, 228 Connolly, Billy 200 controversy 132–133, 143, 166, 226 Cooper, Merian C., 3, 17, 113, 124, 143, 165, 175 Coppola, Francis Ford 117 costumes 22, 52–53, 93, 197, 231 Court, David 64, 225 cranes 93, 109–110, 115, 171 creative industries 52, 59, 66, 73–74, 76–77, 79–80

274

INDEX

creatures 22, 27, 47, 51, 53, 83, 110–111, 141, 149, 154–155, 159, 162, 173, 202, 207, 214 cricket 173 crime 20, 134 critics 14–16, 23, 35, 40, 50, 61, 122, 130, 133, 136, 139, 142, 151–152, 154, 159–160, 163–165, 180, 182, 187, 191, 204, 217–220, 222–223, 225 Crossing the Line 168, 171 cult 16–17, 68, 84, 99, 110, 118–119, 122–123, 136, 151–152, 182, 191, 200, 217 Cumberbatch, Benedict 200 The Curse of the Gravewalker 24, 170 Cushing, Peter 3 Cyclops 177 Dam Busters 13, 113–114, 158 Darrow, Ann 20, 143, 146–147, 165 Dasent, Peter 154 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 42, 51, 232 De Laurentis, Dino 144 decapitation 26 DeHavilland 1, 112 Del Toro, Guillermo 31, 37, 54, 129, 195 DeMille, Cecil B., 132 Denham, Carl 88, 90, 143, 146–147 dinosaurs 41, 108, 143–144, 149, 169, 176, 228 Dirty Creature 9, 170 Disney 76 distribution 74, 99, 122, 135, 138, 216

District 9, 28, 38, 53, 126–129, 166, 171, 227 DIY 18, 26, 55, 117, 130, 132 documentary 13, 21, 26, 33–35, 38, 57, 93, 115, 125, 129, 131, 133, 168, 178, 223–226 Dolby 141, 172, 174–175 Donaldson, Roger 62, 77 Dori 200 dragons 13, 54, 105, 192, 202 dream 31, 113, 143, 152, 184 Dreamworks 37, 220–221 Driscoll, Jack 147 Dr. Who 125 DVD Extended Editions 48, 151, 217–218 Dwalin 200 dwarves 20, 26, 94, 109–111, 125, 166–167, 192–193, 197–198, 202, 214 Echols, Damien 125, 224–226 editing 26–27, 29, 46–48, 117, 128, 139, 151, 171–172, 222 Edoras 45, 88 El Cid 4 Elves 26, 109, 167, 193, 206 Embassy Theatre 68, 70, 174 Emmerich, Roland 144 Eno, Brian, 221 entertainment 154, 227 entrepreneur 14, 60, 79–80, 114, 175, 188 Enya 215 Eowyn 211 epics 152, 180, 219, 222 epidemic 18, 20, 120 equipment 69, 107–108, 115, 135, 172, 228 Erebor 95, 125 Europe 17, 61, 73, 100, 137, 187 Evening Post 115, 144, 177

INDEX

Everard, Arthur 64 evil 95, 111, 163, 167, 206 Evil Dead 123, 180–181, 225 exhibition 67, 72, 141, 174 exotic 20, 83, 95, 103, 157, 163, 213 experimenting 40, 42, 119, 155, 176, 180–181 exploration 18, 21, 24, 69, 95, 103, 137, 151, 168, 179, 226, 231 extras 57, 123, 125, 167, 212, 217, 230 extreme 91, 110, 148, 183 Fairwater 90–91 fairy tale 81, 139, 143, 195 Falconeer, Alun 67 fame 14, 103, 176 Fangoria 176 Fangorn 95 fans 23, 26, 33, 37, 61, 98, 101, 105, 151, 182, 191, 204, 210, 215–218, 220, 226 fantasy 13, 18, 21, 24, 27, 32, 43–44, 51, 60, 69, 76, 84, 88, 90–93, 100–103, 129, 133, 135, 138, 143–144, 150, 152, 169, 175–177, 179–180, 205–207, 217–218, 221, 230 father 49, 112, 125, 177, 183, 220 Father McGruder 21, 26 festivals 32, 96, 123, 168, 170 Fili 193, 197, 200 film industry 4, 6, 9, 13, 16, 24, 36–37, 40, 43, 46, 48, 52, 55, 57, 59–62, 65, 71–74, 76–78, 80–82, 85, 97–98, 111, 132, 139, 141, 154, 172, 178, 180–181, 189–190, 196, 201, 205, 214, 217, 219, 227, 230, 232

