Peter Jackson: "I'm working on a new Tintin movie"
The New Zealand director, who has received an honorary Palme d'Or, talks about his career at the Cannes Film Festival
Special correspondent at the Cannes Film FestivalIn an edition of the Cannes Film Festival marked by the scarce Hollywood muscle of its programming, New Zealand director Peter Jackson has been the big star of the festival's opening. The patriarch of the franchise of The Lord of the Rings received an honorary Palme d'Or during the opening ceremony this Tuesday. It was presented to him by one of the saga's actors, Elijah Wood, who recalled the moment Jackson "changed his life" by choosing him to play Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). "And I know I am not, by a long shot, the only person whose life Peter Jackson has changed," he added.
Wood did not want to miss the conversation that Peter Jackson starred in this Wednesday, a relaxed chat about his artistic career that also served to make a highly publicized announcement: the director is preparing a new installment of Tintin's adventures in cinema, that is, the continuation of the animated film using the motion capture technique that Steven Spielberg directed in 2011 and in which Jackson was already one of the producers. "I am working on a new Tintin movie," confirmed Jackson, who received a great ovation and whistles of enthusiasm from the audience; after all, Tintin is one of the great icons of Franco-Belgian comics. "We are now writing the script – he added –. The initial idea was for Steven to direct one and then I another, but Steven already did his and 15 years have passed. He is very elegant and hasn't pressured me, but I've finally gotten to work and I'm delighted to return to the world of Tintin".
Except for this small preview, the chat focused on Jackson's past, a past rich and diverse enough that it has not revolved solely around the universe created by Tolkien. The director spoke, for example, of his love for King Kong, the 1933 film of which he himself made a remake in 2005. "I saw it on television when I was nine years old – he recalled –. I didn't know anything about King Kong, it was the world before the internet and there was no way to know these things. But a movie about a giant gorilla sounded good. I saw it and it changed my life. It was at that moment, that Friday night, that I thought I wanted to make movies like that. And it was because of King Kong that I started making shorts with my parents' camera".