'Rings' director faced own quest in making films

By Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

Like the plucky characters in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, director Peter Jackson and his hardy crew of New Zealanders also journeyed far and suffered long to reach the end of their quest, which comes tomorrow with the release of "The Return of the King."

John Rhys-Davies plays Gimli in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Advertiser library photo

"It only took Frodo 14 months to get to Mount Doom," Jackson says. "It took us seven years to get the films made.

"At least we didn't have people trying to shoot arrows at us and squash us with giant elephants and things."

The movies, however, were in constant peril. After Miramax agreed to finance two "Lord of the Rings" films and began pre-production, the studio cut the project to a single movie and gave Jackson 30 days to find another backer.

Given the gamble — spending hundreds of millions of dollars adapting a 1,000-page fantasy novel — there were few takers. "I think every studio passed on this," says "Lord of the Rings" producer Barrie Osborne.

Every studio, that is, but New Line Cinema, headed by Robert Shaye. He made the un-Hollywood decision to make three films, which carried a $270 million price tag.

"I think it's incredible and a very courageous act at New Line," Osborne says. "Bob Shaye I think would say that he was buoyed by the popularity of the (J.R.R. Tolkien) novels. They had sold over 100 million worldwide ... and you knew you had an audience that spanned generations that have read this book."

Jackson would film all three movies at once, working on a monster 274-day shooting schedule that began in late 1999. The beautiful terrain of his native New Zealand doubled for Tolkien's Middle-earth.

"The most difficult thing was to write the script, really," Jackson says, "taking this huge book that was regarded by most people as being unfilmable, and figuring out a way in which you can at least just simplify down to the basic story ... of Frodo and the ring."

The tale of Frodo, a hobbit entrusted with destroying the powerful but corrupting One Ring by traveling to a far-off land and casting it into a volcano, entranced audiences to say the least. The first two movies — "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) and "The Two Towers" (2002) — have earned nearly $1.8 billion worldwide, New Line Cinema says. "Return of the King" is projected to add another $1 billion.

Jackson, whose cherubic dimensions and distaste for shoes would almost allow him to pass for a hobbit, has done more than film the unfilmable. He has created his generation's "Star Wars" and "Wizard of Oz" all wrapped into one.

Discussing "The Lord of the Rings" phenomenon recently in Los Angeles, the unassuming director, previously known for smaller films such as "Heavenly Creatures" and "The Frighteners," seemed a bit shell-shocked, especially when asked about the movies' place in history.

"I'm just so close to it, we really just got it finished a couple of weeks ago," Jackson says. "And I'm still shattered from the experience of the last few months, because it was so tough. This one was hard ... it was so complicated. I'm just trying to lick my wounds and recover." Others were not so reticent, ranking "The Lord of the Rings" as the finest fantasy epic of all time.

"I don't think it's got a challenger, really," says Ian McKellen, the British actor who plays the wizard Gandalf, who in "Return of the King" marshals the human defenses for one great stand against the overwhelming forces of the story's chief villain, Sauron.

"It's an unbelievable achievement," McKellen says, "and wouldn't be remarkable of course if nobody had enjoyed it, but the fact is that it's been enjoyed in enormous numbers. So, it's not only huge in its ambition but the response has matched the achievement." Adds John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli the dwarf: "Very early on, I realized this was the real thing. ... I do not expect to be on a greater show in my lifetime."

Although the release schedule has been set for three years, Jackson tinkered with each installment right up until the last minute. While sequences involving actors were filmed in advance, the computer effects were added later. As a result, he was still designing the boats that arrive at Osgiliath carrying the army of the dead, just three weeks before the final cut was locked.

While this is filmmaking on a huge scale, the smaller scenes receive equal attention from Jackson.

"He still has the ability to draw back to the intimate," Taylor says. "You're watching these massive battles, but you never lose sight or lose connection with the intimate stories that are trailing through these battles, through these vast landscapes. You still love and know the characters because he keeps you alongside them." Some might identify with the characters, while others are drawn to the movie's themes, which center on the age-old conflict between good and evil.

"I think (Tolkien) probably achieved what he was trying to do," McKellen says, "which was to invent a myth."