[NinjaFerret]

Ok, first and foremost, Jackson stayed true to the story. As the other posters have said, Tolkein was a literary genius.<P>He did not simply write a record like a historian, he forged his own society. He wrote the history, culture, tradition, and races in such a timeless manner, as long as anyoen stayed true to his epic, they were bound to produce a hit.<P>As far as other things... Jackson picked exactly who would be good for the job. Namely, he didn't have a "star-studded" cast. He had the people who would perform the best. Jackson brought in his own audience, he didn't rely on names to do it for him.<P>Hollywood hates people who do that. I love Jackson for that very reason. (Anyone else notice that LOTR got hardly any of the hype this year at the box office??? It all went to these crappy movies about stupid things... (Heh heh, I'm really making inteligent remarks here...)<P>Hmm... What else... Don't forget, Jackson had the equivalent of a huge budget. He had his own effects people, an incredibly intelligent crowd. His writer was his wife. I doubt it would have happened if he had to rely on outside funding for this. <P>Also, Jackson has passion. Real, true passion. He has already crossed so many boundaries (see Heavenly Creatures, rather twisted, frightening, and off the beaten path) that this was mainstream for him.<P>But the most striking thing about Jackson as a director is that he gets the feeling of "keeping it real" across. Even though he takes these little detours, he takes them in all the right places. I believe he has the ability to step back from what he is doing and see the bigger picture. He notices what it is he's creating and he's able to see what's there from the points of view of the diehard "I-read-the-trilogy-at-least-once-a-year" and the random person whose boy/girlfriend dragged them along to see it.<P>Hope that helps. Good luck; film-making is a very hard field to break into.