After their three-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” wraps in 2014, director Peter Jackson and partner Fran Walsh hope to return to their low-budget roots and make more films in the manner of “Heavenly Creatures,” their 1994 drama (based on true events) starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey.
“We have got a few bits and pieces that we are working on,” Jackson told The New Zealand Herald. “The things that we are most excited about are some New Zealand stories. We just want to step off the Hollywood blockbuster thing for a while and we’ve had a few New Zealand stories in line for a while that we think would make great films.”
“But one thing has led to another and we have never had time. We’ve made a conscious decision that in the limited years we have left to make movies to tell some New Zealand stories.”
Of his experience in making the “Hobbit” film trilogy, Jackson says he initially had no plans to return to Middle-earth, but did so after the film’s original director, Guillermo del Toro, backed out due to production delays.
“In some respects in terms of my remaining film-making career this was a five-year chunk that was kind of taken out of it unexpectedly,” he said.
“My future is five years less than I thought it was. I thought if I am going to do that I am actually going to enjoy it. I am going to have fun. Hopefully, that is reflected on the screen, too.”
For now, Jackson is still busy finishing his work on “The Hobbit” films, and will reportedly be directing the second “Tintin” film.
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” will be in theatres December 13 of this year, followed by “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” in December of 2014.
