New Line was kind enough to invite a representative from the Santa Monica Mirror (me) to meet with Jackson for a one-on-one interview for fifteen minutes. So, off I went to the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills -- a swanky establishment for the likes of me, and found Peter Jackson sitting alone in a room. Just the two of us. Can you imagine?

The first thing I wanted to know was whether or not Mr. Jackson would be wearing shoes. I'd heard that the director didn't wear them to a New York press junket and that he's becoming rather famous for not wearing them -- so I wondered. And Lo! It was true. He wasn't wearing any shoes and actually seemed a little shy about the question I asked (in my typically flustered and idiotic way): "Do you not wear shoes for religious reasons or is it just more comfortable that way?" He answered me with much deserved sarcasm: "No, I belong to a religion that doesn't allow me to wear shoes."

Peter Jackson, I'm pleased to say, is much more like talking to the nice guys on a movie set, the grip or the boom operator. He's doesn't seem consumed by ego and he doesn't particularly care to be the only one talking in a conversation. He listens carefully to the question and is polite when responding -- which, again, is rare in people let alone big famous directors.

The whole awards thing, said Mr. Jackson, is disrupting the post-production for the next two LOTR movies, but, he says, "it's a good distruption." He's flying to London for the BAFTA, then back to New Zealand to cut the movie, then back here for the DGA, then back to New Zealand, then back for the Oscars. He says, though, that he can't complain too much because what he is doing is so much fun. Except the plane rides, I say, but no, says Jackson -- on the plane is the only time he has to sleep!

Strangely enough, Jackson was utterly surprised at the amount of accolades the film has recieved, though he's reluctant to credit the film's succes to the post-9/11 world. The idea that any director would try to attach their film to such a "horrific tragedy" is absurd. To him, this was a project that he's been working on since '95 and the film, the finished print, was in the can before Sept. 11th. He feels strongly that any comparisons to his film and the tragedy of September 11th, are inappropriate.

He talked a lot about Lord of the Rings per my questions, the first being that I'd heard he wanted to make an historical film rather than a fantasy film -- that is, to imagine that Lord of the Rings were history -- that these places really did exist and that they didn't take place in a galaxy far, far away. He wanted to ground the story in reality.

I ask him next my friend Rob's question (the only one I could squeeze in) which was what was Jackson's reasoning behind making the ring appear so heavy in the film when that isn't really written about in the book. Jackson responded by saying that there wasn't a clear, tangible villain (by film standards) and that it's hard to have, say, a character battling a large eyeball. So, in making the ring the villain -- he wanted it to have substance, to make sounds and have its own personality. According to Rob, a fan of the book, this was a good and effective choice.

I asked him which was his most personal film and he confessed that that was a hard question to answer. Mostly because doing a movie represents a time in his life. Heavenly Creatures was a great experience for him and so he feels connected with it. LOTR, on the other hand, has consumed his life since 1995 -- his children grew up amid development of this film, so how could this not be personal?

Apparently it was Ian McKellen's idea to base Gandalf on Tolkien -- they'd found some footage of Tolkien speaking and McKellen decided he would come as close as possible to doing an impression of the author.

Jackson said he likes making movies he himself would want to see. When he first conceived of making Lord of the Rings he thought -- "if I was walking into a movie theater and some other director was making the film what would I want to see?" And that's how he came at the project.

I asked him about Fran Walsh's participation or collaboration and he explained that the two rarely do anything apart and that they've been working on films together for many, many years -- apparently, Fran directed the final scene of Frodo and Sam in the boat, a scene Jackson says is one of the best in the film. "Fran did that," he said proudly. He was off filming another scene for one of the other films.

Probably my favorite answer he gave, though, was when I asked him which character he most identified with. He said, though he knew he should say someone heroic like Aragorn he really felt most like a "comfort-loving hobbit," who would "rather cozy up by the fire, eating cakes."

Though Jackson, clad in his trademark khaki shorts, with his unruly, curly hair just starting to show some gray, spoke mostly quietly, watching the tape recorder's wheels turn -- his face lit up when the subject of his children came up -- when asked about how much of this film involved them he said that it's been their whole lives. But it wasn't until they actually saw the movie that they understood what mommy and daddy had been doing all this time. They were impressed and won over. Jackson, it's safe to say, was pleased by this development.

