One day after receiving the Honorary Palme d’Or from actor Elijah Wood during the opening gala of the Cannes Festival, Peter Jackson gave a masterclass at the Debussy theater in which he extensively reviewed his career and assessed the challenges of current cinema. Under the chords of the soundtrack that Howard Shore composed for The Lord of the Rings, the audience applauded the entrance of the creator of the successful film saga created by the British writer J. R. R. Tolkien.
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During the talk, in which Wood was also present, whom Jackson catapulted to fame for his role as Frodo in the fantasy franchise, the director said he had achieved the unthinkable, “winning a Palme d’Or without making a film.” “I never thought I would win a Palme d’Or just as I never thought I could be a ballet dancer. There are things you simply know will not happen and therefore you never dream of them.” Jackson recalled that he first attended the French festival with his debut film, Bad Taste in 1988 and shared a funny anecdote from that moment: “The first time I entered the Palais I went to get accredited and I was eager to see many films, that accreditation is like Willy Wonka’s golden ticket, because you can go see whatever you want. But when I went to pick it up, I got halfway to the counter and a security guard kicked me out for wearing shorts. They kicked me out the first time I set foot here! So last night I almost wore a tuxedo with shorts just to make things clear. However, that requires courage, and I’m not brave enough to do it,” he emphasized amid the laughter of the attendees.
I never thought I would win a Palme d’Or just as I never thought I could be a ballet dancer
Among his works is the remake of King Kong (2005) starring Naomi Watts, whose original 1933 film was the movie that made him love cinema. “I loved television and cinema where you could escape the real world and embark on some adventure that was science fiction or horror. When I was about 8 years old, on a Friday night they showed the original King Kong movie on TV and it changed my life. Watching that movie is what pushed me to become a director,” he confessed. In his early days, he leaned towards gore and fantasy works like the mentioned Bad Taste or Braindead (whose Spanish title was translated as Your Mother Ate My Dog). Later came titles like Heavenly Creatures with a teenage Kate Winslet.
But fame and prestige came with the ambitious The Lord of the Rings, which began in 2001, with which he “revolutionized on the big screen the way of making images, creating universes, and telling stories,” the festival noted when announcing his award. With The Return of the King he amassed eleven Oscars. That is why Jackson does not mind being told it is the most important work of his career. “I will never make a film as commercially successful as these. Many people make films throughout their careers and do not have that level of success, so I am very proud that it happened.”
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During the press meeting, he also spoke about AI and expressed that he does not dislike its use in cinema, although he thinks it is a shame that the debate surrounding it is partly the reason why Andy Serkis will never win awards for his performance as Gollum through motion capture. “For me, it is simply a special effect.” However, he maintains that it is “absolutely crucial” to protect actors’ rights to prevent their images from being stolen and used in films without their permission.
I will never make a film as commercially successful as those of ‘The Lord of the Rings’
Among his new projects, the New Zealander remains linked as a producer to The Lord of the Rings, as a new film focused on Gollum directed by the actor who plays him, Andy Serkis, is underway. And he has stated that he is preparing a script to make a new Tintin film, although it will not be a continuation of Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film. “The idea,” he said, “was that Spielberg would make the first Tintin and I the second, but I was sure I would do it badly.” So instead of following Spielberg’s film, ‘The Secret of the Unicorn,’ in which he participated as a producer, he decided to start writing another script with Fran Walsh, the screenwriter with whom he creates all the stories for his films. Jackson did not want to go into more details and only assured that it will be “a real film.”
