Movies

The Director:

Peter Jackson, born in New Zealand in 1961, is the director of The Lord of the Rings.

Jackson comes from coastal town Pukerua Bay near Wellington. His parents originally came from England; when a child, Peter Jackson was deeply inspired by producer and special effects creator Ray Harryhausen (Mighty Joe Young, It came from Beneath the Sea, Jason and the Argonauts), television show Thunderbirds and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Peter Jackson’s favorite film was King Kong, which he remade after the creation of The Lord of the Rings. He would, at an early age, try to remake the original film with miniature models and stop motion animation.

One of Jackson’s first films was Bad Taste, which he completed over weekends. The film starred many of his friends and acquaintances, who acted without receiving payment from the novice filmmaker. This was between the years 1983-1987.

The director’s next features included Heavenly Creatures and Forgotten Silver. These films marked a major shift in Jackson’s films, especially with Heavenly Creatures which looked at the real-life murder of Honora Rieper. The film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

In 1997, Jackson began production of the film The Lord of the Rings. The trilogy won the director and his crew 17 Oscars from a total of 30 nominations.

Jackson is also known for producing and funding the 2009 critically acclaimed science fiction District 9 and upcoming prequel to the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit.

The Film: Interesting Facts

The Lord of the Rings film is a trilogy directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson. The three films received 30 nominations of which 17 were won.

Cost:

The Lord of the Rings cost around $300 million in total and is only behind Harry Potter, James Bond and Star Wars in highest-ever grossing film series.

Inspiration:

Being a great fan of JRR Tolkien’s books and after seeing Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated film, Peter Jackson became infatuated with the idea to create a live feature film. He partnered up with Fran Walsh and Miramax Films after his completion of The Frighteners and began production in 1997 and took 18 months to complete the trilogy.

Cast:

In order to get the desired effect from the films, the cast fitted more than 1,600 pairs of rubber feet and ears.

250 Horses were cast for the films

The character of Gollum was wholly computer generated.

Over 15 000 extras were used to play the Orcs, Elfs and other creatures of Middle Earth.

Set and Production:

The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand.

The film took two years in pre-production, and four in post-production until completed.

In order to look old and authentic – many of the sets in The Lord of the Rings were carved out of polystyrene.

Over 3 000 000 feet of film were used to shoot the entire production.

 

Special effects:

Blue screens were imperative to the production of The Lord of the Rings.

To get the desired sound effects, Peter Jackson and his crew visited a cricket game in New Zealand where they recorded the crowd making ‘Orc’s’ noises.

Costumes and Makeup:

Around 200 uniquely created Orc’s heads were made for the films – there are no doppelganger Orcs in The Lord of the Rings