“I could have directed it, but I thought, I’ve done that,” said Peter Jackson today at his Cannes Film Festival Rendez-Vous about why he’s sitting out as director on Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum.
“It would be more interesting with this particular story –which takes place between Hobbit and Lord of the Rings — if Andy Serkis directed it,” said the 3x Oscar winner who picked up an honorary Palme d’Or last night.
Then teasing the new film, Jackson said, “It’s an internal story about Gollum’s psychology and addiction. It’s a personal story to Gollum. Andy knows this guy better than anybody. I didn’t think about me. The more exiting version of this movie is if Any Serkis made it.”
“I’m leaving it to him. I’m here to help where I can. But I don’t interfere. I’ve given him as much freedom as I can,” said Jackson who is a producer on the new New Line project which hits theaters on Dec. 17, 2027.
Jackson also said he’s writing a new Tintin. “I’ve been working with Fran on a new Tintin script.” In fact, he was literally working on the script while here at Cannes.
“The deal was Steven (Spielberg) directs one, and I direct another,” said the filmmaker who produced the 2011 movie.
Jackson also hopes to make a movie about the Dambusters Raid, which was an attack on German dams by the Royal Air Force carried out on the night of May 16, 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command. Jackson originally was looking to do this movie before he had to commit to The Hobbit after Guillermo del Toro’s departure.
The director explained that del Toro really was supposed to direct The Hobbit films. Del Toro worked for seven months in New Zealand prepping The Hobbit, however Warner Bros hadn’t greenlight the project. The studio was holding it up, asking for further drafts. Per Jackson, del Toro opted to move on and make other movies rather than wait.
Jackson explained that the whole notion of Serkis playing a motion capture version of Gollum simply evolved during production of Lord of the Rings. Originally, the actor was called to the New Zealand set as his presence with the voice was required to play off Sean Astin and Elijah Wood’s acting as Sam and Frodo Baggins. Originally, the plan was for Gollum to be animated with Serkis providing the voice. Given how Serkis was providing an eye-line for the actors, it was decided to use motion capture technology.
Asked by French film journalist Didier Allouch whether the Academy Awards would ever laud a motion-capture performance, Jackson signed, “I don’t think it will happen, not in the current environment.”
“Everyone is getting worried about AI. Gollum isn’t AI. He’s a motion-captured performance.”
“I don’t think any artificial character or generated character has hope of winning awards. It’s a bit unfair. In the Andy Serkis case, it’s not AI generated, it’s a human-generated performance.”
