Trivia

Credits his favorite movie King Kong (1933) as his biggest inspiration in filmmaking. He said that he cried when King Kong fell off the Empire State Building.

Both of his parents passed away during production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Estimated earnings from the Lord of the Rings trilogy come close to $125 million.

Has been referred to by Fran Walsh as being a hobbit himself, due to his physical stature, his tendency to go barefoot, and the fact that he is swarthy (in Walsh's words, "furry").

During filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), he used the same pair of shoes and only two T-shirts.

Peter Jackson is the third director (after James Cameron and Christopher Nolan) to have released two films that have grossed $1 billion worldwide during their run. His films were The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).

Is among an elite group of nine directors who have won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Orig/Adapted) for the same film. The other directors are Billy Wilder, Leo McCarey, Francis Ford Coppola, James L. Brooks, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Bong Joon Ho.

Made the latex models for Bad Taste (1987) in his mom's kitchen oven, often forcing the family to have sausages for dinner because they couldn't use the oven.

Has directed two actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Ian McKellen and Stanley Tucci.

In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he cast Ian Holm as Bilbo because he had previously played Frodo in the BBC Radio adaptation, thus allowing Holm to have played the heroes of both of Tolkien's major works. In the Hobbit trilogy, Benedict Cumberbatch plays both Smaug and the Necromancer, a character later revealed to be Sauron, thus allowing Cumberbatch to have played both major villains.

For his first movie, Bad Taste (1987), he did all the special effects, the make-up effects and built exact replicas of the weapons.

He left school at age 17 and started working on a Wellington newspaper.

Has worked with three generations of Astins: John Astin (The Frighteners (1996)); John's son, Sean Astin (the Lord of the Rings trilogy); and Sean's daughter, Ali Astin (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)).

Described the production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy as "laying the tracks down in front of the train" as it was moving forward.

Lost 70 lbs. during the production of King Kong (2005).

Collects models of airplanes from World War One.

Stopped using glasses after undergoing eye surgery during the making of King Kong (2005).

The London Daily Mail reported (December 5, 2003) that Jackson was so fond of King Kong (1933) that he once cut up his mother's old fur coat and used it to make a model of the great ape; also that he consulted with Andy Serkis on the script of his version of the movie.

To acquaint actors who had not read the books with the story, he used the BBC Radio version of The Lord of the Rings, which starred Ian Holm. He ended up using Holm as Bilbo in the films.

His five favorite films, according to Rotten Tomatoes, are The General (1926), King Kong (1933), Jaws (1975), Goodfellas (1990) and Dawn of the Dead (1978).

Met Fran Walsh in 1987, during post-production for the gross-out cult classic Bad Taste (1987).

Started writing a remake of King Kong (1933) in 1996, which went through several drafts, until in 2003 he made one that was greenlighted by Universal.

He likes 1960s music his favorites are The Beatles (he paid homage to them in Bad Taste (1987)).

He and Fran Walsh, were both awarded Companion of the Order of New Zealand Merit on March 5, 2002 for their services to the film industry.

Is a huge fan of Doctor Who (1963), and has used the screen name Xoanon, taken from the Doctor Who story "The Face of Evil".

The copies of the Lord of the Rings books that he referred to during filming are the ones that he bought after seeing The Lord of the Rings (1978). The books have cover art by Ralph Bakshi.

One of few directors to be offered the chance of writing and directing sequels to many famous horror franchises. He was offered Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) and Child's Play 3 (1991).

Nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (which he won), but not for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

In 1998, he bought the New Zealand based film company National Film Unit.

The movie that gave him the love for splatter is George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). After seeing it, he felt a bit sick but amazed too.

He was awarded Knight Companion of the Order of New Zealand for his services to the film industry in the 2010 Queen's New Years Honours List.

Owner of production companies WingNut Films, Weta Limited and Three Foot Six.

He allegedly offered $150,000 to Aint-it-cool webmaster Harry Jay Knowles for his King Kong (1933) original poster.

Owns the rubber and steel-skeletonized triceratops puppet made and used by the animators of the original King Kong (1933), his favorite movie. Before the 2005 release of that film on DVD, Jackson had the model x-rayed at a hospital radiology lab to study the structure of the skeleton inside. The rubber skin on the model, having deteriorated over the decades, was thought to be too fragile to remove completely for a closer examination. The model was then entirely rebuilt from scratch with several other creatures from the film at WETA studios for an authentic stop-motion recreation of the famous lost spider-pit sequence of the 1933 film, which was included in the bonus features of the 2005 DVD version.

Ranked #7 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" (2005).

Crowned the most powerful man in Hollywood by ranking #1 on Premiere magazine's 2005 Power 50 List. It is his first #1 ranking. Had ranked #6 in 2004.

Ranked #16 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood (2007).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 8, 2014.

Along with his wife Fran Walsh, he was one of three husband/wife teams to be nominated for an Oscar for the 2003 season, the others were Michael McKean and his wife, Annette O'Toole and Shari Springer Berman and her husband Robert Pulcini. Jackson and Walsh won Oscars while the other couples walked out of the award with no Oscars.

Owns two houses in Wellington, New Zealand.

After his parents, Bill and Joan, passed away, Jackson inherited the modest Pukerua Bay house where he grew up.

Ranked #6 in Premiere magazine's 2004 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #20 in 2003. He is the second-highest rated director on the list, behind only Steven Spielberg.

He has made seven films with Cate Blanchett: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Hot Fuzz (2007), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). Hot Fuzz (2007) is the only one that he did not direct.

(January 27, 2011) Recovering in a Wellington, New Zealand hospital after undergoing emergency surgery to repair a perforated ulcer.

The stuff in the bowl, in his first movie Bad Taste (1987), was yoghurt, muesli and green food colouring.

Ranked #20 in Premiere magazine's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #41 in 2002.

Voted "Man of the Year 2002" in the Australian Empire Magazine. (March 2003)

Three of his collaborators have had connections to the material being filmed, outside the context of the film being made. Ian Holm, whom he cast as Bilbo in "The Lord of the Rings", was cast because he had played Frodo in the BBC radio adaptation. That adaptation was written by Brian Sibley, who is a cousin of his wife, Fran Walsh. In Heavenly Creatures (1994), Kate Winslet plays Juliet Hulme, who would later be known as real-life mystery novelist Anne Perry. Winslet has a sister, Anna Winslet, who appears as Dora in The Cater Street Hangman (1998), which was based on one of Perry's novels.

(November 26, 2001) Together with his partner Fran Walsh, he received the honorary graduation from Massey University.

Ranked #11 on Premiere magazine's 2006 "Power 50" list. Had ranked #1 in 2005.