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Peter Jackson Says He’ll Be Done With Blockbusters Post-Hobbit

There And Back Again

He’s not doing any more. Really. For real this time.

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Between the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit films, Peter Jackson has earned himself worldwide fame, bagged a best picture Oscar, and poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy of his native New Zealand. But in an interview with The New Zealand Herald, the director said that in the future he’d be steering away from the Hollywood big-time:

“We have got a few bits and pieces that we are working on, Fran [Walsh] and I. The things that we are most excited about are some New Zealand stories. We just want to step off the Hollywood blockbuster thing for a while and we’ve had a few New Zealand stories in line for a while that we think would make great films. The Heavenly Creatures mode really. But one thing has led to another and we have never had time. We’ve made a conscious decision that in the limited years we have left to make movies to tell some New Zealand stories.”

Goodbye, Middle Earth; hello, actual New Zealand. Making smaller films will definitely be a change after the epic, effects-laden Tolkien movies that Jackson has spent so many years on. Of course, there are still two more Hobbit films to be released before the job is done. What does Jackson think about the task ahead?

“In some respects in terms of my remaining film-making career this was a five-year chunk that was kind of taken out of it unexpectedly. My future is five years less than I thought it was. I thought if I am going to do that I am actually going to enjoy it. I am going to have fun. Hopefully, that is reflected on the screen, too.”

Man, he’s really making it seem like there’s some giant, ticking clock hanging over his head counting down to when somebody will show up and say, “Sorry, you can’t make movies anymore.” You’re not that old, Mr. Jackson! Relax! Still, at least he’s not letting his worries about moving on keep him from continuing to infuse these films with his earnest love for the material.

After the Hobbit trilogy concludes, Jackson will be free to move in any artistic direction he likes, which must be a liberating thought after spending so much time tied to a single series. It makes sense, then, that’s he’s cramming as much of Tolkien’s universe as he possibly can into films based on what is, in reality, a pretty simple novel. This is the last hurrah for Peter Jackson in Middle Earth. It’s time to pull out all the stops.

Click through to Digital Spy for a video of Jackson and his New Zealand accent discussing the Hobbit series.

(via: Digital Spy)

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