Peter Jackson Reflects: No Nostalgia for The Lord of the Rings Production

Peter Jackson, the visionary behind the Lord of the Rings films of the early 2000s, remains rightfully proud of his work on the wildly popular fantasy series, but that doesn't mean he's nostalgic for all the effort it took to create the movies. The franchise made nearly $3 billion at the box office, and cemented Jackson as one of the few filmmakers skilled enough to adapt J. R. R. Tolkien's mammoth books. Needless to say, it was an "overwhelming" trek, and arguably the most difficult project Jackson's ever worked on. Jackson recently sat down to chat with Empire Magazine to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first Lord of the Rings film's release in 2001. While the trilogy was certainly a life-changing journey – one that earned him an Academy Award for Best Director – Jackson isn't sure whether he could pull it off all over again today. Just as importantly, he doesn't really miss making them: "What the hell were we thinking? I mean, I would hesitate to even think that we could do anything like that now. It's almost overwhelming to think back on. I was younger, we were all younger, and enthusiastic and naive. "I don't miss those days. Because there's no point missing them; they came, and they went, and life goes on, and I've done quite a few things since. But I'm certainly proud of the films." Philippa Boyens, Jackson's longtime collaborator throughout the fantasy franchise and a co-writer on all the films (including the subsequent Hobbit series), weighed in and agreed with him. Although it always seemed like an ambitious journey to undertake, Boyens found the director to be reliable enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She added: "I thought I'd be lucky if I got maybe three months' work out of it. There were moments that he absolutely saw because that's how his brain works. You know, following Gandalf over the edge, fighting the Balrog." Making The Lord of the Rings wasn't easy for Jackson. Alongside his creative team, he fought for his passion project for years, until they found the right partner in New Line Cinema's Robert Shaye to bring his vision to the big screen. Starting in the late '90s, the crew behind The Lord of the Rings carefully took every detail into consideration. From the visual effects to the many literary layers of Tolkien's magnum opus, hundreds of details were part of Jackson's journey to faithfully adapt the fantasy books for the big screen. 'The Lord of the Rings' Journey Continues With 'The Hunt for Gollum' More than 20 years after Jackson released the original trilogy, and more than a decade after the follow-up Hobbit trilogy, The Lord of the Rings franchise is getting its first new live-action feature in years. Jackson is passing the torch to Gollum actor Andy Serkis to direct The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a film that, in theory, will follow what its title basically reveals.