Jackson joins the big league

By JULIE MIDDLETON

The king of the hobbits, Peter Jackson, has flown into the same film-making league as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

And he will be able to direct pretty much any project he wants to as long as they continue to make millions, says Ruth Harley, head of the Film Commission, which wholly funded Jackson's early films such as Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles.

Cinema owner and film commission chairman Barry Everard says Jackson is "on a par with producers and directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

"He's in the stratosphere. He would be one of the most bankable directors in the world."

Film commission deputy head Mladen Ivancic says Jackson now has "Hollywood where he wants it - he can pick and choose projects. He's in a very enviable position."

Proof of that, he says, is Universal Studios' payout of a $34m fee for Jackson and two producers to remake the animation classic King Kong.

Speaking from Los Angeles, where she is attending a film fair and has seen the Oscar hype close up, Dr Harley says that the 11 awards given to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King add even more clout to an already highly marketable international film-maker.

His future is "whatever he feels like", she says.

So far, that has been consciously making films in New Zealand, where the production companies Jackson owns or co-owns include Park Road Post, Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. He also is part of a joint venture building a sound stage in Wellington.

But Dr Harley says The Return of the King's Oscar sweep doesn't spell blank, no-strings-attached cheques.

"Financial discipline is something [powerful overseas] studios are keen on. The people providing the money want to get their money back, and a bit on top."

She sees Jackson being accorded "an enormous amount of creative freedom" over his movies, something not guaranteed in the highly political, interference-prone world of American film-making.

Jackson's success also will attract more overseas film-makers to work here: "The distance gives [us studios] a sense of risk, because they can't lean over and watch what's going on," Dr Harley says. "But Peter's Oscars will help [overcome] that."

Also, "Peter will want through-put for his facilities as he won't be able to provide it all. When he's shooting, there won't necessarily be much going on in his post-production facilities. His Oscars will give the studios and other people increased confidence that there's no great risk leaving American shores and coming down to New Zealand."

As for marketing New Zealand films overseas - Dr Harley was selling five New Zealand features at the American Film Market - Jackson's Oscar scoop means "everybody will take our calls. It's given New Zealand film-making a gigantic leg-up."