Peter Jackson Admits That He Was ‘Winging It’ With ‘The Hobbit’ Shoot

The production of The Hobbit trilogy was fraught with issues, namely the fact that Guillermo del Toro ended up leaving the project after years of pre-production. Peter Jackson ended up coming on board, but was met with the uncomfortable reality of having to use someone else pieces to make the film he wanted. After having three years to prepare for shooting Lord of the Rings, this was quite an adjustment, and one that Jackson admits that he may not have been up for.

In a behind-the-scenes video on the DVD for The Battle of Five Armies, Jackson explains at length the difficulties that he faced on the strenuous shoot:

“When you’re going on to a set — very complicated — you’re winging it, you’ve got these massively complicated scenes, no storyboards and you’re making it up there and then on the spot.”

Jackson eventually had to stop filming before the climactic battle sequence to properly plan it out, even pushing back the release of the film from July 2014 to December 2014. Still, the whole process sounds like a bit of a nightmare.

“When you’re in the momentum of a film, you know, day after day you’re shooting, week after week you’re shooting, what you’re lacking is time to think. I don’t even have time to think for half an hour if I’m on the set directing, because in that half an hour I’ve got 30 people coming up to me asking me questions. So I can help everyone else, but I can’t help me. I don’t get the time I need to think.”

Or he could have, you know, made one movie instead of three.

(Via Mashable)

×