Film director, writer, and producer, born in Pukerua, North Island, New Zealand. He started work as an apprentice photo-engraver and began making amateur short films in his spare time, eventually producing a science fiction feature called Bad Taste (1987) which has become a cult classic. His first professional work was the horror film Braindead (1992), and he went on to further success with Heavenly Creatures (1994), The Frighteners (1996), and Contact (1997). His next project was the hugely successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy filmed over 18 months in his native New Zealand. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) won BAFTAs for Best Picture and Best Director, and The Two Towers (2002) won technical achievement Oscars. The Return of the King (2003) won Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director, a BAFTA for Best Film, and won all 11 Oscars for which it was nominated, including Best Picture and Best Director. In 2005 he directed a remake of the 1933 film, King Kong.
Peter Jackson|
Jackson at the premiere of the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in Wellington |
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| Born: |
October 31, 1961 Pukerua Bay, New Zealand |
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| Occupation: | Film director, film producer and screenwriter. |
| Spouse: | Fran Walsh |
Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961) is a three-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning New Zealand filmmaker best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he, along with his long time partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens adapted from the novels by J.R.R.
With his successes and innovative film-making, Jackson is now considered to be an important force in the new generation of motion picture directors. Peter Jackson has even been described as the new Steven Spielberg of the present generation, and the combination of his unmatched commercial successes, along with the critical acclaim he has garnered, have made Jackson one of the most powerful film directors of the present era.
Peter Jackson first gained attention with his "splatstick" horror comedies, and came to prominence with his critically acclaimed Heavenly Creatures, for which he shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen with Walsh.
Biography
Jackson divides his life into three sections: before, during and after The Lord of the Rings.
Before The Lord of the Rings
Jackson was born in Pukerua Bay, New Zealand, an only child to Bill and Joan Jackson, both of whom were immigrants from England. As a child, Jackson was a film fan, growing up on Ray Harryhausen films as well as Thunderbirds and using his parent's Super 8 cine-camera.
Jackson started his career in film as a fanatical hobbyist, creating small films with simple technical means and with the help of his friends. When one of his projects, the horror comedy Bad Taste, grew over four years (from 1983 to 1987) from the originally planned 10 minute short to a 90-minute feature film, Jackson and his crew took the end result to the Cannes Film Festival, received critical acclaim and sold the rights to twelve countries.
Jackson worked with Richard Taylor to produce two films: Meet the Feebles and Braindead (released in North America as Dead Alive).
Jackson then directed the Robert Zemeckis production, The Frighteners, starring Michael J.
The Lord of the Rings
Jackson earned the rights to a film adaptation of J. Working with Miramax for a two-film production, they soon wished to make a single film, and Jackson made a new deal with New Line for a trilogy in 1998.
Principal photography went on from October 11, 1999 to December 22, 2000 with Jackson monitoring as many as seven units across New Zealand locations and sets. With the benefit of post-production on each film for their December releases, the films were huge successes and sent Jackson's popularity soaring.
After The Lord of the Rings
Universal Studios signed Peter Jackson for his first film following The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a remake of the 1933 classic King Kong — the film that inspired him to become a film director when he was 9 years old.
Between The Return of the King and King Kong, Peter Jackson lost a large amount of weight (over 50 lbs/22.5 kg) to the point of being unrecognizable to some fans.
His attention will now move to the film version of Alice Sebold's bestseller, The Lovely Bones, which he will be writing and directing and which he has said will be a welcome relief from the larger-scale epics and bears some similarities to Heavenly Creatures.
Much speculation has occurred as to whether Jackson might direct a film of The Hobbit, the prequel to The Lord of the Rings. In December of 2004, Jackson said that production on The Hobbit could be as much as four years away, which would place a likely release date in 2010. In September 2006, MGM indicated that they intended to approach Peter Jackson to direct the film in the next few years.
Peter Jackson is also executive producing the game-to-film adaptation of Microsoft/Bungie's blockbuster title Halo, expected to hit theaters around mid-2008. Jackson, an avid fan of the game, has confessed to playing it regularly during breaks in filming.
Additionally, Jackson will produce a remake of The Dam Busters in 2007, along with Sir David Frost as Executive Producer. Jackson has also earned the rights to a film adaptation of the fantasy novel series Temeraire, though it remains to be seen if he directs it.
Peter Jackson will make three games with Microsoft Game Studios, a partnership announced on September 27, 2006, at X06.
Jackson has also expressed interest in filming two back-to-back sequels to his directorial debut Bad Taste.
Style
Jackson is well known for an attention to detail, a macabre sense of humour and a general playfulness to the point where The Lord of the Rings miniatures director Alex Funke jokingly remarked "the film is almost incidental really".
Unlike some other New Zealand film directors, Jackson has remained in his native country to make films, preferring to have Hollywood come to him. Most of Jackson's assets are on the Miramar Peninsula in his home town of Wellington and much of his filming occurs in and around the city.
A perfectionist with his film projects, Jackson demands numerous takes of every scene (with his "One more for luck"), pushes his special-effects crew to make their work seamless and invisible, and insists upon authenticity in miniatures even on the sides that never appear in a film.
Jackson is also reknown, within the New Zealand film industry, for his insistence on "coverage" - shooting a scene from as many angles as possible thereby only creating his final vision in the editing process;
One theme generally seen in all of Jackson's films so far is that of death.
Awards
Jackson won three Academy Awards for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King:
Academy Award for Directing Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay|
Preceded by: Roman Polanski for The Pianist |
Academy Award for Best Director 2003 for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
Succeeded by: Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby |
Jackson's cameo roles
Jackson usually makes cameo appearances in his own films:
In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, he played a drunken, carrot-chomping citizen of Bree (The Fellowship of the Ring); Meet the Feebles is Jackson's only film in which he has no cameo.
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