I'd gone in thinking it would be hard to find even three questions to ask but by the end of the too-short fifteen minutes I found I could have listened to Peter Jackson talk all day. Of course, lord knows, the man is too busy for that.

I never did get around to asking Nat's question, though, about which of the best picture nominees did Jackson like the most. A great question I was too afraid to ask. Nat thinks Jackson would have said Moulin Rouge. I think he would have too.

I did get him to sign a For Your Consideration ad, which will be offered up among the big prizes for this year's Oscar predictions contest (the one for the gold, not the nominations). So, sharpen your predictions skills, LOTR fans. No wishful thinking, etc.

The phenomenon of the Rings
BBC

Dec 20, 2001

BBC World Service's Meridian Writing meets Brian Sibley, the man who first dramatised JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings for BBC radio 20 years ago.

Brian Sibley is the writer of the official guide to the director Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films and, he believes, that JRR Tolkien would have been proud of the first of Jackson's three screen adventures.

When Mr Sibley travelled half way round the world he was astonished to find that the mysterious world inhabited by hobbits really did exist.

He had in fact been granted unlimited access to The Fellowship of the Ring film set in New Zealand. As he explains, the attention to detail that he found astonished him:

"Tolkien would have at least approved of this. The film-makers wanted to create something that is fantastic, but is also rooted in realism... it has that ring of authenticity about it."

Imagination

The original sword and sorcery blockbuster was written nearly half a century ago by the Oxford professor of languages and devout Roman Catholic, JRR Tolkien.

Selling somewhere in excess of 100 million copies the tale has since grown to be an international bestseller.

Mr Sibley believes that the tale's appeal may lie in its ability to transport the reader into another world.

"The story is rather like an onion" he explains, "where you peel back one layer and there is a another layer underneath."

Not to be dismissed as pure fantasy however, Mr Sibley asserts that, "this is not a cosy story. It is a story about peril and adventure with a terrible burden on it."

Adding, "it seems to be part of our past. Tolkien was adamant that Middle Earth was not some parallel universe, that you reach by going through the wardrobe or down the rabbit hole, it's a world that did once exist."

The Hobbit - a sort of prequel to The Lord of the Rings - enjoyed great and instant success when it was published, in 1937.

It marked the start of a quest that led to the diminutive hobbit Frodo, being guided through Middle Earth by Gandalf and a fellowship of travellers.

Frodo's task is to destroy the all-powerful ring that the dark lord Sauron covets.

Reality

Central to the story is a battle between good and evil; concepts, which Mr Sibley believes, are not abstract, but derived from the author's real life experiences.

He explains: "From the year in which the Hobbit and these little characters appeared, through to when he finished the book, you see the Spanish Civil War, the rise of the totalitarian state, the rise of Fascism which inevitably led to World War II and were played out everyday."

"Those are the things that in his idyllic little peaceful world of Oxford, Tolkien couldn't help but be aware and they are the undercurrent to this story."

Mr Sibley also notes the importance of Tolkien's own experiences of war in shaping the story.

Recalling the author's claim that he lost almost all of his friends during World War I, Mr Sibley comments: "He himself had fought in the battle of the Somme... The loss of his parents also made him more introspective and that definitely had a hand in the creation of these imaginary languages and realms that he wrote about."

Tolkien today

With a $90million (£63.5m) budget and 120 technicians employed to make it, it is little wonder that The Fellowship of the Ring, was eagerly anticipated.

But when the popcorn has been eaten and the hobbit merchandise is no longer fashionable, can Tolkien's tales survive the test of time?

"I see no diminution of this book. Once you have made the journey with Frodo I don't think that you are ever the same again" claims Mr Sibley.

"Its like a ring, a ring goes on forever. It is this little thing that runs around your finger and it has no beginning and has no end.

"In a sense this story has no beginning and has no end and because it began in Tolkien's imagination and it goes on in ours."