Peter Jackson’s five favourite films of all time
Fans of the fantasy genre will always count Peter Jackson among the most talented filmmakers of his generation for what he achieved with his adaptation of the Lord of the Rings. While adaptations often raise a lot of questions from the core fan bases, Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films successfully recreated the magic of the source material, which is why the series is regularly cited by many as one of the greatest trilogies of all time.
Last year, Jackson returned to the world of cinema with The Beatles: Get Back – a documentary series featuring unseen footage of the world’s most famous band. Although the documentary earned widespread acclaim, many fans are eager to see what Jackson’s next narrative feature film will look like. If you’re among those who are patiently waiting, it’s the perfect time to revisit Jackson’s five favourite feature films of all time.
During a conversation with Rotten Tomatoes, Jackson spoke about the films that influenced him. He cited Buster Keaton’s seminal opus – The General: “Buster Keaton’s The General, from 1927, I think, is still one of the great films of all time. They’ve just released a beautiful Blu-ray disc of that movie — so if you haven’t seen it, go get the Blu-ray and treat yourself to one of the most incredible filmmakers at the height of his power.”
The director faced a huge dilemma while trying to include a Martin Scorsese work in his list, eventually settling on Goodfellas. Jackson explained: “Several films by Martin Scorsese — I’m a huge fan of his, but at the top, I would say Goodfellas, probably, as my favourite Scorsese film. That’s a movie that I always see when I feel that my imagination is kind of stuck and trapped, and I can’t think of a way forward. I watch Goodfellas, and suddenly it frees me up entirely; it reminds me of what great film directing is all about.”
Due to the grand nature of his Lord of the Rings adaptation, Jackson is known as a master of the cinematic spectacle. In turn, he pointed toward Steven Spielberg’s Jaws as the pinnacle of the craft: “It’s the height of suspense for filmmaking, it was the start of the summer blockbuster, it was the beginning of an entire genre of filmmaking, and obviously the beginning, in some respects, of Steven Spielberg’s career. I think Jaws is a remarkable film.”
Check out the full list below.
Peter Jackson’s favourite films:
- King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)
- Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978)
- The General (Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, 1926)
- Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
- Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
Jackson’s list is fascinating and provides a lot of insights into his own sensibilities as one of the world’s most prominent filmmakers. In the same interview, he claimed that the 1933 version of King Kong was the film that showed him the magic of cinema, while George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead influenced his sense of humour.
When asked about his thoughts on Dawn of the Dead and its seminal impact on the genre, Jackson responded: “Another movie that absolutely blew my mind was George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. That was an unbelievable film at that time, and really it did shape my sense of humour and splatter style of filmmaking that I did.”
