Harvey Weinstein's threat to replace Peter Jackson with Quentin Tarantino on Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings could've been drastically different to the one we know and love. Photo / Supplied

Lord of the Rings was nearly directed by Quentin Tarantino after a disagreement between disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein and Kiwi director Peter Jackson.

According to a new book - "Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson & The Making of Middle-Earth", by British film writer Ian Nathan - Weinstein threatened to have Jackson replaced if he didn't turn Lord of the Rings into a single two-hour film.

Weinstein thought Jackson had "wasted" US$12m developing a two-movie script, and according to a producer on the project, Ken Kamins; "Harvey was like, 'you're either doing this or you're not. You're out'. And I got Quentin ready to direct it."

Jackson later received a memo from Miramax head of development which detailed "a more radical, streamlined approach" to the story which would enable it to be told in one film.

Harvey Weinstein and Peter Jackson pictured at the 2004 BAFTA Awards. Photo / Getty Images

It would also drastically change storylines and character arcs, and skip over vital scenes from the books - "It was literally guaranteed to disappoint every single person that has read that book," Jackson said.

In the end, Jackson decided: "We'd rather have our lives and do our films and not deal with all this crap anymore. Tell Harvey to go ahead and make his film and good luck."

Luckily, however, Katims eventually persuaded Weinstein to allow them to try and sell their treatment to someone else.

The films ended up with New Line Cinema instead and the rest is Kiwi film industry history.