Sky News for the last few weeks have conducted interviews with various Oscar nominees in the buildup to tomorrow’s awards. Today, Director Peter Jackson was interviewed and revealed his thoughts on what the Oscars mean to him, the crew and to the movie itself.
Q: First reaction [to thirteen Oscar nominations]?
PJ: Absoloutely thrilled. The thirteen nominations have spanned the entire width of the film, from costumes to make-up to sound, Sir Ian McKellen’s performance, Special FX, it really spans the range of people who contributed to the film.
The studio [New Line] placed an incredible amount of trust on us, let us make the film we wanted to make, and we felt the weight of the responsibility over the last two or three years.
They took the gamble that our contribution would pay off for them and for us, that was our job, we felt very determined because of that trust put into us.
Q: What does thirteen nominations mean to the movie and to you?
PJ: On a personal level, it’s not that important to movie due to how well it did in the boxoffice and so on, it;s a wonderful acknowledgement that people who work as hard as you and now the difficulties acknowledge you’re the best in this particular year.
Q: How do you feel about the fact that there’s a certain type of movie more likely to win Oscars than others?
PJ: To be perfectly realistic, we’re probably the underdogs for major awards such as Best Picture, Best Screenplay but I feel we’ve got a really good chance in the craft awards.
Some of the above statements have been paraphrased.