275

Forgotten Silver 18–19, 21, 26, 30–31, 33–34, 39, 47, 53, 90–91, 113, 125, 129–133, 138, 163 48 frames per second 40, 108, 141–142, 162, 201, 232. See also HFR Fox, Michael J., 10, 27, 124, 190–191 franchise 13, 28, 38, 73, 76, 81, 92, 105, 126, 166, 170, 184, 188, 192, 198, 204–205, 209, 216–217, 219, 232 The Frighteners 9–10, 17, 19, 21, 23–25, 34, 39, 45, 47, 56, 64, 68, 76, 90–91, 109, 124, 125, 132–133, 135, 140–141, 144, 160, 182, 188–192, 194, 207–208, 221, 227, 229 Frodo 18, 49, 79, 93–95, 100, 109, 165, 193, 201, 206, 211 Fry, Stephen 200 funding 31, 46, 62–65, 67, 74, 115, 119, 124, 134, 136, 152–153, 170, 224 Funke, Alex 110, 156–158, 213 Galadriel 164, 211 Gandalf 26, 49, 109–110, 113, 164, 166, 192–193, 197, 201, 206 geography 74, 83, 89, 92–93, 95, 103 Germany 114, 122 ghosts 18, 25, 189–190, 229 Gimli 197, 206 globalization 8, 75 Gloin 200 goblins 174, 182–183, 202 God 138 The Godfather 117, 154

276

INDEX

Godzilla 144 Gollum 42, 50–51, 111, 141, 147, 159–160, 162, 174, 193, 199, 202, 206, 212, 214, 230–231 Gondor 125, 206 Good Taste Made Bad Taste 6, 26, 115, 168, 178 gore 24, 26, 122, 136, 183 gorilla 144, 148, 161, 168, 177 gothic 91, 183 government 31, 44, 59–60, 62–68, 72–73, 76–78, 80, 85–88, 101–102, 117, 166, 177, 196, 213, 232–233 policies 59, 64–65, 75–76, 80, 86 grants 78, 88, 193 graphics 41, 102, 113, 157, 213, 219, 228 Great Depression 146–147, 165 green screen 109, 201–202 gross 145, 182 grotesque 18, 21, 24–25, 122, 124, 153, 162–163, 165, 181–183, 191 guns 22, 115, 153, 176 Haddock, Captain 50, 161, 186 Hadlow, Mark 27, 200 Halloween 1, 191 Hambleton, Peter 200 Hammer productions 124, 170 Hammon, Ken 3–5 Happy Feet 38, 41 Harryhausen, Ray 23, 168–169, 176–177 Hayward, Rudall 132 HBO 224 Heaven 91, 220–221 Heavenly Creatures 17–21, 23–26, 30, 33, 39, 44–45, 47, 51, 53, 56–57, 63, 69, 83, 88, 90–91, 118, 122–124,

