The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson opened up about which scene (or rather, series of scenes) in the blockbuster trilogy almost broke him.
Jackson revealed that mounting pressure from New Line Cinema surrounding the production's budget pushed him to the brink while shooting The Two Tower's Battle for Helm's Deep in an interview with The Telegraph. "I am on the parapet, probably with [Aragorn actor] Viggo [Mortensen], and I see [producer] Barrie [M. Osborne]," he said. "It took him about 30 minutes to huff and puff his way to get on the top, and so I kept on shooting. Barrie arrives and says, 'I have the studio, I've got to connect you with Michael Lynne of New Line.' I ask why. He says, 'Oh, he's going to threaten to sue you and sell the house from under you to cover the cost overruns'."
"Barrie was just the messenger, but it was one of the only points where I really snapped," Jackson continued. "I said, 'Just tell Michael Lynne that I'm shooting this fucking film and I'm doing the best job I can, and I'm not going to interrupt my day with a phone call like that.'" The studio ultimately backed down following the Kiwi filmmaker's outburst and The Lord of the Rings trilogy went on to become a massive critical and commercial success. Indeed, one of Jackson's only Lord of the Rings regrets is that he can't fully enjoy the movies himself and he actually considered being hypnotized to forget he made them.
Peter Jackson Sits Out Amazon Studios' Rings of Power
Jackson doesn't face the same problem with Amazon Studios' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He recently confirmed he isn't consulting on the Prime Video series in any capacity, although members of the production did initially reach out to him for input. "They asked me if I wanted to be involved -- [writer-producer Fran Walsh] and I -- and I said, 'That's an impossible question to answer without seeing a script,'" Jackson said. "So they said, 'As soon as we get the first couple scripts, we’ll send them to you.' And the scripts never showed up. That’s the last thing I heard, which is fine. No complaints at all."
Several key figures behind The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have publicly acknowledged Jackson's indirect influence on the show, though. According to executive producer and director J.A. Bayona, there was even talk of The Rings of Power tying in to Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, however, this idea was abandoned as the project involved.
Source: The Telegraph