Peter Jackson - Biography

Last Editor: metemussell				Peter Jackson Biography -   Name : Peter Jackson Profession : Filmmaker Birth Details : born October 31, 1961, Pukerua Bay Height : 5' 6½" (1.69 m) Nickname : PJ Personal quotes : "New Zealand is not a small country but a large village." "What I don't like are pompous, pretencious movies" On Meet the Feeble Salary : King Kong (2005) $20,000,000 + 20% of the gross (to be shared with co-writer/producer Fran Walsh & co-writer Philippa Boyens) The Lord of the Ring Spouse : Fran Walsh (1987 - present) 2 children Trade mark : His films frequently conclude with a bloodbath, e.g.: the lawnmower with the zombies in Braindead (1992), and the murder of Honora Parker in Heavenly

Peter Jackson Trivia -

He owns two houses in Wellington, New Zealand Made the latex models for Bad Taste (1987) in his mom's kitchen oven, often forcing the family to have sausages for dinner because they couldn't use the oven. Owner of production companies WingNut Films, Weta Limited and Three Foot Six. Father of Billy Jackson. He collects models of airplanes from World War One. Father of Katie Jackson. During filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), he used the same pair of shoes and only two T-shirts. He likes 60s music: his favorites are The Beatles (and he homaged them in Bad Taste (1987)). After his parents, Bill and Joan, died, Jackson owns the modest Pukerua Bay house where he grew up The stuff in the bowl, in his first movie Bad Taste (1987), was yoghurt, muesli and green food colouring. In 1998 he bought the New Zealand based film company National Film Unit Credits his favorite movie King Kong (1933) as his biggest inspiration in filmmaking. He said that he cried when King Kong fell off the Empire State Building. The movie that gave him the love for splatter is George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). After seeing it, he felt a bit sick but amazed too. Together with his partner Fran Walsh, he received the honorary graduation from Massey University [26 November 2001] With Fran Walsh, he become member of the New Zealand Order of Merit [5 March 2002] He left school at the age of 17 and started working on a Wellington newspaper. For his first movie, Bad Taste (1987), he did all the special effects, the make-up effects and built exact replicas of the weapons. He allegedly offered $150,000 to Aint-it-cool webmaster Harry Jay Knowles for his King Kong (1933) original poster. Started writing a re-make of King Kong (1933) in 1996, which went through several drafts, until in 2003 he made one that was greenlighted by Universal. Ranked #20 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #41 in 2002. Voted 'Man of the Year 2002' in the Australian Empire Magazine March 2003. Both of his parents died during production of The Lord of the Rings. Met Fran Walsh in 1987, during post-production for the gross-out cult classic Bad Taste (1987). Son of Bill Jackson and Joan Jackson. Nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (which he won), but not for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). The London Daily Mail reported (December 5, 2003) that Jackson was so fond of King Kong (1933) that he once cut up his mother's old fur coat and used it to make a model of the great ape; also that he consulted with Andy Serkis on the script of his version of the movie. [2003] He became the first director in 20 years to win Academy Awards for producing, directing and writing in one single movie. The last person to achieve this feat was James L. Brooks, for Terms of Endearment (1983) (although James Cameron won three awards for Titanic (1997), his third Oscar was for editing, and not screenplay). Has worked with three generations of Astins: John Astin (The Frighteners (1996/I)); John's son, Sean Astin (The Lord of The Rings Trilogy); and Sean's daughter, Alexandra Astin (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)). Ranked #6 in Premiere's 2004 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #20 in 2003. He is the second-highest rated director on the list, behind only Steven Spielberg. The copies of the "Lord of the Rings" books that he referred to during filming are the ones that he bought after seeing The Lord of the Rings (1978). The books have cover art by Ralph Bakshi. Has been referred to by Fran Walsh as being a hobbit himself, due to his physical stature, his tendency to go barefoot, and the fact that he is swarthy (in Walsh's words, "furry"). Estimated earnings from the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy come close to $125 million. Along with his wife Fran Walsh, he was one of two husband/wife teams to be nominated for an Oscar for the 2003 season, the other team was Michael McKean and his wife, Annette O'Toole. Three of his collaborators have had connections to the material being filmed, outside the context of the film being made. Ian Holm, whom he cast as Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings, was cast because he had played Frodo in the BBC radio adaptation. That adaptation was written by Brian Sibley, who is a cousin of his wife, Fran Walsh. In Heavenly Creatures (1994), Kate Winslet plays Juliet Hulme, who would later be known as real-life mystery novelist Anne Perry. Winslet has a sister, Anna Winslet, who appears as Dora in The Cater Street Hangman (1998) (TV), which was based on one of Perry's novels. He is among an elite group of 5 Directors who have won Best Picture, Best Director & Best Screenplay (Orig/Adapted) for the same film. In 2004 he won all three for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). The other Directors are Leo McCarey, Billy Wilder, Francis Ford Coppola & James L. Brooks. Crowned the most powerful man in Hollywood by ranking #1 on Premiere's 2005 Power 50 List. It is his first #1 ranking. Had ranked #6 in 2004. Ranked #7 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" [2005] Lost 70 lbs. during the production of King Kong (2005). No longer needs glasses after undergoing eye surgery during the making of King Kong (2005). Described the production of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as "laying the tracks down in front of the train" as it was moving forward. Was invested as a Companion Of The New Zealand Order Of Merit [CNZM] by the Governor-General of New Zealand in March 2002.

