Peter Jackson – New & Recent Films
Peter Jackson's Biography: Heavenly Creatures and Beyond
A continuing profile of Kiwi director Peter Jackson, looking at his career immediately prior to the phenomenal Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as future projects.
Peter Jackson was already beginning to generate interest from near and far, even before his groundbreaking Lord of the Rings trilogy. He had modest success with the Hollywood movie The Frighteners, although the box office receipts were disappointing. Still, it gave Jackson the chance to work with an innovative and exciting producer in the form of Robert Zemeckis. The Back to the Future director was very encouraging of Jackson, and together they forged a much overlooked horror comedy thriller hybrid. Nevertheless, the film that really sealed Jackson's fate as a director of repute was Heavenly Creatures, made at home in New Zealand.
Heavenly Creatures
This amazing film, which gave a young Kate Winslet her first starring role, was based on a true story about a pair of teenage girls who commit a brutal crime. The tragedy could easily have been portrayed as a television style docu-drama in the hands of a lesser director, but Jackson told the story in a very different way. He imagined how the girls cast themselves adrift in their own fantasy world, full of enticing, dreamy imagery. In this way, he was able to capture the shocking story straight from the uncomprehending minds of the killers, helping to explain just what had driven them to murder. The film is often described using words such as beautiful, haunting and poignant, which just goes to show how far removed it is from other films about murder.
The Big Ones
After Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners came the simply breathtaking adaptation of JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. An immense undertaking of which Jackson himself is quoted as saying "At the beginning I don't think anybody had any idea how difficult or complicated it would be. We somehow went into it thinking we could do it. And then we've stumbled along just taking each day at a time."
The completed trilogy is nothing short of astounding. Its unmitigated success propelling Jackson into the stratosphere and allowing him to return to the project he'd actually failed to get off the ground prior to Rings, a re-make of King Kong. Unsuprisingly, this time round he was given free rein to revive this movie exactly as he saw fit.
Future Projects – The Lovely Bones, Halo, District 9
The future for Peter Jackson points towards several very interesting projects. His next foray into directing will be with an adaptation of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. This hugely successful book has an other worldly theme, inviting the possibility of (Heavenly Creatures style) fantasy elements.
Jackson has also been linked with a number of other upcoming films. He's touted as executive producer on Halo, an adaptation of the video game, for which Alex Garland (writer of The Beach) produced a screenplay. Jackson wanted Neill Blomkamp to direct, but the film is currently languishing in development hell. In the meantime, Blomkamp and his partner had already written a sci-fi called District 9, which Jackson is now producing in order to help launch his prodigious young friend.
Tintin, The Hobbit
Jackson has also struck a 3 picture deal with Steven Spielberg to direct Tintin, based on Herge's classic cartoon adventures. Both Spielberg and Jackson will direct a film a piece, with the third film's director still yet to be named.
Jackson has also just announced his decision to work with award winning director Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy) on two proposed films of The Hobbit. Del Toro is to direct, with the original writing team behind Lord of the Rings (Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens) handling the screenplay. The Hobbit looks set to submerge an eager audience back into the realm of Middle Earth once more.
Please see Peter Jackson – The Early Years for the part of the biography that immediately precedes this article, including information about Jackson's family and his early film projects.
Further information about Peter Jackson's ever growing repertoire of films is also contained in the two part filmography articles Peter Jackson Films 1987 - 1995 and Peter Jackson films 1996 - Present.
Sources: IMBd, Wikipedia, tbhl.theonering.net, hollywoodinsiderew.com
