'Bad Taste' Director Peter Jackson Celebrates 20th Anniversary Of His Little-Known Series Of Tolkien Adaptations
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Peter Jackson, the visionary auteur behind Bad Taste and Dead Alive has announced a 20th anniversary re-release of his little known trilogy of fantasy films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels, indifferent sources report.
“I was fresh off of filming The Frighteners and wanted to do something smaller and more experimental. A low stakes project I could just have fun with,” said Jackson. “The original plan was just to make one film, but we had so much fun during the shoot that we made an entire trilogy. Frankly It’s a little embarrassing to rewatch them now. Hobbits? Elves? Magic rings? It’s all so convoluted. This re-release is meant to highlight an important moment in my development as a filmmaker. It’s hard to say if anyone will be interested in watching them however since the reception at the time was rather lukewarm.”
Viggo Mortensen also reflected on the trilogy, which he once referred to as a “career rough patch.”
“I was hesitant when Peter first offered me the role. The script was full of goblins and dwarves and all this other nonsense. I said ‘dude, this project reeks of nerd shit’ and Peter said ‘yeah it does. But we’ll make a weekend out of it,’” said Mortensen. “Work was hard to find so I couldn’t exactly say no. Thankfully it was a fun shoot. I use ‘shoot’ loosely because we’d only work for about a couple of hours and then spend the rest of the day drinking and playing with swords.”
The three Lord of the Rings films will be re-released together on Blu-Ray but not in 4K, as it was deemed “unnecessary.”
“The impact of films like Bad Taste and The Lovely Bones is without question,” said film critic Jody DePaul. “Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy doesn’t have that same status. I myself can’t stand them. But it is important to preserve the films of such an important director, no matter how skippable they are.”
Fans of Jackson’s beloved Hobbit trilogy have already pointed out many of the film’s homages to his earlier work on Lord of the Rings.