131–138, 140–141, 152, 154–156, 163, 179, 182, 188–189, 207–208, 219, 222, 226–229 Heidi 26, 153 Hell 36, 65, 90 Helm’s Deep 164, 173, 231 Hennah, Dan 31, 199 Henson, Jim 153 Hercules 44, 53, 76, 103, 228 Hergé, 17, 166, 184–186, 188 heroes 13, 18, 26, 95–96, 113, 132–133, 138, 162–163 High Frame Rate 22, 42, 104, 108, 111, 140, 141–143, 175, 201, 204. See also 48 frames per second Hiles, Tony 26, 46–47, 115–116, 118, 128, 137–140, 168, 178, 184 Hillary, Edmund 81, 111 Hitchcock, Alfred 23, 25, 123, 125 hoax 33 The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies 27, 96, 113, 125, 192–193, 199, 203–204 The Desolation of Smaug 42, 94, 111, 124, 142, 166, 192 labour dispute 64, 78, 102, 194–196 An Unexpected Journey 25–26, 42, 94, 102, 111, 124–125, 141, 143, 174, 183, 192, 198, 203–204 Hobbiton 39, 45, 88, 98, 102, 105, 201, 207, 211 hobbits 95, 109–110, 113, 165, 206, 214 Hodgson, Pete 101 Hollywood 14, 17, 24, 26, 28, 34, 42, 51, 59–61, 64–65, 70–71, 74–75, 90, 107–108,

INDEX

114, 117, 132, 135, 140, 146–147, 151, 157, 160, 180–181, 185, 188–191, 205, 208, 210, 216–217, 221, 229 Holm, Ian 27, 198, 200, 212 Holmes, Cecil 67 Hopkins, Mike 172 horror 24, 32, 63, 84, 86, 90–91, 103, 120, 122, 124, 136, 143, 170, 175–176, 180–183, 191, 218, 221 Hulme, Juliet 56, 133, 135 humour 19, 22, 27, 117–118, 122, 133, 138, 147, 154–155, 168, 183. See also comedy Humphries, Barry 200 Huth, Hanno 134, 138 I, Claudius 142 identity 61–62, 79–81, 86, 97, 99, 101, 117, 133, 213 Iken, Bridget 44 Ilam School of Fine Arts 31 illusion 39, 104, 109, 124, 176, 201, 214 illustrators 45, 199, 211 Imaginarium 51, 160 imagination 18, 20, 26, 30, 90, 97, 99–100, 104, 135, 156 immersion 83, 95, 105, 141, 172, 175 incentives 44, 59, 69, 75, 77–78, 82, 88, 196, 232 India 187 indigenous 61, 84, 152, 163–165, 167 Industrial Light and Magic 41, 50, 191, 227–228 ingenuity 19, 81, 138, 178 innovation 60, 71, 80–81, 98, 141, 152, 162, 173, 219 intertextual references 23–24, 27, 117, 133, 154, 167, 191

277

interviews 16, 26, 55, 88, 104, 129, 140, 230 intestines 23, 120 invasion 18, 116–117, 127, 170, 180 investment 69–70, 73, 76, 80, 95, 99, 134, 136, 149, 229 Isengard 95, 157 Isildur 206, 210 Jack Brown Genius 19, 28, 128, 137, 139–140, 227 Jackson, Peter cameos 123–125 collaborative relationships 29–31 film career 1–8, 63–65 film technology 107–111, 140–142, 155–162, 171–179, 226–233 political influence 28, 70–79 style 21–28, 89–96 James Bond 5, 23, 170 Jannard, Jim 171 Jason and the Argonauts 18, 23, 175–176 Jaws 216 journey 90, 94, 96, 147, 193, 198, 206–207 jungle 131, 143, 165 The Jungle Book 51 Jurassic Park 41, 228 Kaihoro 83, 89–91, 116, 163 Kamins, Ken 8, 208 Kapiti Coast 24, 170 Karelia Suite 87 Kazinsky, Rob 200 Keaton, Buster 2, 122, 130, 180 Kelly, Sean 109–110 Key, John 77, 233 Kili 193, 200, 205 King Kong ancillary products 28, 107–108, 151

