How We Read Rings of Power

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

....As readers and critics of the people who adapt Tolkien, I don't know if I'd call it a trap, but I think we get into a single-track mind. We (or at least I do) go in thinking if it's not the way Tolkien described it/wrote it then obviously the adapter doesn't know what they're doing, doesn't understand Tolkien...etc, etc. I think it's important to acknowledge that adapters of Tolkien, will also have a variety of experiences and other influences, just as Tolkien had a multitude of them.

Good point, Boro. I've done some sleuthing to see which films and film-makers Jackson has said influenced him.

1. First of all, the animator Ray Harryhausen.
   Films:
   1958 Dracula
   Jason and the Argonauts
   The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
   Dawn of the Dead
   1933 King Kong
   Hammer Horror films
   Thunderbirds tv show
   Ridley Scott's Legend
   Croneberg's The Fly

I'm sure there must be others. But I certainly now would like to learn more about Ray Harryhausen. I know only two of these well and have vague memories of the original King Kong, so I really can't discuss how these might have influence PJ's film-making.

For folks who are interested in this topic there is the biography written by Brian Sibley (yes, a fellow Downer!), Peter Jackson: A Film-maker's Journey