February 2004
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With less than 4 hours to go till the Oscars commence Im having bursts of pure energetic excitement mixed with panic stricken dread. Not too mention some very sweaty palms! Just imagine how Peter must be feeling. Now I know he seems laid back about it all, but I assure you its a front masking a want for academy recognition for Best director that has been robbed from him for 2 years.
Peter deserves this statuette more than anyone else has ever in the history of film. For a man to helm 3 films shot back to back commanding 1000's of crew members, establishing SFX companies and above all doing all this from his own country is simply amazing. It would be a crime of true spite and xenophobia if he doesnt win Best Director and Return of the King not winning best film. In fact if Return of the King does not win for those 2 awards I will embark on a severe hate crime rampage that will put Osama Bin Laden to shame. Just wait and see.
Go golden boy, your fans world wide are standing right behind you....
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from BBC Online
If the buzz is to be believed, Peter Jackson is a "shoo-in" to win two of Oscar's top prizes.
The New Zealand filmmaker is hotly tipped to take the awards for best picture and best director for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
The epic fantasy is also likely to clean up in some of the technical categories.
It all has the appearance of being a one-horse race. The traditional campaigning that has become an integral part of the Oscars build-up seems somewhat muted this year.
"If it was up to me I'd just rather let everybody go and make their decisions and tick their ballots and send them in and not have any campaigning," Jackson told BBC News Online.
"It's so much about money... it would be an easier thing if everyone had no campaigning and no ads and just let a very simple process of casting your vote occur," he added.
But box-office driven Hollywood would never stand for that.
Shrewd operator
By nature, Jackson appears to be a modest man. He is also a shrewd operator.
"I think you become flavour of the month," he said.
"A few years ago no-one had ever heard of me and now there's all this hype around. I don't regard myself as having really changed but everyone else's perception of you changes including the studios.
"The sort of thing you'd only dream about a few years ago when you were struggling to make movies."
While the director is enjoying the attention of Tinseltown he is also determined to keep his feet firmly on the ground of his hometown of Wellington.
"I've always lived in New Zealand. I was born there and I make my movies there and so I'm sort of a little bit removed from the Hollywood kind of way of life," he said.
"I don't go to the parties particularly. I don't really buy into the hype I guess - it's all about other people really."
Jackson is generous in his praise for the crew that worked on the £210m trilogy.
Spectacular
"Barrie Osborne, our producer, was an absolute organisational wizard," he said.
It is the epic nature of the trilogy that has so impressed Hollywood - the sheer scale of the production and spectacular special effects.
And there is a sense that Oscar voters have simply been waiting for the final curtain to fall on The Return of the King for an opportunity to shower Jackson and his team with plaudits.
"In terms of the Oscars you're looking at it as a standalone film but whether or not people are going to do that or whether they'll think of the other two - at the end of the day you should be just voting based on your favourite film performances of the year," said Jackson.
No matter which way the voting goes, Jackson is looking to the future. He admits to being somewhat drained and exhausted by the Rings experience.
"I'm relieved that there is not a fourth Lord of the Rings film next year," he said.
"Three feels like a good number - we poured everything into Return of the King and I'm absolutely shattered and I don't think I could face going through another year of post production, because it's been tough."
In fact, Jackson explained that he endured a number of gruelling months during the early stages of production in 1999.
"I found that my mind was kind of closing down. I was so exhausted that my imagination was drying up and I started to panic a little bit because I'd start to feel that I couldn't think of interesting shots to do.
"I couldn't think of interesting things to say to the actors, I was just feeling very wasted and rung out."
The behind-the-scenes story of the making of the trilogy promises to be every bit as fascinating as the epic drama itself.
"We have a lot of stuff that we haven't screened and I'd love to do a documentary that was all about my experience on the film," said Jackson.
"There's a story to be told about it that hasn't really been told yet which from my perspective. I've got a lot of interesting things - just how I made some decisions and how I shot some stuff.
"I'm assuming that the time to do that would be when the movie's released in high definition which I'm assuming will be a few years away."
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In regard to King Kong crew PJ has said the following from Aint it Cool News
"As far as crew go, "LOTR" veterans include Jan Blenkin and Caro Cunningham, both of whom are producing "Kong" with me; Andrew Lesnie is on board as (director of photography); Grant Major is production designer; Dan Hennah is supervising art director. Both Weta Workshop, led by Richard Taylor, and Weta Digital have been at work on "Kong" for some months now. Howard Shore is doing the music. We are talking to all other crew at the moment and imagine the majority will be "LOTR" veterans."
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Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has become only the second film in cinema history to make more than $1bn (£535m) in worldwide ticket sales.The third movie in Peter Jackson's epic trilogy now ranks second in the all-time box office chart behind Titanic, which made a total of $1.8bn (£963m).
The global takings of the three Rings films now total $2.8bn (£1.5bn).
Rolf Mittweg, president of worldwide marketing at film studio New Line, said it was "a tremendous achievement".
1. Titanic - $1.8bn
2. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - $1bn
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - $969m
4. Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace - $922m
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - $922m
The landmark comes just five days before the movie world finds out whether the film can turn box office success into Oscars glory.
The Return of the King is nominated for 11 awards including best picture prize, best director and best adapted screenplay.
But a fantasy film has never won best picture, and the first two Lord of the Rings films have only won Oscars in technical categories such as sound and visual effects.
The Return of the King is still in the North American box office top 10 after 10 weeks on release.
"The holding power and longevity at the box office I think is a real testament to the artistry and vision of Peter Jackson and his cast and crew," Mr Mittweg said.
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At last night's BAFTAs, Return of the King won the Orange Film of the Year, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Visual Effects and Cinematography. PJ lost out to Peter Weir in the Best Director category. With this achievement, along with the Golden Globes and various other awards, it'll be interesting to see how ROTK fares at the Oscars on the 29th.
