Master of All Surveyed

“Watching on a monitor, tucked out of sight [on the set of The Hobbit], is Peter Jackson, the magician of Middle Earth,” Kim Masters writes for The Hollywood Reporter. “He had to overcome many reservations and obstacles before occupying the director’s chair on this massive project, among them the challenge of competing against himself. In the easygoing harbour city of Wellington, the 50-year-old Jackson is the unassuming master of all he surveys. That commitment helps to explain how Warner Bros. can feel remotely comfortable putting up the better part of $1 billion to make and market not two but three Hobbit films. Jackson “sees” how invisible creatures will fill space and interact with their environment, from a cowering Gollum to Smaug. “This is a very clever filmmaker,” says Weta Workshop creative director Richard Taylor. “It’s that simple, in my view.”