278

INDEX

making of 145–151, 158, 160, 161, 171 1933 version’s influence on Jackson 3, 18, 143–144, 163, 165, 168 1976 version 144 2005 version 10, 16, 20, 24, 26, 143–151, 165, 167 King Solomon’s Mines 143 Kiwi 17, 19, 55, 57, 71, 81, 117–118, 121, 132–133, 138, 183–184, 190, 228 Kodak 2 kongaliser 173 KongisKing 151 Kubrick, Stanley 117, 170 labour 69, 74–78, 82, 88, 102, 189, 213, 229, 233 Lahood, Grant 64 Laketown 167 landscape 7, 18–19, 22, 73, 83–87, 93–96, 99–100, 103–105, 157 latex 115, 118, 122, 149 laughter 118, 121 lawsuits 194–195 lawyers 224–226 leader 51, 80, 117, 123, 182 Lee, Christopher 3, 45, 199–201, 211 The Legend of Zorro 53 Legolas 26, 124, 193, 206 leitmotifs 138, 215 Lennox, Annie 215 Letteri, Joe 29–31, 41–43, 92, 149, 202, 230 licensing 101, 216 Lionel 18–21, 120–121, 183 Listener magazine 191 literature 55, 97–98, 117, 180 locations 19, 27, 39, 45, 72, 86–93, 96–98, 101, 103,

105, 109, 149, 162, 201–202, 213–216 London 13, 43, 49–50, 119, 161, 168, 203, 212, 215, 220, 228 Lonely Mountain 192–193, 198 The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring 25, 38–39, 48, 93–95, 98, 124–125, 152, 179, 193, 198–199, 205–206, 215, 231 The Return of the King 42, 45, 48, 70, 72, 118, 124, 145, 171, 174, 179, 194, 196, 203, 205, 215, 217, 231 The Two Towers 41–42, 48, 50, 64, 87, 95, 124, 159–160, 164, 170–171, 182, 199, 202, 205, 215, 217, 220, 231 Los Angeles 74, 114, 159, 212 Lothlorien 213 The Lovely Bones 11, 18–21, 23–24, 27, 30, 35, 37, 40, 48, 57, 88, 90–91, 124, 129, 152, 179, 184, 219–223, 227 Lucas, George 41, 76, 155 Lucille 21 Lumpy 51 Lurtz 164 Lynskey, Melanie 56, 135, 156 magic 162, 193 Major, Grant 29–31, 43–46, 94, 145, 149–150, 199, 211, 222 Makoare, Lawrence 164, 167 Malta 1, 112 Ma-ori 61, 163–165, 167 maps 95–97, 99 marionette 175

INDEX

marketing 74, 76, 83, 99, 101–102, 125, 128, 139, 141–143, 151, 210, 213, 215–217 markets 19, 70, 74, 79, 155 martial arts 26 masculinity 18 masks 115, 118 Massive software 141, 179, 214, 231 Master and Commander 53 Masterton 171 Matamata 98, 105, 201, 211 matricide 20, 137 The Matrix 69 matte 156 McKee, Robert 6 McKellen, Ian 27, 109, 200, 212 McKenzie, Colin 18, 33, 129–131 media 15, 24, 26, 28, 59–60, 66, 69, 72, 74, 77, 80–81, 84, 87, 97, 103, 141, 160, 170, 185, 188, 217, 225 medieval 22, 96, 100, 138 Meet the Feebles 19, 21–26, 30, 32, 35, 44, 47, 52, 54, 56, 63, 90–91, 119, 121, 124, 131, 133, 135–136, 152–155, 170, 178, 180–182, 227 melodrama 23 merchandise 151, 216–217 MGM 194–196, 208 Middle Earth 18–19, 22, 28, 37, 39, 43, 45, 51, 53, 69, 81, 83–84, 88, 90–93, 95–105, 107, 127, 156, 159, 163, 169, 173, 192–193, 195, 197–199, 202–204, 206, 211, 213–214, 216, 218, 220, 229–230 Midwest 189 military 113–114, 116

