Peter Jackson Biography

Peter Jackson (Sir Peter Robert Jackson) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and film producer born in 31st October 1961 in Wellington, New Zealand. His production company is Wingnut Films and his most regular collaborators are co-writers and producers Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

In 2002 Peter Jackson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In April 2010 he was knigted (as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit) by Anand Satyanand, the Governor-General of New Zealand, at a ceremony in Wellington. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 2014. In the 2012 Queen’s Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours Jackson was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand’s highest civilian honour.

Peter Jackson Career

Peter Jackson began making short films with his friends when a family friend gave the Jacksons a Super 8 cine-camera. At the age of nine he attempted to remake his favorite film, King Kong, using his own stop-motion models.

As a a child Peter Jackson made a WWII 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. Most notable though was a 20-minute short called The Valley, which won him a special prize because of the shots he used.

Peter Jackson has no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects and make-up largely through his own trial and error.At the age of 16 he left school and began working full-time as a photo-engraver for a Wellington newspaper, The Evening Post. He saved the money he earned and after two years of work he bought a 16 mm camera, and began shooting a film that later became ‘Bad Taste’.

Peter Jackson First Movie

Peter Jackson first feature was Bad Taste, a haphazard fashion splatter comedy, which included many of Jackson’s friends acting and working on it for free. At the time of the filming he was working full time as an engraver for ‘The Evening Post’ so shooting was normally done in the weekends.

‘Bad Taste’ is about aliens that come to earth with the intention of turning humans into food. Jackson had two acting roles including a famous scene in which he fights himself on top of a cliff.

The film was completed after it got financial support from the New Zealand Film Commission, after Jim Booth, the body’s executive director, became convinced of Jackson’s talent (Booth later left the Commission to become Jackson’s producer). In May 1987, Bad Taste was unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival, where rights to the film quickly sold to twelve countries.

Peter Jackson Age

• He was born on 31st October 1961 (56 years as at 2017)

Peter Jackson Production Company

Peter Jackson has a production company known as Wingnut Films, and his most regular collaborators are co-writers and producers Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Peter Jackson Family

Peter Jackson parents are Joan (née Ruck) a factory worker and housewife, and William “Bill” Jackson, a wages clerk- they were emigrants from England. Bill Jackson was a veteran of the Siege of Malta in World War II.

Peter Jackson – The Hobbit Director

Peter Jackson involvement in the making of a film version of The Hobbit has a long and chequered history. In November 2006, a letter from Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh stated that due to an ongoing legal dispute between Wingnut Films (Jackson’s production company) and New Line Cinema, Jackson would not be directing the film. New Line Cinema’s head Robert Shaye commented that Jackson “…will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I’m still working at the company…”. This prompted an online call for a boycott of New Line Cinema, and by August 2007 Shaye was trying to repair his working relationship.

On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema had reached agreement to make two prequels, both based on The Hobbit, and to be released in 2012 and 2013 with Jackson as a writer and executive producer and Guillermo del Toro directing.

The film started production on 20 March 2011. On 30 July 2012, Peter Jackson announced on his Facebook page that the two planned Hobbit movies would be expanded into a trilogy. He wrote that the third film would not act as a bridge between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films, but would continue to expand The Hobbit story by using material found in the Lord of the Rings Appendices.

Peter Jackson – Lord of the Rings

Peter Jackson won the rights to film Tolkien’s epic in 1997 after meeting with producer Saul Zaentz. Originally working with Miramax towards a two-film production, Jackson was later pressured to render the story as a single film, and finally overcame a tight deadline by making a last-minute deal with New Line, who were keen on a trilogy.

Principal photography stretched from 11 October 1999 to 22 December 2000 with extensive location filming across New Zealand. With the benefit of extended post-production and extra periods of shooting before each film’s release, the series met huge success and sent Jackson’s popularity soaring. The Return of the King itself met with huge critical acclaim, winning eleven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film was the first of the fantasy film genre to win the award for Best Picture and was the second sequel to win Best Picture (the first being The Godfather Part II). Jackson’s mother, Joan, died three days before the release of the first movie in the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring. There was a special showing of the film after her funeral.

