80+ Peter Jackson Quotes (Fantasy, Epic And Visionary)

Peter Jackson is a New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as the Hobbit trilogy, and the Academy Award-winning drama, The King's Speech. He also directed the remake of King Kong and the cult classic, Dead Alive.

Top 10 Peter Jackson Quotes

1. One does not simply walk into Mordor.
2. The big-budget blockbuster is becoming one of the most dependable forms of filmmaking.
3. Remember, pain is temporary; film is forever.
4. If you work at love, you will find love at work.
5. Everybody's life has these moments, where one thing leads to another. Some are big and obvious and some are small and seemingly insignificant.
6. Filmmaking for me is always aiming for the imaginary movie and never achieving it.
7. Every film is a challenge. I always say that making a movie is like film school - you're always learning. But unlike most schools, you never get done with it. You never learn everything.
8. Rivalry doesn't help anybody.
9. What I don't like are pompous, pretentious movies.
10. I find that in the process of making a film you're constantly discovering things that you never even imagined would work at the beginning.

Peter Jackson Short Quotes

• I was bullied and regarded as little bit of an oddball myself.
• Defeat is always momentary.
• The vast majority of the CGI budget is labor.
• The only thing about 3-D is the dullness of the image.
• New Zealand is not a small country but a large village.
• As a filmmaker, you are going to manipulate the character as you need to make the scenes work.
• I mean, I didn't have a huge upbringing with movies, I guess.
• I just got to the point where I literally didn't want anyone else to do it.
• I think there's still a little bit of that 9 year-old in me and I'm pretty happy.
• Film is such a powerful medium. It's like a weapon and I think you have a duty to self-censor.

Peter Jackson Famous Quotes And Sayings

Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay small acts of kindness and love. — Peter Jackson

I don’t really like the Hollywood blockbuster bandwagon that exists right now. The industry and the advent of all the technology, has kind of lost its way. It’s become very franchise driven and superhero driven. — Peter Jackson

When I start a film, I can sort of shut my eyes, sit somewhere quiet and imagine the movie finished. I can imagine the camera angles, I can even imagine the type of music. Without knowing the tune, I can imagine the type of music it needs to be. — Peter Jackson

A pregnant woman is like a beautiful flowering tree, but take care when it comes time for the harvest that you do not shake or bruise the tree, for in doing so, you may harm both the tree and its fruit. — Peter Jackson

Two of the actors, Sean Bean and Orlando Bloom, have been caught between two landslides and are now trapped in a tiny town in the middle of the South Island. They have been taken in by a kindly woman who has offered them food and a bed. They were last reported to be cooking spaghetti and cracking into a bottle of red wine. — Peter Jackson

What I love about films is that you can see "King Kong" and you can be affected by it and then you realize that he was just this little guy when he made that fall. — Peter Jackson

I find that in the process of making a film you're constantly discovering things that you never even imagined would work at the beginning. Actors come into the film and do things you never even imagined. Production designers come in, the director of photography lights it in a way that you never imagined. So, it's always evolving, always exciting. — Peter Jackson

And so I look back on not just the last ten years but everything that I've done as being sort of an ongoing growing continual film school. I mean I don't think I've got to a point where I've achieved anything that feels like, a particular milestone, but there's still a lot more to learn and hopefully a lot more films to make. — Peter Jackson

To get an Oscar would be an incredible moment in my career, there is no doubt about that. But the 'Lord of the Rings' films are not made for Oscars, they are made for the audience. — Peter Jackson

One of the first movies I ever saw was 'Batman,' based on the TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward. — Peter Jackson

I think that George Lucas' 'Star Wars' films are fantastic. What he's done, which I admire, is he has taken all the money and profit from those films and poured it into developing digital sound and surround sound, which we are using today. — Peter Jackson

No matter how many great performances or exciting visuals we put together for the movie, we found that it was all somewhat two dimensional until we added the emotional heart of Howard Shore's music. Then, and only then, did the film come to life. — Peter Jackson

Structure is important in film, but there's often structure to be found in the most unlikely of places! It's quite possible to build a structured story and retain idiosyncrasy. — Peter Jackson

No film has captivated my imagination more than 'King Kong.' I'm making movies today because I saw this film when I was 9 years old. — Peter Jackson

It's all about his determination. You never, ever, give up once you start something, once you're on the trail of something you don't stop and that's what you have to go through when you're making a movie too. Once the train's rolling, you have to stick with it. — Peter Jackson

There's a generation of children who don't like black and white movies. There's a level of impatience or intolerance. — Peter Jackson

To people in my industry I'm usually a guy that tries to generate his own projects and I remain very elusive when people try and attach me to big projects. — Peter Jackson

Elijah can register such subtle emotion on his face that I loved doing close-ups on him. He really brings a superb emotional level to Frodo's scenes and although he is a very instinctive actor, we discussed the character thoroughly. — Peter Jackson

Writing a screen play with a group of collaborators is like the Lennon McCartney collaboration .... sometimes one or two people do more than others on certain parts of the process and vice versa. — Peter Jackson

He who must search a haystack for a needle is likely to end up with the attitude that the needle is not worth the search. — Peter Jackson

I want to make a series of movies that run together, so if any crazy lunatic wants to watch them all in a row, there will be a consistency of tone. — Peter Jackson

I am a big Dragon fan. I've said it before- And I was fortunate enough to be born a Dragon in the Chinese Horocope. — Peter Jackson

Everything is in a script for a reason, and only by being part of a writing team (or writing it yourself), do you really understand the intention of every beat. — Peter Jackson

You shouldn't think of these movies as being 'The Lord of the Rings.' The Lord of the Rings is, and always will be, a wonderful book - one of the greatest ever written. Any films will only ever be an INTERPRETATION of the book. In this case my interpretation. — Peter Jackson

