After spending so many years chronicling the epic tales of Middle-earth, Peter Jackson wants to focus his future efforts on a place closer to home: New Zealand. The director recently spoke to The New Zealand Herald about his next two films, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again, as well as what comes afterward.

"We have got a few bits and pieces that we are working on, Fran and I," Jackson said. "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. The Heavenly Creatures mode really. 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."

Jackson went on to say he built "a bit of confidence as a director" after working on the Hobbit films. "Every film is a film school," he said. "You kind of go in there: 'How the hell do I do this, how do I make it good?'"

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will hit theaters on Dec. 13.