Peter Jackson Movies

• 1976: The Valley
• 1987: Bad Taste
• 1989: Meet the Feebles
• 1992: Valley of the Stereos
• 1992: Braindead
• 1994: Heavenly Creatures
• 1995: Forgotten Silver
• 1996: Jack Brown Genius
• 1996: The Frighteners
• 2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• 2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• 2003: The Long and Short of It
• 2005: King Kong
• 2007: Hot Fuzz
• 2007: Entourage
• 2008: Crossing the Line
• 2008: Over The Front: The Great War In The Air
• 2009: District 9
• 2009: The Lovely Bones
• 2011: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
• 2012: West of Memphis
• 2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• 2013: The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
• 2013: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• 2014: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• 2018: Untitled WWI Documentary
• 2018: Mortal Engines

Movies Directed by Peter Jackson/ Peter Jackson Director

• 1976: The Valley
• 1987: Bad Taste
• 1989: Meet the Feebles
• 1992: Braindead
• 1994: Heavenly Creatures
• 1996: The Frighteners
• 2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• 2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• 2005: King Kong
• 2009: The Lovely Bones
• 2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• 2013: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• 2014: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Peter Jackson Series

• 2004 – 2011: Entrourage
• Since 2004: The 100 Scariest Movie Moments
• Since 2003: Filmland

Peter Jackson Books

• The Lord of the Rings: The Art of The Return of the King
• The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook
• Lord of Misrule
• King Kong
• The Lord of the RIngs -The Two Towers Script Screenplay
• Creatures of The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings -Fellowship of the Ring Movie Script Screenplay
• Heavenly Creatures
• The Making of King Kong : The Official Guide to the Motion Picture
• The Frighteners
• Middle-Earth Landscapes
• Middle-earth: From Script to Screen

Peter Jackson Net worth

Peter Jackson spent $5 million to purchase 20 hectares of land in Wairarapa, a property containing a mansion, private lake, tunnel and the interior of Bag End from The Lord of the Rings. In 2009, he purchased a Gulfstream G550 jet; his total net worth is estimated by National Business Review at NZ$450 million.

Peter Jackson Wife

In 1987 Peter Jackson married Fran Walsh, a New Zealand screenwriter, film producer and lyricist. She 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, all for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. She has received seven Oscar nominations.

Peter Jackson Children

Peter Jackson has two children Billy (born 1995) and Katie (born 1996)

Peter Jackson Contact

• Address: PO Box 15208 Miramar
  Wellington  6003.
• Tel: 04 909 3000
• Fax: 04 388 9449
• Email: reception@wingnutfilms.co.nz

Peter Jackson Upcoming Movie/  Peter Jackson’s New Movie

Peter Jackson News

Taxpayers face $12.7m or higher bill for Sir Peter Jackson’s delayed WWI museum

The country’s centrepiece commemoration of World War I has turned into a $12.7m headache for the Government after Sir Peter Jackson was almost three years late in delivering a high-profile recreation of Gallipoli trenches.

The Great War Exhibition at Wellington’s landmark Dominion Building was initially intended to run for four years during the centenary commemorations of the 1914-1918 conflict, but its main attraction
supplied by Jackson only opened this Anzac Day – months before the project is due to close.

Documents obtained under the Official Information Act show the 32-month delay to complete the Trench Experience – which matches the time it took the United States to enter World War I – compounded problems attracting visitors and sponsorship.

Taxpayers now face a $12.7m bill to restore the building to its original state, or a possible $50m cost if the Government has to buy the property to create a permanent museum.

Associate Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson said officials had been quick to bring him up to speed on problems with the Trench Experience, Jackson’s painstaking recreation of the catacomb- like conditions in 1915 at Quinn’s Post.

“I don’t want to completely bag it because I think it’s a high-quality tourist attraction. But quite clearly there have been issues with the running of the exhibition and the delays that have occurred. That’s
unfortunate.”

Clare Olssen, executive producer for Wingnut Films who worked with Jackson on the project, said the director’s involvement was entirely voluntary.

“He did not request this exhibition – in 2013 he was asked to be involved in it, and he’s worked on it since, as time permits around his professional commitments. By the time they approved the funding, well over a year had passed, and by that time Peter had received a green light on Mortal Engines – his day job,” she said.

Olssen said the finished project was “world-class, and technically mind-bending”.

“It’s groundbreaking in its ambition, and that simply takes time to figure out and perfect.”

The late delivery of the Trench Experience raises the prospect the multimillion-dollar project will have a short shelf-life because the lease expires in November and months of work – part of the $12.7m in
make-good costs that will be billed to the ministry – need to be incurred to restore the building to its original state.

The make-good provision caused alarm with the Government’s auditors, who required then-Minister Maggie Barry to account for the future spending and seek approval from the Minister of Finance for
unauthorised expenditure. Barry signed off the spending during the caretaker period after the election in October.