With the right movie, 3D can enhance the experience. Absolutely, it can make a good film a great film. It can make a great film a really amazing film to see . — Peter Jackson

People call Kong "a monster." He's not. There's nothing evil about Kong. He's just another creature who has opened up a little bit of his heart to Ann and it proves to be his undoing. — Peter Jackson

Fantasy is an 'F' word that hopefully the five second delay won't do anything with. — Peter Jackson

For a lot of my childhood, I didn't want to direct movies because I didn't really know what directing was. — Peter Jackson

Aragorn: Gentlemen! We do not stop 'til nightfall. Pippin: But what about breakfast? Aragorn: You've already had it. Pippin: We've had one, yes. But what about second breakfast? [Aragorn stares at him, then walks off.] Merry: Don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip. Pippin: What about elevensies? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he? Merry: I wouldn't count on it Pip. — Peter Jackson

I don't believe in the concept that 3D should be shot separately. I mean, every director has their own style, sure, but I don't think any of that is really an issue with 3D. — Peter Jackson

I adore physical miniatures and try to use them as much as I can and have a bit of a fetish about that. — Peter Jackson

I think 3D at 24 frames is interesting, but it's the 48 that actually allows 3D to achieve the potential that it can achieve, because it's less eye strain and you have a sharper picture which creates more of a 3-dimensional world. — Peter Jackson

There's something incredibly tragic about Kong. You feel almost feel ashamed to be a human being when you see what happens to him. I mean he is ultimately a pure-heart. — Peter Jackson

I think that you can treat a classic like a museum piece -stuffed and mounted- or you can make it a living, breathing narrative that is unfolding right then and there. — Peter Jackson

I regard myself as an entertainer much more than an artist. — Peter Jackson

I regard myself as being the final filter so everything that ends up in the movie is there because it's something that I think was cool. — Peter Jackson

Actors will never be replaced. The thought that somehow a computer version of a character is going to be something people prefer to look at is a ludicrous idea. — Peter Jackson

When you're directing, you're right at the coal face, always exhausted, often emotional - and I'll enjoy being a couple of steps back from that and simply helping where I can. — Peter Jackson

When you're casting a movie and when you're shooting a film, the eyes are the most important feature of any performer, really. Any great actor literally knows exactly how to use their eyes, and even as a filmmaker I love shooting huge close-ups because it's those eyes that mean so much to me. — Peter Jackson

I think that's the job of a director really, to sort of funnel all the creativity into one centralized point of being. — Peter Jackson

In an ideal world the script is written lean and tight and therefore there are no scenes left on the cuttring room floor and therefore no extended edition. — Peter Jackson

Most directors prefer to direct everything themselves. I thought I could on Lord Of The Rings, but very quickly found out that the sheer scale prevented it. — Peter Jackson

The one thing with 3D presentations is I think that 3D itself, whether it's 24 or 48, is at a very interesting point in time. — Peter Jackson

I didn't want my kids having to pass through an airport named after their father. — Peter Jackson

I don't like putting glasses on and watching 3D. I don't mind wearing glasses, but it's the dimness of the light and the fact that you're filtering the light. Whatever 3D process is being used is a filtration of light, which means it's blocking some of the light. — Peter Jackson

Motion-capture is not a genre. Motion-capture is a tool and technique and what we tried to do was to really use both motion-capture and traditional animation to build a system. — Peter Jackson

The director has to win, because you should never force a director to shoot something they don't believe in. — Peter Jackson

[While shooting close-ups] you study real eyes, you study how the light reflects in them, you study the back of the eye, you study the way irises reflect emotion. You go into great scientific detail. — Peter Jackson

I wanted people to believe that there could still be this little undiscovered piece of the world that survives still on Skull Island. — Peter Jackson

I'm a Beatles fan, and I remember in the mid-1980s, when CDs first came out, there was a sound of vinyl and the sound of the needle on it that people loved, and suddenly CDs were threatening. — Peter Jackson

So many film makers are scared of visual effects - which is no crime. — Peter Jackson

New Zealand is not used to wealth. In America wealth is kind of a thing of pride. Here it's the opposite. The more you've got, the bigger the target you are. — Peter Jackson

To his ex-wife in court, he said I lost interest in you when the Botox lost its effect and you looked like a plastic doll that escaped from a fire. — Peter Jackson

As human beings, we always have resistance against things that are different and there's always suspicion. — Peter Jackson

To me, fantasy should be as real as possible. I don't buy into the notion that because it's fantastic, it should be unrealistic, because I think you have to have a sense of believing the world that you're going into. — Peter Jackson

I want to make movies just like "King Kong." You know, dinosaurs, big gorillas - it's everything that a nine year-old boy would fall in love with. — Peter Jackson

There's no real rules about what you do [while directing]; it's just you just use your instincts as to the pacing of a film and what is repetitive and what is the minimum amount you can get away with to tell the story, that scene didn't make it in. — Peter Jackson

The music in a film like this is as critical as anything because Kong is mute. He doesn't talk. — Peter Jackson

It's interesting how the frame rate actually changes the perception of the 3D as well as making it more comfortable to watch. — Peter Jackson

What is the truth is that every one of my films is a film that I'd love to go see, and I think that's very important because I always think it's a mistake to make movies for other people, or to make them for a demographic, or try to second guess an audience. — Peter Jackson

Life Lessons by Peter Jackson

1. Peter Jackson's work demonstrates the power of perseverance and hard work; he worked for years to achieve success, and his dedication has paid off.
2. His films also show that it is possible to create something unique and special, even when working with limited resources.
3. Finally, Jackson's films demonstrate that it is possible to take risks and push boundaries in order to create something truly remarkable.