In the first period of his career, he shot slasher films: Who is Peter Jackson?

The legendary director who brought the LOTR masterpiece to the world.

The famous director who refused to shoot Aquaman twice in a row.

He is a Doctor Who fan.

Peter Jackson, born in New Zealand on January 31, 1961, was the only child of the family. Jackson, who has been interested in movies since a young age, started shooting short films with the 8mm camera his parents gave him for New Year's Eve. Although he did not have professional training in cinema, he improved himself since his adolescence.

Jackson, who shot slasher films in the early part of his career, made his first film, Bad Taste, in 1987. He received his first Academy Award nomination for 1994's Heavenly Creatures.

The director, who has been a fan of JRR Tolkien since his childhood, bought the publishing rights to the book and transferred the series to the big screen. He has an Oscar he received thanks to this series.

Who is Peter Jackson?

His parents immigrated to New Zealand from England. His father was an accountant and his mother was a factory worker. When he was only 8 years old, his family bought him an 8 mm. He started shooting his first short film with the camera. At the age of 9, he remade King Kong using stop-motion models he had. During his youth, he participated in a local competition organized to encourage children's films with the short films he made amateurishly.

Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) and the Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama Heavenly Creatures (1994), the horror comedy The Frighteners (1996), the epic monster remake film King Kong (2005), the World War I documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) and the documentary The Beatles: Get Back (2021). He is the fourth-highest-grossing film director of all-time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide.

When he was 15, he shot a 20-minute short film called The Valley with his friends. However, he could not obtain a degree. Jackson had no serious training in filmmaking. He taught himself subjects such as editing, special effects, and make-up. After completing high school, Jackson started working as a photo retoucher at the Evening Post newspaper in Wellington. Later, on his way home from work one day, he bought a Bolex brand 16 mm camera that he saw in the shop window. He finished his first film, Bad Taste, in 1987. Jackson both directed and produced the film. He also played several characters himself.

It took Jackson and his friends four years to complete the film. The film was later shown at the Cannes Film Festival and received very positive reviews. The success of "Bad Taste" made Peter Jackson known in the world of cinema. After making "Meet the Feebles", a comedy/musical work in 1989, he stepped into the field of horror films with his first professional film, "Braindead", which he shot in 1992. Peter Jackson and his friends took a script lesson from Robert McKee before starting the shooting of Braindead.

In 1993, Jackson founded the company Weta Digital, collaborating with Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk for the digital special effects of the film Heavenly Creatures. He later founded his company's divisions: Weta Workshop, Weta Productions, Weta Collectibles, and Park Road Post Production. On September 27, 2007, it partnered with Microsoft Game Studios to establish a new game studio called Wingnut Interactive.

Jackson, who co-wrote the script of "Jack Brown Genious" with Tony Hills in 1994, was the screenwriter and director of the movie "Heavenly Creatures" in the same year, which is about a murder that terrified a nation. This film was first shown at the Venice Film Festival. The film was highly praised by critics. Jackson received the Best Director Award at the Venice Festival with this film. In 1996, he shot the comedy film "Forgotten Silver", which he wrote and directed with Costa Botes. Then he went behind the camera for the horror/comedy movie "The Frighteners" starring Michael J. Fox.

Peter Jackson remained silent for a long time after these films. Later, he took on the task of adapting John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's world-famous novel "The Lord of the Rings" to the big screen. The movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", which was released on December 1, 2003, grossed $1,119,110,941 worldwide. In addition, the production; won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Songs, Visual Effects, Art Direction, Costumes, Make-up, Sound Mixing, and Film Editing.

In 2005, he undertook the remake of the 1933 movie King Kong, whose special effects were prepared by his own company, Weta Digital. The film grossed $550,517,357 worldwide. King Kong, which was nominated for an Academy Award in the categories of Best Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Art Direction, won all the categories it was nominated for except Art Direction. He later shot the films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Peter Jackson appeared in some minor roles in his own films and those of his friends. He plays the undertaker's assistant in Braindead, the street tramp in Heavenly Creatures, the man who hits Frank Bannister in Ghosts, Albert Dreary in The Fellowship of the Ring, a spear-throwing defender in The Two Towers, the captain on a pirate ship in The Return of the King. He played the crew, one of Kong's thieves in King Kong, and a crazy Santa Claus in Tight Cops.

Jackson, who is also involved in various charity activities, donated 500,000 New Zealand dollars to Cell Research in 2006. In 2007, he bought a church in Wellington for approximately $10 million to save it from demolition.

In 2005, he was named the 7th Best Director of All Time by Empire magazine in England. Additionally, in 2005, he was ranked #1 in the cinema magazine Premiere's annual list of the 50 Most Powerful People.

Peter Jackson has been living together with screenwriter Fran Walsh, whom he met during the shooting of the movie Bad Taste, since 1987. From this union, he had two children named Katie and Billy. Jackson wrote the scripts of all the films he directed together with his wife.