Dame Fran Wilde, chair of the National Military Heritage Charitable Trust which runs the Great War Exhibition – Jackson also serves as a trustee – provided a written statement to the Herald saying the film-
maker’s generosity had been instrumental in making the exhibition possible.

“The original financial model proved unsustainable. In particularly, projected visitor numbers were overly optimistic … The Trench was certainly delayed and this had an impact on projected income, but it
has not been the only issue.”

Wilde said she was brought on to the Trust only in late 2015, and earlier financial accountability issues had occurred before her arrival. “I understand that because speed was of the essence, the quality and timeliness of the exhibition were given priority over the cost,” she said.

Installation of the apparently temporary exhibition involved the demolition of stone walls, and some large exhibition pieces loaned by Jackson – including artillery pieces and a tank – had to be installed
through the roof with a crane.

The Government has tried to extend the lease and salvage the exhibition, signing off $660,000 in additional funding in August for this purpose.

However it has run into opposition from tenant Massey University, which owns the building with the Tenths Trust. The university says it needs to reclaim teaching space for its arts programme.

Briefings late last year said: “Without the lease extension, the exhibition would need to close as early as mid-2018 to allow time to deconstruct and make good.”

The standoff has led to Cabinet approving the preparation of a business case to buy the building outright and avoid the make-good provision by making the exhibition part of a permanent war museum.

Such a move would likely cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more, with the valuable building – on more than 6ha of central city property – having a capital valuation of $50.2m.

Robertson confirmed all options were on the table, including purchasing the building outright. “Work and discussions are underway on that, but my current focus is on discussions with Massey about the lease.”

Former Minister Chris Finlayson, who held the arts, culture and heritage portfolio from 2008-2014, said he was supportive of buying the building to use as a national war museum.

“John Key and I were keen. We were chatting with Sir Peter at the [GWE opening in 2015] and we agreed; ‘This is jolly good and we should make it permanent’.”

Finlayson said efforts to acquire the building had been held up by an inability to settle on an agreed price with its owners.

Jackson, in a written statement to the Herald, said a permanent future for the GWE “has never been guaranteed”.

Citing facilities in Canberra or London’s Imperial War Museum, Jackson said he was aware of discussions about the Government possibly buying the building as a permanent museum, “but that requires a commitment from Government, which to date, I don’t believe has been forthcoming”.

The exhibition is a public-private partnership, funded by both Jackson and his Wingnut Films, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage (which has put it $8.5m to date), Lottery Grants Board and gaming trusts ($3.6m) and sponsor ANZ ($1.6m).

Jackson’s contribution is unclear, but is in the millions. Ministry briefings suggest he contributed at least $2m to the Trench Experience, and 2016 accounts to the trust overseeing the GWE show entities related
to Jackson were owed $4.2m – said to have been charged at cost – for creating exhibits.

Wingnut’s Olssen noted many of the military artefacts on display were loaned free of charge from Jackson’s personal collection: “You must understand that the GWE is simply a labour of love for Peter because he’s hugely passionate about the First World War and he wanted to mark the centenary and share that passion with others.”

Briefings to ministers about the Great War Exhibition flag how delays to Jackson’s Trench Experience – originally planned to open in August 2015 – cascaded into missed attendance targets and problems securing sponsorship, leading to a financial crisis.

“The expected visitor numbers were ambitious and the expectations on sponsorship did not come to fruition, creating some financial challenges,” ministry officials conceded in November.

“The lower-than-expected revenue is in part due to the delays with Sir Peter’s build of the trench experience.”

These problems led to plans being drawn up to raid to Te Papa’s capital budget for $1.3m to make up a shortfall – later reversed after opposition from the national museum.

Within a year of opening ministers were being briefed about the need for “delicacy around the funding arrangements given the significant financial challenges facing the GWE” and the ministry having to provide assistance to deal with “financial systems and accountability issues”.

A briefing in February 2017 said: “Sir Peter has made some modifications to enhance the experience which has contributed to delays.”

Four months later another update said: “Construction of the Trench Room has started but is far from complete”.

Barry received regular briefings as the Minister of Culture and Heritage from 2014-2017 as the crisis loomed, did not return repeated calls over the past month.

Last month a guide at the Trench Experience told the Herald the foul odours intended to approximate the scent of death and defecation experienced by soldiers during the campaign had to be dialled down
after they were found to induce vomiting.

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz