By Darryl Mason
New Zealand director Peter Jackson has begun shooting his two-part 3D adaptation of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, and this set visit video is more interesting, more entertaining, than most of the movies released in cinemas so far this :
The Hobbit is expected to keep Peter Jackson busy until 2014 at least, which raises an important question, for me anyway.
Does this mean Peter Jackson's deeply personal and long dreamed of movie about the ANZACs has now been confined to the dustbin of 'Movies That Almost Were'?
Following is a repost from last year about Peter Jackson's ANZACs project, and why it is so personal to him.
As the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli draws closer, Jackson finds himself thinking about his grandfather, who fought there and won a distinguished service medal, and the numerous cinematically untold stories of Australians and New Zealand teenagers fighting together so far away, on the other side of the world.
Here's Peter Jackson on The 7.30 Report :
"I went to Gallipoli in 1990 for the 75th anniversary. That was the amazing year where 50 diggers were taken along, 50 of the original diggers were there. And so, you know, watching the dawn parade with 50 of these old men - the youngest was 92, the oldest was 103 and they were all sitting in these chairs as light came up....You Can Watch The Interview With Peter Jackson Here
"As the sun rose or the sky started to get light...thee old guys...they weren't interested in the speeches, they were all turning round looking at the hills. And it was an amazing experience to see them all looking at this landscape that most of them hadn't seen since 1915, hadn't seen it for 75 years.
"And I was standing right beside them as they were all turning around and looking behind and up at the sphinx and all the ridges....
"....to me (Gallipoli has) been a remarkable part of our history. And Peter Weir obviously made a great movie, but Peter's movie was set around events of August 7th, August 8th, 1915. I mean, you know, the Gallipoli was a seven or eight-month-long campaign. And that story is yet to be told on film. So I'd like to do that."
The following is rare footage restored by Peter Jackson & WETA colleagues of the ANZACS fighting at Gallipoli :
And if you're wondering what a Peter Jackson World War I movie might look like, here's the captivating trailer for a short film by Jackson and Neill Blomkamp called Crossing The Line. It was shot on March 30 and 31, 2009, as a test for the Red digital camera system.
And no, I have no idea where you can see the full version of that short movie. If you manage to find it online, please let me know on Twitter.
Peter
