this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 61 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Not a fluke, just peaked very early in his international career. LOTR was only his second big budget production. Name another director who made three movies in a row that are as epic as the LOTR trilogy and made movies that are similar or higher quality afterwards. There aren’t many.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I still have to chuckle when I see the updated cover for Bad Taste

Still have no idea how he managed to score that job at the time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

You missed the R rated muppet movie he did.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Feebles

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

He set himself a really high bar, for sure.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Ridley Scott maybe?

[–] [email protected] 48 points 9 months ago

I understand he was pressured into (or to step up in?) The Hobbit after things were already very much on the wrong track.

And he'd been brewing ideas of how to do lotr long before doing it, and never intended to do The Hobbit.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Dude's got so much money now that he can do anything he wants with his life, and apparently making big budget movies isn't that.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

yeah dude is a fucking billionaire. He sold only a part of Weta Digital for $1.6 billion to those idiots at Unity. And now with Unity shuttering their Weta department he gets almost everything back.

[–] danc4498 10 points 9 months ago

Making cutting edge documentaries seem to be what he wants to do with his time

[–] MrJameGumb 33 points 9 months ago (4 children)

I don't think it's that big of a mystery. I'm sure it had a lot to do with him trying to turn The Hobbit into a new epic trilogy. It's a pretty short book, it really just needed one film. Also, the first one was terrible to the point that I never bothered watching the other two, and I love LOTR

[–] [email protected] 57 points 9 months ago

The hobbit films being a mess were entirely the fault of new line.

The preproduction of LOTR was in the range of 2 years. That's hammering out the script, but also locations, sets, securing extras, apparently all of the horses in NZ for some of the shots but also all of the costumes and armor.

All of those preproduction things were allowed in the range of 6 weeks(as opposed to over 100) for the Hobbit, and New Line refused to budge at all.

[–] JustAnotherRando 53 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That wasn't really on Jackson from what I understand. He originally wasn't even going to be directing the Hobbit films, but had to come in after the original director had other obligations and things were a mess when he got there. I believe the studio had already decided that it would be three films as well, but I could be misremembering.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

He could have quit the project though.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

He could've quit as much as you could've started it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago

My understanding is that he (at least partially) did it so other people wouldn't be out of their jobs. Some of which he might already know from the LOTR trilogy.

Who knows if the project would have continued without Peter Jackson stepping in.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I’m sure it had a lot to do with him trying to turn The Hobbit into a new epic trilogy.

IIRC: He only wanted to do two movies and that was what was originally announced. Then the studio said,if you want our funding, make three.

So we ended up with the hobbit shitshow.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Annnnd, that's why he's not "doing anything" these days.

I genuinely hope he's living his best life. Fuck Hollywood.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I genuinely hope he’s living his best life.

He owns Weta FX which is constantly in demand so I doubt he is short of cash or interesting shit to do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

They made a kick-ass tabletop game of corporate-funded mech gladiator battles called Heavy Hitters, btw. Simply out of a shared love for the themes involved. 🤘🏼

[–] saltesc 2 points 9 months ago

And the idea of two was partly to try buy time and put in more detail. Much of what he took on wasn't prepared and they wouldn't give more time, so he had to improvise on the fly. Very hard turd to polish. Then having to do three, suddenly the opposite problem, but still no time to shift and prep.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I watched all three, and they were all terrible. I've watched the LOTR trilogy a few times, I've only watched The Hobbit trilogy once and I don't think I'm ever watching them again.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

There are a few fan edits that dump all the padding bullshit and the LOTR foreshadowing. The results is two Ok movies that follow the book quite well, still nowhere near LOTR but not the pile of shit the studio cuts are.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

We watched the six movies not that long ago and it was the first time my GF watched them and she really enjoyed the Bilbo movies but couldn't wait to be done with LotR...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Did you show her the extended lotr cuts or the original releases? Extended editions are better for telling closer to the whole story, but the originals are better films.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Extended and I guess you're right, even for me it felt like the movies didn't age that well

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Yeah the long cuts are for existing fans and are generally not good for first time viewing. I've made the same mistake for nearly two decades before I realized that. And Peter Jackson even says as much!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm sure Meet the Feebles was in the top three Anon meant.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_N3AfxrMx5s

[–] MrJameGumb 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Bad Taste has got to take the number one spot though. It's definitely Jackson's best work

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (3 children)

What about Braindead though. One of the funniest and most disturbing movies I've ever seen.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

“I kick ass for the lord!” still sets me off like nothing else.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

"Your mother ate my dog" ranks a little higher for me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Agree.

Lawnmower vs zombie gore > every other bit of gratuitous splatter in PJ's early work.

[–] MrJameGumb 3 points 9 months ago

It took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about, they called it Dead Alive here lol

Also another classic for sure!

[–] CoggyMcFee 18 points 9 months ago

But I loved the Get Back documentary

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

King Kong was ace