279

Miller, George 38, 41, 74 Minas Tirith 230 miniatures 52–53, 88–89, 143, 149, 155–158, 202, 213–214 Miramar 30, 42, 47, 49, 68, 71, 219, 228 Miramax 9, 135, 188, 194, 208–209 Mirams, Gordon 61 Mirams, Roger 67 Mirkwood 94, 193 Misskelley, Jessie 224–225 Misty Mountains 87, 94, 111, 193 mockumentary 31, 33, 113, 125, 127, 131 models 113–114, 155–156, 169, 171, 176–177, 187, 213, 230 monkey 25, 120, 165 monsters 18, 134, 155, 169, 176–177, 183 Monty Python 18, 117, 169, 176, 180 Mordor 94, 202 morgue 23 Moria 157 Mortensen, Viggo 179, 212 Mosquito bomber 112 mother 18–20, 23, 25, 56, 59, 112, 115, 120–122, 137, 183 motion capture 11, 27, 40, 42, 50–51, 116, 128, 141–142, 147–148, 156, 158–162, 173, 179, 185–187, 199–200, 202, 212–214, 232 mountains 85–86, 94 movies 17, 27, 33, 51, 64, 71, 78, 83, 91, 97–99, 118, 124, 127–128, 130–131, 133, 141, 144, 148, 156, 163, 167, 170, 174, 176, 180,

280

INDEX

185, 189, 195, 203, 208, 210, 216 Mulheron, Danny 7, 154 Mulholland Drive 147 multimedia 112 Muppets 23, 153–154 murder 13, 19–20, 25, 55–56, 129, 133–134, 219–221, 224–226 Murnau 3 museum 68, 71–72, 112–113 music 55, 126, 139, 154, 172–173, 203, 215 mutilation 26, 226 mystery 41, 146 myth 59, 86, 104, 114, 174 mythology 92–93, 163, 196–197 Napoleon 4, 13 Narnia 103 narrative 20–21, 25, 27, 36, 49, 73, 87, 89–90, 94–96, 99–101, 121, 130–131, 137, 146, 154, 183, 197, 210, 218, 220, 226 National Film Unit 4, 64, 66–68, 85, 87, 172, 177, 199 natives 143, 165, 222 nature 15, 21–22, 85–86, 94, 96, 105, 134, 154, 156, 165, 172–173, 190, 213 Nazgul 164, 173, 177 Necromancer 197, 200 Newton Howard, James 151 Newtown 90 New York 90–91, 103, 113, 124, 133, 143, 147, 149–150, 232 New Zealand cinema 59–73, 75–82 history 59, 61 landscape 83–104 tourism 97–104

New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation 46 New Zealand Film Commission 17, 31, 43, 46–47, 62–66, 79, 90, 101, 115, 118–119, 131, 134, 137–138, 140, 153, 170 Nigeria 166 night 32, 63, 132, 143 Nightmare on Elm Street 7, 189, 209, 217 Nolan, Christopher 51 Norristown 90–91 Nosferatu 3 novelization 146 novels 13, 22, 36, 56, 88, 95, 97, 99, 163, 204, 206, 208, 217–218 Nurse McTavish 21, 200 oceans 86, 100, 114, 146 Oin 200 Olssen, Jabez 31, 48, 199, 222 opera 142, 150 orchestra 203, 215 orcs 26, 141, 164–165, 167, 182, 193, 202, 206 Ordeski, Mark 7 Ori 200 originality 203, 205 Orthanc 25 Osborne, Barrie 86–87, 209–210, 212 Oscar 42, 48, 50, 53, 56, 70, 135, 147, 151, 171, 177, 204–205, 212 Oxberry 228 pa 164–165 painting 49, 85, 143, 156 Pandora 42–43, 103, 232 PantaRay 231 Paquita 21, 119–120

