an unexpected treat

[Felagund]

I had the pleasure of attending a talk given by Peter Jackson last week. First time I've been in the same room and it was one of those potluck things. He came across very much as he comes across on screen - informal, passionate about film-making, candid about Hollywood, and in possession of a seemingly endless supply of funny anecdotes.

He spent some time on LotR and TH but was also keen to get across his ambitions for a Tintin sequel, and how much joy he took from the forensic elements of the film-making for his Beatles and First World War projects. In a good-natured way, he was defensive about TH trilogy. He acknowledged the difficulties and the disappointment some audiences felt but also resiled from none of the work itself and expressed his love of those films.

There was hardly any time left for Qs by the end, and they were pretty much all about LotR - and yep, the Tom Bombadil one came up. As did his various cameos.

I didn't get to ask my question, sadly. Which was going to be more of a plea that he make Bad Taste 2. I'm old enough to have seen some of his schlock horror films in the cinema and would love to see him go back to his 'roots'

 

[Ataahua]

I bet he'd have been tickled to be asked about his first-ever movie. Maybe Derek could return to Earth as the aliens' new leader with his own plans for the human race? [evil]

 

[Chen G.]

In a good-natured way, he was defensive about TH trilogy. He acknowledged the difficulties and the disappointment some audiences felt but also resiled from none of the work itself and expressed his love of those films.

That's good to hear. The internet had kind of edited the Michael Pellerin documentaries and twisted them out of context to paint those productions as some racing-against-the-clock marathon of misery, and anyone who has actually watched those unabridged documentaries can tell that - regardless of what one thinks of the films - that's just absolutely not the case.

More to the point, I was very pleased indeed that in recent interviews with Andy Serkis, he had reaffirmed that Gollum would be in the lineage of BOTH trilogies. In other film series filmmakers often chose to focus on those entries about whom the audience was largely in consensus: for a while, latter-day Star Wars treated at least the first two prequels as something that didn't happen; I believe one of the latter-day Terminator films overrode all the preceding entries since Cameron; even a great film like The Last Crusade treats Temple of Doom as just...this "thing" that happened.

I think that's a perfectly fine thing to do AS A FAN - you make your own "canon" out of what's there - but as a filmmaker stepping into a film series, I think it's only right that one should accept the series in its totality. Andy does appeal to traditionalists here and there - Gollum is reviving the Miniature unit, for example - but thankfully neither he nor Peter are turning their backs on any of the preceding entries. I guess neither made any particular effort to mention Rohirrim, but that's to be expected because that film is so in-a-bubble by itself in terms of plot, characters and medium. Of course, both Peter and Andy are strongly associated with BOTH trilogies (and Rohirrim!) so I guess it was to be expected, but it's still nice ot hear.

 

[grammaboodawg]

I think that's a perfectly fine thing to do AS A FAN - you make your own "canon" out of what's there - but as a filmmaker stepping into a film series, I think it's only right that one should accept the series in its totality. Andy does appeal to traditionalists here and there - Gollum is reviving the Miniature unit, for example - but thankfully neither he nor Peter are turning their backs on any of the preceding entries.

How incredible to spend that time with Peter Jackson!! I immediately get the feeling of Peter Bombadil telling tales as we sit in wonder and drink it all in AND I'm happy that he has no regrets about TH. I understand the variety of feelings of TH films and the entire Tolkien series; but I have been so grateful and happy with them all Having Andy Serkis expanding that world with all he's learned from Jackson's productions is SO exciting and fitting that his contribution would be about Gollum!

I'm equally geeked that Stephen Colbert and his son are working on another film (and angle) from LotR! Colbert's passionate knowledge of Tolkien's works and collaborations with Jackson... for me... puts him right in this club of like-minded storytellers! The only thing that bums me about all of this is that it's going to take so long to get these on the big screen and me in the dark room with the films' glow on my face! *twitch*