Chatterbox: Jackson's ones that got away

The unauthorised biography Peter Jackson - From Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings arrived on the Chatterbox desk with an imposing thump the other day. And having overdosed on a certain movie premiere this week, we weren't quite up to getting to grips just yet with Wellington journalist Ian Pryor's thorough and painstaking work on the life and times of our greatest living director.

But our quick-flick test did turn up something interesting in the appendix (yes, even biographies of former splatter-flick directors have internal organs). In a section titled "Movies as Yet Unmade" Pryor lists the Jackson movies that never were, or haven't yet been made. They include ...

As Nature Made Him: A script based on the non-fiction book As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl, about David Reimer whose childhood was spent living as a girl after a botched circumcision as a baby.

Bad Taste 2: A script for a sequel to his breakthrough debut was developed in the late 80s/early 90s.

The Black Max: Based on a comic strip about a villainous World War I German fighter pilot.

Blubberhead: A fantasy story developed in the early 90s, described by Pryor as the missing link between his early bad-taste cycle and The Lord of the Rings.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon: In 1995 Universal offered him the chance of remaking the 50s horror. Jackson passed and the studio offered him King Kong instead.

Invasion of Privacy: A German producer offered Jackson this drama/thriller script about a pregnant woman held hostage by her ex-boyfriend. Jackson turned it down.

Jamboree: Possibly the code word for the films that were to become The Lord of the Rings.

Jean Batten: Jackson took an option on the biography of the famous New Zealand aviatrix, Jean Batten: Garbo of the Skies.

Johnny Zombie: Little-seen Hollywood zombie comedy flick eventually titled My Boyfriend's Back, which Jackson turned down.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Jackson's first Hollywood cheque was for a script he and Danny Mulheron wrote for the deathless horror series which never saw the light of day.

No Tolkien gesture

Meanwhile, Peter Jackson claims his plans for an official Lord of the Rings museum in Wellington have been blocked by J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher, guardian of the Tolkien estate and longtime opponent of any film project based on the trilogy. Jackson told the Australian newspaper that his backers, New Line, "don't have the legal authority to allow [the museum] to happen. That's kept by the Tolkien estate [who have] so far refused".

At least it's work

Burt Reynolds' diary is filled with film projects whose titles are cliches. The veteran silver-haired star was here recently filming Without a Paddle, a comedy about three city friends whose backblocks sojourn goes bad. Now he heads to southern Indiana for a US$3 million ($4.69 million) movie called Fish in a Barrel. This is the story of a poker game gone awry between two men with the same love interest.

Meanwhile, another Hollywood face has just skipped the country after starring in another locally made trilogy. Randy Quaid was here making Treasure Island Kids - The Monster of Treasure Island. Directed by Michael Hurst, Monster of Treasure Island, of course, follows Treasure Island Kids - The Battle of Treasure Island and will be followed by the finale Treasure Island Kids - The Mystery of Treasure Island. Quaid stars as a corporate high-flyer turned evil, deluded pirate. The movies are being made by New Zealand family flick specialist Daybreak Pacific.