The two movies that inspired Peter Jackson during the making of ‘Lord of the Rings’
Countless filmmakers have influenced the shape of modern cinema, with Quentin Tarantino inspiring independent cinema to zing with free-flowing vibrancy, the Wachowski sisters changing how action filmmaking was captured, and Peter Jackson transforming the meaning of the big-budget blockbuster. Indeed, whilst he has made several types of movies, it was the Lord of the Rings trilogy that would transform the contemporary industry as we know it.
Taking on the iconic fantasy book series by British writer J. R. R. Tolkien, Jackson was meticulous in his approach, taking years in pre-production to create the necessary number of props, costumes and miniatures to properly bring the world to life without the need for an abundance of CGI. The result is one of the most celebrated trilogies in the history of cinema, winning 17 Academy Awards over the course of three iconic movies.
Despite being different in tone and genre, Jackson was highly influenced by Star Wars’ approach to practical effects, a pivotal reason why Lord of the Rings remains such a celebrated franchise to this day. Yet, whilst the sci-fi had a great impact on Jackson’s pre-production phase, the New Zealander admits to having watched two specific movies to inspire him whilst making the fantasy flick.
Speaking about which filmmakers have most inspired him as a creative, Jackson told the DGA, “I’ve always been completely into genre directors: Stuart Gordon, George Romero, Sam Raimi. I like Kubrick—not that I could ever make a film like him”.
Yet, there was one specific filmmaker he turned to whilst looking for inspiration on the set of the fantasy trilogy. “On The Lord of the Rings where we had an 18-month shoot,” he started, “I got so exhausted and when that happens your brain stops sparking and your imagination stops fizzing the way you’d like it to. I got to a point where, on my day off, I’d put on a DVD of Goodfellas or Casino and say, ‘OK, I know what I’ve got to try and do now’.”
He added: “I couldn’t do it as good as [Martin] Scorsese, but it inspired and re-energized me, telling me what my job is: to come up with interesting ways to shoot scenes, interesting camera moves, and interesting ways to show the performance. I used to do that as a therapeutic thing when I was in a state of exhaustion”.
Both released in the 1990s, shortly before Jackson began filming Lord of the Rings, Casino and Goodfellas are considered among Scorsese’s very best movies. Operating in Scorsese’s favourite crime thriller genre, both unconnected films star Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci as two wise-talking criminals who vie for supremacy in a city that swarms with deception, violence and immorality.
Take a look at the trailer for Scorsese’s 1995 film Casino below.
