Peter Jackson

Peter Robert Jackson 

31 October 1961

A New Zealand film director, producer and screenwriter. As a child, Jackson was a keen film fan, growing up on Ray Harryhausen films as well as finding inspiration in the television series "Thunderbirds" and "Monty Python's Flying Circus". After a family friend gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera with Peter in mind, he began making short films with his friends. Most notably though was a 20-minute short called "The Valley" which won him a special prize because of the shots he used. 

Jackson is known for his attention to detail, a habit of shooting scenes from many angles, a macabre sense of humour, and a general playfulness. 

Peter Jackson was later knighted (as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit) by Anand Satyanand, the Governor-General of New Zealand, at a ceremony in Wellington in April 2010. In December 2014, Jackson was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

As director, writer, producer

• The Valley (1976)
• Bad Taste (1987)
• Meet the Feebles (1989)
• Valley of the Stereos (1992)
• Braindead (Dead Alive) (1992)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994)
• Forgotten Silver (1995)
• Jack Brown Genius (1996)
• The Frighteners (1996)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• The Long and Short of It (2003)
• King Kong (2005)
• Crossing the Line (short) (2008)
• District 9 (2009)
• The Lovely Bones (2009)
• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
• West of Memphis (2012)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
• Mortal Engines (2018)

Quotations

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New Zealand is not a small country but a large village.

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The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.

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Filmmaking for me is always aiming for the imaginary movie and never achieving it.

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Film is such a powerful medium. It's like a weapon and I think you have a duty to self-censor.

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Rivalry doesn't help anybody.

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To get an Oscar would be an incredible moment in my career, there is no doubt about that. But the 'Lord of the Rings' films are not made for Oscars, they are made for the audience.

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Everybody's life has these moments, where one thing leads to another. Some are big and obvious and some are small and seemingly insignificant.

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No film has captivated my imagination more than 'King Kong.' I'm making movies today because I saw this film when I was 9 years old.

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For a lot of my childhood, I didn't want to direct movies because I didn't really know what directing was.

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What I don't like are pompous, pretentious movies.

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I didn't want my kids having to pass through an airport named after their father.

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I think that George Lucas' 'Star Wars' films are fantastic. What he's done, which I admire, is he has taken all the money and profit from those films and poured it into developing digital sound and surround sound, which we are using today.

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The big-budget blockbuster is becoming one of the most dependable forms of filmmaking.

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One of the first movies I ever saw was 'Batman,' based on the TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward.

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Actors will never be replaced. The thought that somehow a computer version of a character is going to be something people prefer to look at is a ludicrous idea.

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