The Untold Truth Of Peter Jackson

When Peter Jackson launched his directorial and acting career with the 1987 low-budget comedy horror "Bad Taste," few would have predicted the unassuming Kiwi would go on to become a world-beating heavyweight behind the camera. The movie about culinary connoisseurs from other planets with a taste for human flesh has an infectious energy and enthusiasm that critics ate up, but its gore-splattered silliness gave little indication of the colossus Jackson would become. Jackson gambled four years of his life on his movie debut and worked every weekend to get the special effects, script, direction, casting, and everything else just right (via the American Academy of Achievement). His belief in himself and passion to create a name for himself in the world of film were bulletproof from the get-go.

In the years between then and now, the name Peter Jackson has been associated with everything from epic and groundbreaking trilogies such as "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" to a fly-on-the-wall six-hour-plus documentary about The Beatles. With three Oscars and nine total nominations, Jackson has ticked a lot of boxes and crossed many items off his to-do list. The man, who was born on Halloween, hasn't directed a fiction film since 2014's "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" and has turned down the chance to direct "Aquaman" twice (via Empire). Yet you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be other big releases from Jackson in the future. While the world waits, let's dig into his untold truth.

When New Line Cinema announced at the turn of the century that a largely unknown director from New Zealand called Peter Jackson would be filming a three-movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," most movie fans replied, "Peter who?" The studios were taking a big gamble backing a rank outsider with such a well-loved book franchise, not to mention handing him over $300 million on a plate (per Variety). Jackson didn't have the most impressive track record. His previous and only Hollywood outing had been the commercial flop Michael J. Fox vehicle "The Frighteners" (via Paste). The only other films in his portfolio were "Bad Taste," "Meet the Feebles," the critically acclaimed "Heavenly Creatures," and "Braindead" aka "Dead Alive."

Those familiar with Jackson's work in 1992's "Dead Alive" raised an eyebrow when Jackson's name was pinned to Middle-Earth. The gore and shock comedy surrealism of "Dead Alive" is a million miles removed from the gravitas and emotive narrative of Frodo (Elijah Wood) and the gang. Yet it was knee-deep in the pre-CGI blood, guts, and bad jokes of "Dead Alive" that a young Peter Jackson came of age and acted as a midwife to a splatterfest that would become a cult classic (via Little White Lies). Like "Evil Dead 2," but with a New Zealand accent and minus the tension, "Dead Alive" plays for laughs and shocks and gets both. Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter he'd be happy to "be disgusting again if the right project comes along."

Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies introduced a new generation of fans to the richly complex and fantastical nature of Middle-Earth. After they left the movie house, many cinemagoers were inspired to go straight to the source material and pick up copies of J.R.R. Tolkien's books for the first time. Given such a scenario you'd imagine that the Tolkien estate would be grateful to Jackson for helping spread the word of their most famous family member far and wide. Yet according to CinemaBlend, the son of the late author, Christopher Tolkien, was not exactly a fan of Jackson's work on LOTR.

In an interview with Le Monde, he said, "They gutted the book, making an action movie for 15- to 25-year-olds. Tolkien became ... devoured by his popularity and absorbed by the absurdity of the time. The gap widened between the beauty, the seriousness of the work, and what it has become is beyond me." Furthermore, New Line Cinema, the producers, had financial squabbles with the Tolkien estate, allegedly refusing to pay them (per CinemaBlend). When asked at San Diego Comic-Con if there was any chance of adapting Tolkien's posthumous "The Silmarillion" after he had wrapped up "The Hobbit," trilogy, the director explained, "I don't think the Tolkien estate liked those films. I don't think 'The Silmarillion' will go anywhere for quite a long time."

Watching sped-up, silent, and grainy documentary footage from World War I always had a slightly unreal quality that made the terrible events of over a century ago feel far more removed from reality than they actually are. That all changed in 2018 when Peter Jackson released his groundbreaking documentary, "They Shall Not Grow Old." By adding color to a formerly black-and-white reality and giving voice to those who had been rendered mute, Jackson helped humanize a heartbreaking chapter in history for a new generation. The director was heavily invested in the documentary both personally and professionally. The Daily Mail reports that although Jackson never met his grandfather, who fought in the Somme, Passchendaele, and Gallipoli, he is responsible for Jackson's long-term interest in the conflict.

In a BBC documentary, Jackson explained he found a photo of his grandfather, William Jackson, who fought in the South Wales Borderers, in a military museum in Brecon, Wales. "I found a shot of the British troops in the trenches, and my grandfather was standing there with a cigarette in his mouth. He's got that James Dean pose, and he looks really cool," explained Jackson. Reflecting on his reason for making the documentary, the director explained, "I wanted to reach through the fog of time and pull these men into the modern world, so they can regain their humanity once more" (per NME).

In one of those simple quirks of fate, if The Beatles' idea to make a film version of "The Lord of the Rings" had gone to plan in 1968, then Peter Jackson's career would have taken a very different trajectory. When J.R.R. Tolkien turned down the Fab Four's offer to adapt his book, Jackson was only 6 years old. If John, Paul, George, and Ringo had put their own distinctive stamp on Middle-Earth, would Jackson have ended up putting together the "Get Back" doc? Such questions are for an alternate universe, but in a musical that Stanley Kubrick was in the running to direct, the roles of Frodo, Gollum, Gandalf, and Sam, were rumored to be played respectively by McCartney, Lennon, Harrison, and Starr (per the BBC).

Jackson believes The Beatles first read the story whilst studying in India with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They hatched a plan to do a film, but Tolkien wasn't so keen on a pop group tweaking his classic epic and nipped the idea in the bud. Jackson revealed that McCartney later confided in him that he was glad The Beatles never went ahead with it because it allowed Jackson to create his masterpiece. Yet Jackson confesses that he thinks it's a shame that The Beatles never got to do their musical version. "What would The Beatles have done with a 'Lord of the Rings' soundtrack album? That would have been 14 or 15 Beatles songs that would have been pretty incredible to listen to," he said.

Now that "The Hobbit" films have cemented a place in popular culture, it is difficult to think of Bilbo Baggins without seeing the earnest and robustly cheerful face of Martin Freeman. Before the roles were cast and the shooting began, the bashful Brit wasn't exactly most people's prime contender for the role of Bilbo. Yet for the man who had the deciding vote, there was no one else who could play the furry-footed little fella. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Peter Jackson burned the midnight oil watching episodes of "Sherlock" featuring Freeman as Watson and decided that the "Office" actor was born to be Bilbo.

Jackson explained, "Martin was the only person that we wanted for that role, and that was really before we met Martin. [...] We just felt he had qualities that would be perfect for Bilbo. The stuffy, repressed English quality. He's a dramatic actor, he's not a comedian, but he has a talent for comedy." Freeman had never read Tolkien but was a fan of Jackson's work and so jumped at the opportunity. Yet it wasn't all plain sailing. Freeman was still contracted to film episodes of "Sherlock" whilst "An Unexpected Journey" was being filmed. A compromise was reached: Jackson agreed to reschedule an entire shoot to accommodate Freeman's obligations. It's nice to be wanted!