Peter Jackson once revealed his favourite ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie
There’s no doubt that when it comes to the fantasy movie genre, Peter Jackson‘s eternally iconic The Lord of the Rings trilogy sits comfortably at the top of the pile as some of the most significant cinematic works of all time. Released between 2001 and 2003, based on the legendary novels of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien, Jackson’s efforts remain the cream of the crop.
Bringing in a stunning cast including Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Cat Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Liv Tyler (just to mention a few) and delivering some of the most stunning visual set pieces of all time, Jackson practically reinvented the fantasy genre and ushered in a new generation of fans to Tolkien’s work.
The story of Middle-earth and the quest of Frodo Baggins to destroy the One Ring and destroy its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron, was detailed it all its magical and bloody glory by Jackson, and over The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, the New Zealand filmmaker established himself into the canon of fantasy cinema forever.
Each of the three movies in the series is deserving of its own individual merit, but the question remains as to which of them Jackson considers to be his favourite. Thankfully, the King Kong and Braindead filmmaker once stated his top choice from the fantasy series in an interview with the BBC.
“The Return Of The King is definitely the most emotional of the three films. It’s my favourite one of the three,” he stated. “The Return Of The King has a conclusion. It finishes the story and concludes the journey of the Fellowship, and it really brings home the point of the first two films.”
Released in 2003, the final piece of the trilogy continued the story of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers and saw Frodo, Sam and Gollum finally approach Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring, as well as depict the rest of the Fellowship, including Gandalf, Aragon, Legolas and Gimli take the fight to Sauron’s Mordor legions.
“I mean, if you make a trilogy, the whole point is to get to that third chapter, and the third chapter is what justifies what’s come before,” Jackson had added. In fact, when he was promoting The Two Towers, Jackson had big hopes for the final part of the trilogy, and, indeed, he wanted to make it a rousing finale.
“I really want to end this thing with a bang,” he said in another interview with the BBC. “I want The Return of the King to be the best film. I think it will be, actually, so it’s not quite the time yet to think about other things.” J
ackson had been working on The Lord of the Rings for several years by that point, so the prospect of him taking on another project might have been attractive, but he still wanted to put all his energy into making his Tolkien adaptations the very best.
And it’s fair to say that he absolutely did. Across three stunning movies, Jackson brought the world of Middle-earth to life and with the final piece of the cinematic trio, he brought it to a brilliant conclusion, cementing his position as an all-time great director in the process.
