Today is the fiftieth birthday of director Peter Jackson, the most famous New Zealander since Edmund Hillary. I’ve interviewed Jackson twice, and while he’s not really into self-disclosure, he’s been unfailingly genial and at ease with his own high-powered geekiness. Much as I enjoy The Lord of the Rings trilogy, my favorite film of his remains 1994’s Heavenly Creatures, about a real-life 1954 murder–go watch it right now if you’ve never seen it. As a small birthday celebration, I’ve added my 2005 Rolling Stone interview with Jackson to the archives–we talk about King Kong a lot, but also his weight loss and the then-nascent Hobbit project.

posted 31 October 2011 in Archives, Articles and tagged Peter Jackson. 1 comment