INDEX

Paramount theatre 132 Park Road Post 11, 41, 60, 67, 70, 168, 172, 219, 226, 228 Parker, Honora 56, 133–134 Parker, Pauline 15, 20–21, 56, 133–134 parody 22–23, 117 passion 3–5, 22, 31–32, 54, 56, 112–114, 133, 145, 154, 175–176, 178, 218 pastiche 22–23, 167, 191 Pennsylvania 88, 90, 221–222 Philanthropic activities 57, 71, 116, 129. See also charity photoengraver 5, 115, 177, 181 photorealism 21–22, 43, 51, 96, 103, 148, 152, 160–161, 185, 188 The Piano 24, 63, 84, 136 Pippin 182, 206 Pixar 187, 227 Planet of the Apes 3, 42, 51, 145, 169, 202 plasticine 135, 144, 176 Playstation 51 politics 73, 75, 167 Polynesian 164 Port, George 88, 135, 138, 140, 170, 190–191, 227–228 post-production 6, 11, 13, 37, 47, 50–51, 60, 67, 69–70, 72–74, 77–78, 80, 110, 115, 123, 160, 172–173, 184, 191, 199, 203, 207, 213–214, 219–220, 228, 230 postmodernism 167 previsualization 26, 40, 120 production diaries 28, 105, 134, 151, 161, 176 propaganda 25, 67, 165 prosthetics 31, 52–54, 127, 179, 185, 190, 202, 209, 211, 214, 229–230

281

protagonist 18, 21–22, 113, 120–121, 125, 128, 134, 160, 164, 198, 200, 221 Psycho 23 Pukeko Pictures 2, 54 Pukerua Bay 1, 87, 116, 169 puppets 52, 54, 90, 152–154, 170, 178, 227 Queen 19, 20, 121 Queenstown 76, 86, 213 Quo Vadis 4 race 127, 134, 152, 163, 166–167 racism 163, 165–167 Radagast 197 Raimi, Sam 18, 123, 180 realism 21, 41–43, 45, 83, 87, 91, 93, 108, 127, 140–141, 148, 156–158, 160–161, 173–174, 205, 213–214, 230 Reanimator 180 reception 15, 86, 133, 203 Red camera 11, 12, 40, 108–109, 128, 141, 170–171, 201, 222 Regelous, Stephen 231 remake 2–3, 10–11, 13, 37, 54, 114, 143–145, 160, 165, 168, 191 RenderMan 214, 230 replicas 105, 112–114, 150, 171, 217 representation 43, 84–87, 99–100, 103, 107, 141, 160, 163, 166–167, 182, 198, 211, 218, 232 reputation 7, 11, 13, 17, 33, 50, 70, 76, 78, 102, 119, 123, 131, 136–137, 140, 149, 171, 188, 204, 212, 219, 229–230

282

reviews 33, 40, 111, 132–133, 155, 187, 191–192, 204, 222–223 rights 10, 12–13, 114, 134, 185, 194–195, 208–209, 220, 225 ring 25, 193, 206 Ringwraiths 95 Rise of the Planet of the Apes 161–162, 231–232 risk 63, 78, 172 Rivendell 45, 157, 202, 213 Rivers, Christian 8, 13, 114, 199 Roast of the Day 5, 114, 170 Rodger, Tania 8, 14, 52–53 Rohan 88, 124–125 Roxy theatre 49, 71 Royal Air Force 114 royalties 12, 194 rugby 19, 117 ruins 131, 193 runaway production 44, 189, 213 Sakharine 186 salaries 145, 217, 229 Salmon, Susie 21, 220–223 Saruman 25, 157, 164, 167, 182, 206, 230 satire 121, 154 Sauron 20, 164, 193, 206, 210 savages 163, 165 scenery 183, 209 school 3–4, 54–55, 67, 169, 176–177 score 138–140, 150, 203, 215, 221 Scorsese, Martin 125 Screen Actors Guild 77 screenplay 7, 9, 35–36, 56, 119, 135, 154, 186, 210 Scullion, Michelle 138–139 Sebold, Alice 37, 88, 219–221

