Peter Jackson: A Film-Maker's Journey

By Brian Sibley

Book Overview

Authorised and fully illustrated insight into the life and career of the award-winning director, from his childhood film projects up to King Kong, together with Jackson's revealing personal account of his six-year quest to film The Lord of the Rings.

Once, Peter Jackson was a name unknown to all but a small band of loyal fans and fellow film-makers. Now he is the newest member of Hollywood's elite fellowship, with his name on the most successful movie trilogy of all time.

Written with Jackson's full participation, this extensive biography, illustrated with never-before-seen photos from Jackson's personal collection, tells the inside story of how a New Zealander became Hollywood's hottest property - from the early cult classics, through Academy Award(TM)-winning success with Kate Winslet's Heavenly Creatures, the abandoned King Kong remake, and the filming of The Lord of the Rings, a project which was abandoned two years into pre-production, rejected by most of the other studios and then picked up by New Line Cinema in the biggest gamble in film history.

Drawing upon interviews with fifty of Peter Jackson's colleagues and contemporaries, author Brian Sibley paints a portrait of a true auteur, a man gifted with single-minded determination and an artist's vision. Jackson himself is both revealing and insightful about his entire film-making life, from his first childhood steps filming in Super 8 to the grand realisation of his life's dream: King Kong.

Together, these joint narratives provide a truly unique and compelling insight into one of the finest cinematic minds at work today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007440723
• ISBN13: 9780007440726
• Release Date: May 2016
• Publisher: HarperCollins Entertainment
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

no less than 200 lessons for the aspiring film maker!

no less than 200 lessons for the aspiring film maker! Must have book if you want to bring Hollywood to your home town!

Weighty and worthy

The book is on the shelves in New Zealand right now. It's a remarkable journey he has made, from struggling apprentice printer to mogul. The book, like his movies, is long, and rewarding for it. The emphasis is more on pre-LOTR work and life, and it really focuses on the movies - no business or personal exposes here. Three things struck me: The first is his overwhelming passion for movies - passion that led him to just do it, rather than learn first by going to university. The results speak volumes, and he is in good company with this approach. The second is that he is a leader with an ability to gather large amounts of people around him - from the first movie made with a bunch of mates on weekends, to LOTR with over 24,000 kiwis involved. And the third is that he is an astute businessman - the book only hints at this, but it is clear from the continuous improvement in his Film Commission submissions, and the improvement in the deals struck with New line and Universal. Read it.