Chief Magician of Middle-earth
Today marks 55 years of one of the highest paid and at the same time versatile filmmakers of our time - a native of New Zealand Peter Jackson . He brought the world of Middle-earth to the big screens, capturing the hearts of even the most ardent fans of Tolkien's book trilogy.First of all, the name Jackson and is associated with "The Lord of the Rings", the scale, epic and colorfulness of which amaze and make you plunge headlong into the world of hobbits, elves, magicians and orcs, into this wise story of the fight against centuries-old evil ... What he and his team did 15 years ago boggles the imagination to this day, and will continue to affect the audience for a very long time, maybe even forever.  The history of the formation of Jackson -director can be called classic. All the main factors are available: as a child, they gave me a camera, learned everything myself, and therefore was not afraid to experiment. The author's handwriting was undoubtedly influenced by his favorite films and filmmakers: special effects master Ray Harrihausen in Jason and the Argonauts, King Kong by Merian K. Cooper, Buster Keaton and, of course, films about the living dead from the classics of the genre - George Romero and Sam Raimi. The big dream to shoot something in this spirit moved the young Jackson in his search for style and inspired him to create original films filled with a selfless love for cinema."Just not ordinary!", - as if Jackson tells us, even in serious and realistic films, looking into other worlds,  Moreover, his filmography is quite paradoxical. The creative career of Peter seemed to be divided into before and after the phenomenally successful and simply gorgeous adaptation of Tolkien . What came before can be called a real break in patterns, because the young Jackson entered the cinema brazenly and recklessly - with comedy thrash horror films. Already an amateur debut in 1987, "Alien Stew", filmed for fun with friends, by some miracle was noticed by the New Zealand film commission. True, it is worth admitting that in Jackson's vision, both the guts turned out and the heads pierced through look more funny than frightening. Black humor brought to the point of absurdity, coupled with outright cynicism, has come to the taste of many sophisticated film fans. Jackson and he himself took part in the filming, playing two roles at once - a scientist, who literally lost part of his brain, and an alien leader, eager to eat this very organ. Sir Peter likes to say:“The viewer is not so easy to scare. It's much easier to make him laugh or disgust. ”  The next two films, "Meet the Fibla" and "Living Carrion", also refer to trash and intoxication. In the first, Peter , with characteristic recklessness, ridiculed the world of media and show business, balancing in this puppet comedy (at first glance, not the most suitable genre) on the verge of permissible. And after the release of the second one, it acquired the status of a cult inventor and the main lover of fake blood. Neither more nor less than 300 liters were used only on the set of "Living Carrion" - a comedy about what to do if your mother turned into a zombie and began to eat people.  On the set of that tape, Peter met his future wife and partner - screenwriter Fran Walsh, whose fantasy was in no way inferior to the director's insane fictions. It was Walsh who gave him the idea to use an actual story in New Zealand to film a drama. Fran gravitated to this genre more than to thrash comedy. The plot of "Heavenly Creatures" was based on the tragic story of a girl's murder of her own mother. The latter noticed a lesbian hint in her daughter's relationship with her friend and forbade them to communicate. Jackson has a beautiful fantasy about an innocent friendship, a sanctimonious society and extraordinary personalities. He himself called the film a chronicle of New Zealand and their Walsh latest work on their native culture. Later he expressed his interest in the topic of murder:“There is nothing funny about murder. In none of my films have I said that murder is fun. Friendship is funny and ridiculous. Love is funny and ridiculous. It's always funny how people try to entertain themselves. Life is ridiculous in general - there is no doubt about it. Even death is funny until it comes for you. But I never said that about murder. ”  Celestial Creatures became a new round in the creative evolution of the director, which was highly praised by critics: the film received a nomination for Oscar for Best Screenplay and Silver Lion at Venice Film Festival 1994. From a mocking cynic, Peter suddenly turned into a thoughtful and sensitive director. This low-budget, but original picture was enough for the New Zealand dreamer to receive a new (far from the first) invitation to the City of Angels. To Hollywood.  And this time he did not refuse and in a short time, in cooperation with Robert Zemeckis, shot a funny fantasy horror movie in the spirit of the cinema of the 80s - "Scarecrow" with the wonderful Michael J. Fox as an expert on the paranormal. Here one can clearly see the love for the gloomy man and the dynamics characteristic of Peter , and the main villain in a black hoodie even somewhat resembles Nazgul. Despite the failure at the box office, the film demonstrated the amazing capabilities of the computer graphics studio Weta , which later developed into a whole corporation and presented the world with Lord of the Rings and King Kong in that amazing as we know them.  Actually, it was King Kong, beloved since childhood, that Jackson was going to reshoot after working on Scarecrows . But then it was not possible to reach an agreement with Universal . Fortunately, the dreamer had another childhood dream in store: the adaptation of the epic trilogy John Ronald Ruel Tolkien about Middle-earth. This is where the story, more or less familiar to everyone, began: the purchase of rights, the desire with the support of New Line Cinema to make not one film, but three, absolute freedom on the set in New Zealand, six years of work - and the best project in fantasy genre in the history of cinema is ready.  Any cinema fan who has seen the trilogy at least once will not want to argue now: even years later, something warmly warms inside and makes childish sentimental joy at the recollection of the first meeting with the inhabitants of Shire, Mirkwood and Moria. Peter has demonstrated not only his love for the fairytale element and kind characters, but also his eternal craving for mochilov and all kinds of evil spirits. The film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King earned three Oscars in key nominations at once.It would seem, where to move after such a success? However, the director did not even think about going on sabbatical and took up another childhood dream: to pay tribute and love to King Kong :“I decided to film my King Kong " just because once upon a time, when I finished watching an old movie about this creature, I just sat down and cried."  The visually and technically perfect blockbuster Jackson makes on the modern viewer the same impression that the film Cooper made on him as a child. Once again, the director's fantastic creatures turn out to be much better than people. People most often carry evil, discord and lies. Unlike many remakes of legendary films, Jackson's King Kong turned out to be a truly reverent homage - a tribute to the well-known plot, updated due to the scope of modern technology. The next fantasy drama, Lovely Bones, about a girl watching the life of her parents from another world, looks more like Jackson's Heavenly Creatures : it is also filled with sadness and youthful dreaminess about other worlds where there is no places for human evil. Of course, the low-budget tape did not live up to the expectations of both fans and critics: everyone is already used to seeing Jackson different. And the New Zealander only demonstrated his independence and love for more chamber genres than blockbusters. By his own admission, he had never imagined himself before those who would shoot something like The Lord of the Rings .  Everyone knows about the last completed project of Jackson , the film series "The Hobbit". And despite the criticism of the trilogy format itself, which turned out from a children's book of 250 pages, and dissatisfaction with the filming process on the part of the director himself, it is undoubted good fortune that it was he who, who knows about the screen Middle-earth more than anyone else, took the helm of the project.  Although Jackson once declared his dislike of modern blockbusters, such a versatile and always surprising director will definitely find something to win the heart of his devoted viewer. For now, we are happy to review his previous works, find him in funny cameos, do not forget about the secret project with Spielberg and the second "Tintin" and will wait for a new (albeit a producer's) hit. The main thing to remember:“A new day always comes, and the thicker the darkness was, the brighter the sun shines afterwards. Not stopping is the point. Going forward is the most important thing. The Topic of Article: Chief Magician of Middle-earth. |