INDEX

Selkirk, Jamie 8, 27, 29–31, 46–49, 67, 71, 116, 118, 120, 135, 138, 145, 154, 170, 199, 227 Senator Film 63, 138–139 Serkis, Andy 27, 29, 31, 42, 49–51, 148, 159–162, 173–174, 186, 199, 212 settler 85, 101, 104, 121, 165, 183–184 The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad 3, 175–176 sex 7, 154, 225 Shaye, Robert 12, 194, 209 Sheeran, Ed 203 The Shining 117 Shire 20, 95, 165, 193, 198, 206 Shore, Howard 151, 199, 203, 215 Shrek 102 Sidhe 70, 72 Sinbad 3, 23, 159, 175–177 Sinclair, Stephen 6, 35–36, 119, 130, 154 skeletons 176, 177 Skull Island 23, 43, 45, 69, 83, 88–92, 103, 107, 120, 144, 147–152, 157, 163, 165 slapstick 2, 24, 117, 154, 180–181 Sleeping Dogs 62 Smaug 125, 162, 166, 192–193, 200, 202–203 Smeagol 51, 160, 206 Snowy 184–186 software 22, 70, 141, 148, 179, 231–232 soldiers 164, 171, 214 soundtracks 105, 141–142, 172 Southern Alps 86–87 spaceship 20, 117–118, 127, 155 Spain 91, 119 Spartacus 4 spectacle 86, 99, 114, 129, 160, 218

INDEX

speed 74, 142, 158, 231 spiders 146 Spielberg, Steven 11, 13, 17, 31, 41–42, 108, 129, 162, 166, 184–188, 216, 220 splatstick 17, 24, 54, 117, 120, 123, 127, 133, 136, 155, 180–184, 190–191 splatter 9, 24, 26, 32, 44, 117, 119, 122–123, 129, 131, 136–137, 152, 180–183, 190–191 sport 62 Stalin 32 Star Trek 41 Star Wars 155, 216–217 stars 27, 147, 188, 200, 212, 221–2 steadycam 47, 53, 109, 115, 147, 171, 178, 188–189, 221–223, 228, 232 stereographer 109–110 stereoscopic 40, 111 stereotypes 152, 163–165 Stone Giants 94, 202 Stone Street Studios 10, 49, 201 stop motion 3, 4, 7, 143, 155, 169, 175–177 stories 13, 17, 28, 34, 81, 96, 112, 163, 186, 207 storyboarding 30, 120, 156, 199 storytelling 40, 57, 137, 207 studios 14, 17, 26, 50, 66, 68, 71, 84, 88–89, 97, 108–109, 119, 126, 132, 140, 162, 173, 188–189, 191, 200, 202, 205, 213, 217, 226 Stukas 112 subsurface scattering 42, 230 suburb 11, 30, 47, 71, 119, 121, 219, 228 subversive 3, 17, 28, 133, 168 Sumatra 120, 146

283

Sumatran Rat Monkey 90, 120, 146 Super 8 Camera 2–3, 5–6, 112, 124, 144, 155, 168–169, 175, 213, 222 swords 22, 176–177 Sydney 40, 60 synthespians 162 Takahashi, Wes 191 Tales from the Crypt 120, 189 Tamahori, Lee 24, 136, 190 Tarantino, Quentin 125, 188 Tauriel 193, 197, 200, 205 tax 44, 59, 62, 69, 75, 77–78, 102 Taylor, Richard 7–8, 27, 29–30, 52–55, 67, 72, 86, 122, 135, 138, 140, 154–156, 170, 178, 190, 227–229 Te Papa 68, 72 technology 11–12, 18, 22, 26–28, 41, 45, 47, 50–51, 57, 78, 80, 89, 104, 107–109, 111, 114, 129, 135, 140–141, 144, 147, 151, 158–162, 171, 174–175, 185–188, 191, 201, 212, 214–215, 228, 230, 232–233 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 209, 217 television 2–4, 23, 33, 38, 43, 49, 52–55, 66–68, 73–74, 98–99, 102, 129, 132, 153, 167, 169, 185, 204, 216, 228 The Ten Commandments 131 theatre 5, 33, 35, 49, 57, 61, 71, 96, 124, 132, 142, 147, 150, 153, 172, 174, 210 themes 17–19, 21, 81, 86, 129, 136, 203 TheOneRing 30, 215 theory 14–15, 109, 138

