Have you seen the animation movie version of The Lord Of The Rings ? To what extent was it an inspiration source for you ?

Peter Jackson : I saw the movie when it came out. I hadn't read the books when I saw it. It was interesting enough to lead me in to reading the books. That was the moment. I read the books when I was around 18 years old. But I really haven't taken any visual element from that animation movie. There is, obviously, a very different style. We've worked the same book, there are certain similarities. But there wasn't anything of particular utility for me, of what I've seen in that animation. We had our own drawers. In today's context, that is a movie very typical of the 70's, that's my biggest critique (to it). But at the time, I liked it enough to go read the books. I'm thankful to it for that.

What was your greatest concern, when you embraced this project ?

PJ : The hardest thing was the writing of a script. Once the script was written, it wasn't as difficult as it seemed at first. We worked on the script for three years. At the same time, there was also people working on the drawings, developing computers, picking up shooting locations. As in any movie, it was like building a house, no matter how daring it might be. When you have the place and you decide to build the house there, you've got to have an architect to do the project. After the project is ready, the rest is very practical.

You just need to contract the right persons to raise the building from the ground. As long as you don't have the project, there is nothing you can do. In a movie, when you have the script, you're half way through to the final product.

In this case you weren't building one house, but three at the same time.

PJ : True. I think that it's something that you apply to any book adaptation, with Tolkien being the ultimate example, if there is one word to describe it, it is simplification.

It's all about that, to simplify. More than cutting or changing things. In any movie, being it an original story or an adaptation, you always start by the spinal cord of the story. It is the main plot that propels the movie, around which everything else comes together. With Lord Of The Rings it was simple, because that's obviously Frodo and the Ring. Frodo and his journey carrying the Ring, what the Ring does to Frodo, what the Ring does to other people, how Frodo reacts to the Ring and to the others affected by the Ring. It's all about Frodo carrying the Ring. That was clearly the spinal cord of the book. If there were events, characters or sub-plots, and there were many, that weren't in direct association with that spinal cord, we had to give it a lot of thought, whether it should be kept or not in the movie. Because the movie would have to have that simplicity that I've been talking about.

Weren't you afraid of what the millions of fans of Tolkien's books would think ?

PJ : Reality was that I also had an equal level of pressure and responsibility towards the two thirds of people that would be seeing the movie and had never read the books, and knew nothing about Tolkien. I also had the responsibility of making a movie that could be seen and appreciated by those who knew nothing about The Lord Of The Rings. The fans know the story, they know what will happen next. I wanted that those who didn't know the books to have the wonderful experience of following the story, without knowing what would happen next.

Word is that, after each scene, you would go to the book, to see if it was like the original. Can you explain how did this process work ?

PJ : It wasn't always like that. We were always revising the script. We started the movie with a determined script, obviously, in a state that would allow us to start the shooting. But during the fifteen months of filming we constantly redid the script. We have this simple philosophy that nothing is perfect. I don't believe there is a perfect script, where nothing can be changed. If you have the time, there is always the possibility of improving something.

The book was always with us during the shoots, we were always reading it, not only about the things that we were shooting on that day, but also about scenes that were yet to come.

And the actors had the book with them as well. Every morning, we would start with a rehearsal. Usually, the first half an hour was spent waiting for everyone to arrive on location and then we would start rehearsing the scenes that we would shoot on that day. The actors would say their lines, we would look for the best camera angles. And, of course, Ian McKellen would always arrive with the book under his armpit. And I would say 'Oh my God, he's got the book, he's got the book'. He would always spend the previous night studying the scene he would be shooting on the following day. And then he would come saying, 'Peter, there is this magnificent line that Gandalf says in the book and that you haven't used in the script'. I would explain him that the scene was already too long as it was, or something like that, but he would always end up playing his scene so well that almost every time he would, in the end, persuade me to really put it in.

The book was then, a constant reference.

PJ : Very. Even from the visual point of view. There were, obviously, choices and compromises, narrative simplifications. There were characters cut off, things changed, there was a restructuring. But one thing that was elementary for us was the feeling that we wouldn't make concessions regarding the aspect of bringing life to the book, visually speaking. We wanted everything to look authentic, that people believed that we had really gone to Middle Earth to shoot. Even if the characters were saying different dialogs or a scene wasn't exactly as it was in the book.

We haven't made an exact copy of the book, word by word, but we've studied the book very carefully and tried to make everything as precise as possible.

Where did you take your inspiration from, for the visual conception of the sets ?

PJ : We've worked with some conceptual artists, like Alan Lee, that had made illustrations for Tolkien’s books in the past. Naturally, our artistic director, Grant Major, was also quite involved in that process. They were the inspiration sources. There really weren't others. They were the ones that determined the look of everything we see on screen.

Is it true that you feel a little like a hobbit yourself ?

PJ : Yes, I identify myself more with the hobbits than with any other character of the movie. I would like to be able to say that I identified myself more with any of the action heroes, but in fact I feel more like a hobbit.

Was there any concern about the movie's running time, about the fact that it lasts practically three hours ?

PJ : We had versions of the movie that were three hours and a half long. There are magnificent scenes that we shot but that aren't in the movie. For sure, the DVD version of this movie will be longer. But there isn't a rule about running time. Everyone has seen three hour-movies that seemed to them like hour and a half-movies and hour and a half-movies that seemed to have three hours. We have to follow our instincts and our intuition.

I would watch the movie, taking here, putting there. It's a very organic process. You keep watching and watching, and changing until you reach a point that feels like the right one. But there will always be people finding it too long and people finding it too short. We have to follow our instinct.

Can you explain the option for Howard Shore's music ?

PJ : We liked the idea of him not being known for doing this sort of movies. We figured that that way we could have a fresh and original score. He wouldn't give us the same kind of results like some composers would do, movie after movie. We were certain that he would present us with a different approach.

Are you nervous, now that the movie will come out, or do you still keep your everyday calmness ?

PJ : I'm happy that the movie has received such good reviews. There were already very good reviews in the US, which helped me to smooth my nerves. I felt an enormous responsibility for the risk New Line took, because it was the first time that a company supported three movies simultaneously without premiering a single one. It is literally one of the biggest risks that was ever taken. It's magnificent. Hollywood doesn't take changes any longer and movies reflect that in a certain way.

Hollywood is run by big corporations, the big producers of once are gone now. But New Line's producers are movies people as well and they decide to take that risk. It's wonderful that they've done it.

I tried to do the best movie I could. My part in the all process was to try to relive them of as many risks as I could. It will be a very reliving sensation for me if this movie does well, because that will allow me to do the other two without that feeling of risk. And I'm also relieved with the fact of people finally get to see this movie, because it's been three years of spying, rumours and gossip. It will at last have its identity as a movie, and not only as an Internet phenomenon.

After making the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, is there a chance of you going back in to making movies like Braindead ?

PJ : I'm the one brain dead now ! But I have an idea for one more horror movie.

Do you know already what you'll be doing next ?

PJ : The other two Lord Of The Rings movies.

Source : À conversa com os Senhores dos Anéis, by João Antunes.