Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson ONZ KNZM (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and the Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama Heavenly Creatures (1994), the horror comedy The Frighteners (1996), the epic monster remake film King Kong (2005), the World War I documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) and the documentary The Beatles: Get Back (2021). He is the fourth-highest-grossing film director of all-time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.[1]
For other people named Peter Jackson, see Peter Jackson (disambiguation).
Sir Peter Jackson
Jackson began his career with the "splatstick" horror comedy Bad Taste (1987) and the black comedy Meet the Feebles (1989) before filming the zombie comedy Braindead (1992). He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh[2] for Heavenly Creatures, which brought him to mainstream prominence in the film industry. Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. His other awards include three BAFTAs, a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Saturn Awards among others.
His production company is WingNut Films, and his most regular collaborators are co-writers and producers Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Jackson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002. He was later knighted (as a Knight Companion of the order) by Sir Anand Satyanand, the Governor-General of New Zealand, at a ceremony in Wellington in April 2010. In December 2014, Jackson was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[3]
Early life[edit]
Jackson was born on 31 October 1961 in Wellington[4]: 25 [5]
and was raised in its far northern suburb of Pukerua Bay.[6] His parents – Joan (née Ruck),[4](p 20)[7] a factory worker and housewife, and William "Bill" Jackson, a wages clerk – were immigrants from England.[8][9]
As a child, Jackson was a keen film fan, growing up on Ray Harryhausen films, as well as finding inspiration in the television series Thunderbirds and Monty Python's Flying Circus. After a family friend gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera with Peter in mind, he began making short films with his friends. Jackson has long cited King Kong as his favourite film, and around the age of nine he attempted to remake it using his own stop-motion models.[10] Also, as a child Jackson made a World War II epic called The Dwarf Patrol seen on the Bad Taste bonus disc, which featured his first special effect of poking pinholes in the film for gun shots, and a James Bond spoof named Coldfinger.[11] Most notable though was a 20-minute short called The Valley, which won him a special prize because of the shots he used.
Jackson attended Kāpiti College, where he expressed no interest in sports.[12] His classmates also remember him wearing a duffel coat with "an obsession verging on religious". He had no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects and make-up largely through his own trial and error. As a young adult, Jackson discovered the work of author J. R. R. Tolkien after watching The Lord of the Rings (1978), an animated film by Ralph Bakshi that was a part-adaptation of Tolkien's fantasy trilogy.[13] When he was 16 years old, Jackson left school and began working full-time as a photo-engraver for a Wellington newspaper, The Evening Post. For the seven years he worked there, Jackson lived at home with his parents so he could save as much money as possible to spend on film equipment. After two years of work Jackson bought a 16 mm camera, and began shooting a film that later became Bad Taste.[14]
Influences and inspirations[edit]
Jackson has long cited several films as influences. It is well known that Jackson has a passion for King Kong, often citing it as his favourite film and as the film that inspired him early in his life. Jackson recalls attempting to remake King Kong when he was nine. At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, while being interviewed alongside Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron, Jackson said certain films gave him a "kick". He mentioned Martin Scorsese's crime films Goodfellas and Casino, remarking on "something about those particular movies and the way Martin Scorsese just fearlessly rockets his camera around and has shot those films that I can watch those movies and feel inspired."[15] Jackson said the 1970 film Waterloo inspired him in his youth.[16] Other influences include George Romero, Sam Raimi and the special effects by Ray Harryhausen.[17]
Games[edit]
Jackson was set to make games with Microsoft Game Studios, a partnership announced on 27 September 2006, at X06.[87] Specifically, Jackson and Microsoft were teaming together to form a new studio called Wingnut Interactive.[88] In collaboration with Bungie, he was to co-write, co-design and co-produce a new game taking place in the Halo universe – tentatively called Halo: Chronicles. On 27 July 2009, in an interview about his new movie (as producer) District 9, he announced that Halo: Chronicles had been cancelled, while Microsoft confirmed that the game is "on hold". In July 2009 Jackson's game studio Wingnut Interactive were said to be at work on original intellectual property.[89] As of August 2023, there are no games released nor developed by Wingnut Interactive.
Charitable activities[edit]
In 2006, Jackson gave NZ$500,000 to embryonic stem cell research.[90] He purchased a church in the Wellington suburb of Seatoun for $1.06 million, saving it from demolition.[91][92] He also contributes his expertise to 48HOURS, a New Zealand film-making competition, through annually selecting 3 "Wildcards" for the National Final.
Jackson, a World War I aviation enthusiast, is chair of the 14–18 Aviation Heritage Trust.[93] He donated his services and provided replica aircraft to create a 10-minute multimedia display called Over the Front for the Australian War Memorial in 2008.[94] He contributed to the defense fund for the West Memphis Three.[95] In 2011, Jackson and Walsh purchased 1 Kent Terrace, the home of BATS Theatre in Wellington, effectively securing the theatre's future.[96]
In 2012 Jackson supported the American Red Cross "Zombie Blood Drive"[97] together with other famous artists such as The Black Keys band members and the cast of the show The Walking Dead.[98]
Other activities[edit]
His property portfolio in 2018 was estimated at NZ$150 million.[99]
In 2009, he purchased a Gulfstream G550 jet registered ZK-KFB; his total net worth is estimated by National Business Review at NZ$450 million.[100] In early 2014 he replaced his Gulfstream G550, with a Gulfstream G650 also registered ZK-KFB.[101] In April 2014, the aircraft was used in the search for MH370.[102][103][104] The aircraft has subsequently been sold. Jackson owns an aircraft restoration and manufacturing company, The Vintage Aviator (based in Kilbirnie, Wellington, and at the Hood Aerodrome, Masterton), which is dedicated to World War I[105][106] and World War II fighter planes among other planes from the 1920s and 1930s. He is chairman of the Omaka Aviation Heritage Trust, which hosts a biennial air show.[107]
He owns a scale modeling company Wingnut Wings that specializes in World War I subjects.[108] Wingnut Wings however closed in March 2020 with the ultimate fate of the company and its moulds not yet known.[109]
Personal life[edit]
Jackson and his partner, Dame Fran Walsh, a New Zealand screenwriter, film producer, and lyricist, have two children, Billy (born 1995) and Katie (born 1996). Walsh has contributed to all of Jackson's films since 1989, as co-writer since Meet the Feebles, and as producer since The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. She won three Academy Awards in 2003, for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. She has received seven Oscar nominations.[125]
Jackson is an avid aviation enthusiast and owns a collection of over 40 airworthy World War I-era warbirds housed at Hood Aerodrome near Masterton,[126] and a Gulfstream G650 in Wellington.[127] Jackson also owns the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.[128] He is also interested in building scale models and owns a company that makes models of World War I aircraft.[129] Wingnut Wings, his model making company, has stopped producing kits as of 2020; however, the future of the company is unknown.[109]
As well as this, Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre presents the Knights of the Sky exhibition, featuring Jackson's own collection of WW1 aircraft and artifacts. This story of aviation in the Great War is brought to life in sets created by the internationally acclaimed talent of WingNut Films and Weta Workshop.[130][131]
Jackson received some criticism during the 2019 Wellington City Council Elections, with his support for then-city councillor Andy Foster. Foster won the election against then incumbent mayor Justin Lester by 62 votes, with critics noting Jackson's public support and $30,000 of funding to Foster's election campaign being pivotal for Foster's victory.[132] Both Jackson and Foster had criticised the previous city council's decision to support property development at Shelly Bay.[133]