Arise, Sir Peter of Middle Earth Lord of the Rings maker Peter Jackson has been knighted in his native New Zealand, the BBC reports. The honour comes as the country reinstates knighthoods following their abolition back in 2000. Sir Peter, already made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit back in 2002, has "continued to excel in and significantly …
I'll agree that Patrick Stewart is a prolific actor. For most he's only going to be known as Captain Jean Luc Pickard but he is also a renowned shakesperean actor. Whether he really merits a knighthood is very much open to debate.
On the other hand, he is a well known friend of Gordon Brown's (one of the last of the very few). I heard weeks ago that "Sir Patrick" was a done deal.
Poncing around with blokes in make-up; driving a car round in a circle; practicing the principles of CYA while blokes under you shoot innocent Brazillians - seems to me it's more difficult NOT to get nominated for some gong or other. Think I'll save up and buy one. What's the going rate for donations to secure a knighthood now?
The Lord of the Rings has received a Knighthood in the New Years' Honours List, it was reported today.
Sauron, 1432, was honoured for his 'contribution to multiculturalism' following his groundbreaking campaign to join together the disparate races in Middle Earth under a single unity government. His environmental work to reintroduce the previously-extinct Orc back to the Hobbiton region of The Shire.
Mr Sauron's publicist, S Aruman of Wizard PR, said, "the Dark Lord Sauron is delighted by the knighthood, and disappointed that he will not be there in corporeal form to accept the honour. He is gratified that his unending campaign to bring unity Government to Middle Earth has been recognised - in all honesty, he was hoping for some sort of honour this year, he's had his Eye on it for some time now."
Also honoured in this year's list were aging rockers Status Quo, who both received the OBE with 12 bars, and Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart, who received a Knighthood. When asked how he would like to be addressed in future, the former Star Trek actor said, "Make it Sir".
He has not only made other films, he has created jobs, an industry, the biggest server farm in the Southern Hemisphere and other film makers in NZ have been given a start because of him and his colleagues.
The Trilogy also aided NZ income through tourism
That is why he got the gong.
I had the misfortune to watch much of PJ's King Kong a couple of weeks ago. Whilst technically and visually a stunning achievement, it's just WAY TOO F-ING LONG! Someone really - like REALLY - needs to teach the guy about cutting material from his movies.
So Pete, please do us all a favour and use your shiny new knightly sword to slash the forthcoming Hobbit flick(s) into a sensible shape, eh??
(or even after, according to rumours about Kong)
Bad Taste, Braindead (in the rebel colonies, 'Dead Alive'), Meet the Feebles, The Frighteners were Pete's Pre-Rings masterpieces.
'The One with the Sheep'? I think you are thinking of 2007's "Black Sheep"? That was Jonathan King, not Pete. On the other hand, there was a big Weta involvement, so, close enough, I suppose.
...was of course Bad Taste. One of my favourite movies of all time, and I don't even like Horror/Spatter films.
Chaotic, amatuerish, gross....oh yes.
but a real labour of love, evident in every frame. Even my mum laughed when Derek was trying to keep bits of his brain from falling out!
The chase scene with the Morris Minor is worth a knighthood on it's own.
You are all forgetting PJ's "Heavenly Creatures" which launched Kate Winslet's career.
Also "District 9" was produced by PJ, consequently all the CGI (including every single alien in the movie, except those dead ones on the operating table) was created in Wellington, NZ.
As for the claims of LoTR being rubbish - even if you overlook the amazing technical feat of three movies being shot all at the same time and the pioneering CGI techniques (Gollum, massive) that made George Lucas look like the chump he is, there was still good merit in those movies. What's with all the haters? All your new year cheer dissipated already?
What's the *technical* feat of making three films back to back? Surely it's far easier than making them individually since all the extras, costumes, sets, and indeed stars are there for the whole shoot rather than having to be reassembled each time? It may be a logistical feat, but it isn't a technical one and it isn't one that Jackson had any part in.
As to why the LotR hate: he made a mess of it. He missed out some of the best bits and put in absolutely rubbish bits of his own devising. The first film was embarrassingly bad and the second one just plain poor; I never bothered with the third one but I'm sure it was as crap as the first two.
CGI is irrelevant if the movie's no good. For that matter, the technology for Gollum was in use by Rory Bremner years before LotR; it was just a matter of waiting for graphics chips to catch up to cinema resolutions. Last time I looked, Jackson wasn't a chip designer (any more than he's a film director).
I think they were referring to the scene when a sheep is blown up by an RPG launcher. Google "Bad taste b-movies" and you should find a site that will stream it for free.
I watched Brain Dead (or "Dead Alive") during its original theatrical release in NZ and by 30 mins in, the two women who had accompanied me were in the theatre toilets throwing up (when the old lady starts eating her ear after it dropped into the custard was what did for them in the end).
Full credit to pete jackson, he could have buggered off to LA and made squillions, but he is spreading the wealth (both money and knowledge) in NZ instead, and creating an infrastructure. He is also collecting real WWII planes and keeping them in a hanger in Blenheim which gives him more combat power that the current NZ Air Force.
If you want to complain about high awards for seemingly short term effort, start taking Kelly Holmes and Chris Hoy to task before have a pop at the antipodeans! Steve Redgrave did it 4 times before he got his.
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