284

INDEX

Thorin 193, 197–198, 200 Thunderbirds 2, 18, 54, 175 Tintin 11, 13, 166–167, 184–188 Titanic 135, 205 Tolkien 10–13, 17–18, 22, 36–37, 56, 92–93, 95–97, 99–100, 163, 182, 192, 194–197, 199, 204–211, 215, 217–218, 230 Tolkien Estate 185, 195, 204 tourism 13, 59, 67, 72, 79–80, 83–86, 88, 92, 97–102, 104–105, 202, 219 Tourism New Zealand 81, 85, 98–101, 216 tradition 84, 86, 120, 143, 181, 183, 203, 215 travelogues 85–87 trees 89, 105, 149, 157 trolls 183, 202 Truffaut 15 Tucci, Stanley 221, 223 Twentieth Century Fox 126 UK 19, 73, 122, 163. See also Britain Universal studios 26, 76, 89, 92, 107, 126, 140, 144–151, 174, 188–189, 191, 208, 229 Uruk-hai 25, 164–165, 182, 231 Utu 164 The Valley 4, 23, 123–124, 155, 169, 177 Valley of the Stereos 9, 170 Van Der Merwe, Vikus 127 vaudeville 147 Venice Film Festival 33, 133, 135 Venture ship 45, 88, 147, 150 Video Technicians Guild 233 videogames 28, 126, 151 Vietnam 154

viewers 33, 83, 95–97, 99–101, 104, 107, 121, 132, 142, 175, 179, 185, 187, 219. See also audiences Vigil 24, 31 virtual 93, 108, 151, 180, 187, 202, 215 Wachowski Brothers 69 Wagner, Richard 215 Wahlberg, Mark 27, 221 Wairarapa 14, 69 Waititi, Taika 77 Waitomo Caves 174 The Wallsockets 55 Walsh, Fran 5–6, 8–9, 13, 23, 27, 29–30, 32, 45, 55–56, 65, 67, 116, 119, 125, 130, 134, 137, 144–145, 154, 173, 178, 207, 212, 215, 220, 223–226 Ward, Vincent 24, 31, 65, 74–75, 172, 190 Wargs 173 Warner Brothers 51, 77–78, 81, 96, 99, 102, 107–108, 142, 195–196, 198, 209 warriors 18, 164, 193, 198 Waterloo 4 weapons 53, 93, 105, 127, 211, 229–230 Weathertop 213 Weinstein Brothers 129, 194, 208–209 Wellington 1, 3–6, 12–14, 19, 28–30, 33, 36–38, 42–44, 46–47, 52–53, 55–57, 59–60, 62, 64–74, 76, 78–79, 81, 89–91, 102–103, 111, 114–115, 117, 119–121, 126, 129, 132, 144, 149–150, 156, 171–174,

INDEX

181, 184, 188–189, 191, 201–203, 213, 219, 224, 227–228, 232–233 Wellywood 59–60, 70–73, 75 West of Memphis 13, 57, 125, 129, 223–226 Weta establishment of 9, 22, 53, 135, 141, 227–228 Weta Digital 13, 22, 29–30, 41–43, 50, 53, 60, 70, 92, 107–108, 113, 128, 135, 145, 148, 157, 159–162, 175, 184–185, 187, 199, 202, 213–214, 219, 222, 226–227, 230–233 Weta Workshop 22, 29, 52–54, 70–71, 127, 129, 135, 145, 151, 156–158, 175, 183, 195, 199, 201–202, 211, 213, 226–227, 229–232 Whale Rider 77, 84 What Dreams May Come?, 222 whiteness 163–164, 167

285

Widescreen 4, 151 Willow 76 Wingnut Films 27, 112–113, 127, 131, 137, 166, 170, 175, 226–227 Winslet, Kate 27, 56, 135 wizard 192, 206 Wizards 207 World Expo 44, 87 Worzel Gummidge Downunder 32, 55, 144, 178 The Wotwots 54 Wray, Fray 147 wuxia 26 Wynyard 154 Xena Warrior Princess 53, 76, 103, 167, 228 Zaentz, Saul 194, 208 Zemeckis, Robert 9, 31, 160, 189–191, 229 zombies 6–7, 18, 20–23, 54, 119–120, 122–123, 183 Zulu 164