Peter Jackson Detailed Biography -

Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961, Pukerua Bay) is a New Zealand-born filmmaker best-known as the director of the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, which he, along with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, adapted from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. Jackson first gained attention with his "splatstick" horror comedies, and came to prominence with his movie Heavenly Creatures, for which he shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen with his wife, Fran Walsh. He and Walsh have two children, Billy and Katie. His parents are Bill and Joan Jackson, both of whom were immigrants from England. Peter Jackson in Wellington (New Zealand), at the premiere of Return of the King, December 2003 Jackson started his career in film as a fanatical hobbyist, creating small movies with simple technical means and with the help of his friends. When one of his projects, the horror comedy Bad Taste, over a period of four years grew from the originally planned half-hour 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. This allowed him to start a professional career as a film director. Unlike some other New Zealand film directors, Jackson has remained in New Zealand to make films, preferring to have Hollywood come to him to make his films. This has been the genesis of several production and support companies. 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. He successfully cajoled New Line Cinema into holding the world premiere of Return of the King in the city's iconic Embassy Theatre which he has helped restore. He was an early user of computer enhancement technology and provided digital special effects to a number of Hollywood films by use of telecommunications and satellite links to transmit raw images and the enhanced results across the Pacific Ocean. 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. On the other hand, many of his most beautiful scenes result from purely serendipitous shots taken while flying from one location to another. Despite this perfectionism, he has a reputation for requiring a significantly smaller budget than his peers. 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 . He was reportedly being paid a fee of US$20 million upfront, against a 20% take of the total box-office gross. The film was released on December 14, 2005, with a cast that includes Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts, Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody, Jack Black, Colin Hanks and Andy Serkis. The production cost of King Kong exceeded $207 million USD and the final theatrical cut runs more than 3 hours; both of these figures are far greater than those of their 1933 counterpart. 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, prequel to The Lord of the Rings. His comments to date seem to indicate that he is interested, if the studios can work out the rights. Late in 2004 it appeared unlikely, as MGM (the studio which holds the rights to The Hobbit) was sold to Sony in the race with Warner Bros. In December of 2004, Jackson said that production on "The Hobbit" would take at least three or four years, which would place a likely release date in 2010. Peter Jackson is also executive producing the game-to-film adaptation of Microsoft/Bungie's blockbuster title Halo, expected to hit theaters around mid-2007. Jackson, an avid fan of the game, has confessed to playing it regularly during breaks in filming. Jackson won three Academy Awards for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Academy Award for Directing Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay