With a trademark eye for detail, film-maker Peter Jackson has hired an astronomer to ensure the moon’s position in his movie Dambusters is spot-on. A full moon was key to the May 1943 Dambusters raids, in which Allied planes bombed German dams at night. Former Carter Observatory senior astronomer Brian Carter, not related to the founding Carter family, was asked to research the moon’s position over Germany at the time. “Somebody just rang up. I didn’t realise it was for Peter Jackson until later.” Mr Carter has since been made redundant from the observatory and has set up a paid service providing information about celestial events. Computer software allows him to find where the moon was at any time, anywhere on the globe. Moon gives light to Jackson film
Peter Jackson has finished filming The Lovely Bones, and is now moving on to producing the first Tintin film as well as The Dambusters.
Actor Andy Serkis, who will play Captain Haddock in the Tintin films, told BBC radio that filming will begin in September in Los Angeles, with Spielberg as director and Jackson as producer. Serkis, best known for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, said Jackson will direct the second Tintin adventure, and Jackson and Spielberg may jointly direct the third.
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson may go a step further in their plans for three Tintin movies - by jointly directing the third installment. Spielberg raised the possibility before the release of his latest film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival at the weekend. “We are going to make three Tintin movies back-to-back. I’ll direct the first one, Peter will direct the second one. We’ll probably co-direct the third one.”Steven Spielberg reveals more Tintin plans
From The Dominion Post (via www.stuff.co.nz) Auditions have started in Johannesburg for a big-budget sci-fi film produced by Peter Jackson. South Africa’s The Times said some of the alien invasion film District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp, would be shot in Soweto later this year. The South African film industry had nicknamed it “Star Wars in Soweto”. Blomkamp was to have directed the now-mothballed Halo in Wellington.
Stories of dragons are as old as the written word and probably a lot older. To keep things inside the J.R.R. Tolkien realm, “Beowulf”, one of the oldest written stories of Europe features not only the monstrous Grendel but his serpentine Mother. Ancient biblical writings allude to the great serpent or dragon while global mythology has oversized lizard creatures popping up so consistently that some have suggested there must be some common shared memory or primitive survival instinct built into humanity to cause us to tell our tribal stories about such a monstrosity. Read the rest of this entry »
From MTV Multiplayer: A few days ago, Microsoft quietly added several job listings to its careers website. The company is looking for a Creative Director, Producer, Game Engineers and more to “help develop a new experience in the Halo universe.” Microsoft just contacted MTV Multiplayer with an official statement, confirming the prospective hires will work on Peter Jackson’s “Halo” project. Thanks to MrCere for sending this one in. Read More
Ransom (from mentalfloss.com) writes: It looks like New Zealand is my (somewhat unintentional) theme for the week, which inevitably leads me ’round to my favorite thing about New Zealand — director Peter Jackson. Most folks know the affable, formerly rotund Jackson for his monumental Lord of the Rings trilogy — the amazing locations of which have driven New Zealand tourism of late as much as anything — and for his recent, remarkable King Kong remake. But I discovered Jackson’s work back in early high school, wandering through a local video store with a friend. He picked up what looked like an average low-brow horror flick called Dead-Alive, and showed me the box. It stood out for one reason only: on the back, a critic credited it as being “perhaps the bloodiest movie in cinematic history.” Needless to say, watched it post-haste. Peter Jackson Retrospective
London’s Daily Mail reported that the lucky lad is 17-year-old British actor Thomas Sangster, who has appeared in Love, Actually and Nanny McPhee and has a role in Jane Campion’s Bright Star, which is about to begin filming. A spokesman for Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio declined comment. While specifics about the project have been kept under wraps, Andy Serkis, who is set to play Tintin’s globe-trotting buddy, Captain Haddock, recently told the IndieLondon website that he is about to begin work on the back-to-back features, with Spielberg handling the first film and Jackson taking the directorial reigns for the second.
British writer and comedian Stephen Fry is back at work on a third draft of his screenplay for Peter Jackson’s remake of The Dambusters after being delayed by the United States writers’ strike. Fry also had interviewed squadron members of the famous raid and production staff had visited locations in Britain and Germany where the World War 2 events took place. Jackson is producing the remake of the classic war movie, to be directed by special effects expert Christian Rivers, and has commissioned Fry to write the script. Fry revealed details of his scriptwriting on his internet blog and podcast. He said he spent time last year “zooming around England meeting old survivors of the original raid and people connected with survivors” as research for a second draft of the script. Fry resumes work on Dambusters screenplay
Scenes shot in Wairarapa will feature in the upcoming Peter Jackson film, The Lovely Bones, with the possibility of other Jackson projects yet to come for the region. Jackson said yesterday no further shooting for the film is planned for Wairarapa “at this time” although some “visual effects elements” may be shot in the region in the near future. “I’m grateful for the local support we received and I’m thrilled with the experience. I ‘m shooting at the moment but I’m hoping to use the Wairarapa for future projects,” Jackson said. “It all depends on the locations needed, which is very much a function of the story being told. Hollywood comes to Wairarapa with Lovely Bone
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With a trademark eye for detail, film-maker Peter Jackson has hired an astronomer to ensure the moon’s position in his movie Dambusters is spot-on. A full moon was key to the May 1943 Dambusters raids, in which Allied planes bombed German dams at night. Former Carter Observatory senior astronomer Brian Carter, not related to the founding Carter family, was asked to research the moon’s position over Germany at the time. “Somebody just rang up. I didn’t realise it was for Peter Jackson until later.” Mr Carter has since been made redundant from the observatory and has set up a paid service providing information about celestial events. Computer software allows him to find where the moon was at any time, anywhere on the globe. Moon gives light to Jackson film
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson may go a step further in their plans for three Tintin movies - by jointly directing the third installment. Spielberg raised the possibility before the release of his latest film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival at the weekend. “We are going to make three Tintin movies back-to-back. I’ll direct the first one, Peter will direct the second one. We’ll probably co-direct the third one.” 
From MTV Multiplayer: A few days ago, Microsoft quietly added several job listings to its careers website. The company is looking for a Creative Director, Producer, Game Engineers and more to “help develop a new experience in the Halo universe.” Microsoft just contacted MTV Multiplayer with an official statement, confirming the prospective hires will work on Peter Jackson’s “Halo” project. Thanks to MrCere for sending this one in. 
Ransom (from mentalfloss.com) writes: It looks like New Zealand is my (somewhat unintentional) theme for the week, which inevitably leads me ’round to my favorite thing about New Zealand — director Peter Jackson. Most folks know the affable, formerly rotund Jackson for his monumental Lord of the Rings trilogy — the amazing locations of which have driven New Zealand tourism of late as much as anything — and for his recent, remarkable King Kong remake. But I discovered Jackson’s work back in early high school, wandering through a local video store with a friend. He picked up what looked like an average low-brow horror flick called Dead-Alive, and showed me the box. It stood out for one reason only: on the back, a critic credited it as being “perhaps the bloodiest movie in cinematic history.” Needless to say, watched it post-haste. 
London’s Daily Mail reported that the lucky lad is 17-year-old British actor Thomas Sangster, who has appeared in Love, Actually and Nanny McPhee and has a role in Jane Campion’s Bright Star, which is about to begin filming. A spokesman for Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio declined comment. While specifics about the project have been kept under wraps, Andy Serkis, who is set to play Tintin’s globe-trotting buddy, Captain Haddock, recently told the IndieLondon website that he is about to begin work on the back-to-back features, with Spielberg handling the first film and Jackson taking the directorial reigns for the second.
