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the return of the king
Hail to The King: Peter Jackson and his actors
Often thought of as a visionary who spends most of his time working with models and special effects, The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson also has a pretty strong track record with actors. Indeed, his first major international success was with the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, which had no models, no special effects, no CGI - just two extremely sensitive performances.
Creatures, which won a Silver Lion in Venice and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for Jackson and Walsh, also marked the big-screen debut of an 18-year-old actress called Kate Winslet.
On The Lord of the Rings, as well as spending pre- production time with the staff of Weta Digital, Jackson also had a three-month rehearsal period with his principal actors and other members of the trilogy’s 114-strong cast of speaking roles.
“Peter approaches actors as individuals,” says Billy Boyd, who plays Pippin. “He gets to know us, especially in these movies, because he has known us for such a long time, and knows how to get the best performance out of every actor, individually. I think because he has acted as well, he knows where acting comes from and how to tap into that. He’s definitely one of the best actor directors I’ve ever worked with.”
David Wenham, who plays Faramir, agrees. “Pete is blessed with being a great storyteller,” he says. “He’s fiercely intelligent, incredibly creative, sensitive and modest. He embodies all the factors that come out of The Lord of the Rings as a director and as a human being. Working with actors, he’s totally thorough, and that gives you a great sense of trust in him as a director.”
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN
OF THE KING
New Line Cinema presents a Wingnut Films production
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Prod: Barrie M Osborne, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson; Exec prod: Robert Shaye, Michael Lynne, Mark Ordesky; Co-prod: Rick Porras, Jamie Selkirk; Dir: Peter Jackson; Scr: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, based on the books by JRR Tolkien; Ph: Andrew Lesnie; Prod des: Grant Major; Cost des: Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor; Vis f/x super: Jim Rygiel; Ed: Jamie Selkirk; Casting: John Hubbard, Amy McLean (UK); Victoria Burrows (US); Liz Mullane (New Zealand); Ann Robinson (Australia); Mus: Howard Shore.
With (in alphabetical order) Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee, aka Sam), Sean Bean (Boromir), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Billy Boyd (Peregrin Took, aka Pippin), Marton Csokas (Celeborn), Bernard Hill (Théoden), Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc Brandybuck, aka Merry), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), John Noble (Denethor), Miranda Otto (Eowyn), John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), Andy Serkis (Gollum), Liv Tyler (Arwen), Karl Urban (Eomer), Hugo Weaving (Elrond), David Wenham (Faramir), Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins).
International distribution: New Line International.
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