Palme d'Or for Lifetime Achievement for Peter Jackson, director 'almost by accident'
Oscar winner Peter Jackson talks about his beginnings and his impact on Cannes, his love for King Kong and the adventure of 'Lord of the Rings
The director of good monsters and spirits, of compassionate looks, the master of the Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, was greeted in Cannes with a standing ovation. Not only at the awarding of the Palme d'Or for Lifetime Achievement from the hands of his Frodo, Elijah Wood; but also by the lucky ones who managed to snag a ticket to meet the Oscar-winning director in the Debussy Hall of the Cannes Film Festival for a Q&A.
Casual and embarrassed
Wearing a brown velvet jacket one size smaller than it should have been, a burgundy-coloured shirt over brown trousers, and hiking shoes - all frumpy and frayed -, Jackson receives the standing ovation of the fans with embarrassment. And it is not a pose. The day before, in the dinner jacket with the low waist and overflowing belly, the few long hairs - which on the tapis rouge stood up in the wind -, you could see that he was in severe discomfort. The same discomfort that then gripped him in the arm-in-arm speech he made on stage after a montage of his most famous films, from Fuori di testa (1987) to Splatters - Gli schizzacervelli (1992), to Creatures of Heaven (1994), to Suspended in Time (1996), to the Lord of the Rings saga, to King Kong (2005)y, to the TV miniseries The Beatles: Get Back (2021).
The speech for the Palme d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award
Yesterday on stage at the Grand Auditorium Louis Lumière joked about the miracle of holding the precious Palme statuette. "I don't make Palme d'Or films, it's an absolutely extraordinary surprise and an incredible honour. I have only been to Cannes twice before, but both times I was there, it was an important milestone in my career'.
Love for Buster Keaton
During today's meeting with a smaller audience Jackson appears more relaxed, no longer mumbling as he did the night before. Elijah Wood is in the room, and he tries to welcome the applause by shielding himself. Then he tries to start the meeting to quell the clapping and explains with eyes to the sky. "A film is chemistry in front of and behind the screen," recounting his love of horror that also makes you laugh, his love of scares, his sense of the grotesque and his passion for Buster Keaton. "I make the films I love to see"
The beginning of the career
Jackson happily looks back to his early days, when it took him four years of weekend work to make Out of the Mind. "For a rookie making a horror film is the easiest way, you can make them without a script and the more exaggerated you make them the better. But for me, the chances of becoming a director were very close to those of becoming a belly dancer and Olympic high jump champion'.
