Peter Robert Jackson made his first short-film ‘The Valley’ (1978) at 15, winning a prize.
Jackson made his feature-film debut with the splatter horror-comedy ‘Bad Taste’ (1987), which was screened at the ‘Cannes Film Festival.’ Jackson appeared in cameo or bit roles in most of his films. He co-wrote and directed the puppet-animated musical black-comedy ‘Meet the Feebles’ (1989), followed by the horror-comedy ‘Braindead’ (1992).
Thereafter, Jackson’s creative style took a turn as he co-wrote, produced-directed the psychological-drama ‘Heavenly Creatures’ (1994), based on a true-life murder case. Its success brought several honors, including ‘Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.’ Further, he co-directed the mocumentary ‘Forgotten Silver’ (1995).
Moving on to Hollywood, his first major film was the supernatural comedy-horror ‘The Frighteners’ (1996), which wasn’t very successful.
After gaining filming rights of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, Jackson worked extensively on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ epic trilogy: ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ (2001), ‘The Two Towers’ (2002), and ‘The Return of the King’ (2003), which was a massive block-buster, especially the third installment that swept 11 Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director.’
Jackson’s next was the remake of ‘King Kong’ (2005), again a huge critical and commercial success. He was the writer-director of the short war-film ‘Crossing the Line’ (2007) set in WWI, followed by the supernatural thriller ‘The Lovely Bones’ (2009).
After co-producing ‘The Adventures of Tin Tin’ (2011), Jackson adapted Tolkien’s another novel into fantasy-adventure trilogy ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ (2012), ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ (2013), and ‘The Battle of Five Armies’ (2014), which became one of the highest-earning film-franchise, winning several accolades.
Using advanced digital technology, Jackson produced-directed a documentary on WWI soldiers ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ (2018), and the documentary-series ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ (2021).