It is hard to imagine anyone other thanPeter Jacksonat the helm of theLord of the Ringsfranchise. However, that was almost going to be the case, as has recently been revealed by Jackson’s manager while commemorating the highlights of the franchise. According to Ken Kamins, the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein threatened to replace Peter Jackson with Quentin Tarantino to make him comply with the run time of the film.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary ofLord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Independent spoke to multiple people associated with the franchise, including Jackson’s manager Ken Kamins and the actors Elijah Wood,Orlando Bloom, and Ian McKellen. It was during this interview that Kamins spilled the beans about the entire incident.
Harvey would go from acting empathetically to turning on a dime into Mr. Hyde and would threaten Peter… He’d threaten to get Quentin Tarantino to direct if Peter couldn’t do it in one film that was two-and-a-half hours — which was the exact opposite of what he initially told us he wanted.
Miramax acquired the rights to the J. R. R. Tolkien books in the mid-1990s and invested a few million dollars to commence the development of the films. However, it soon turned out that the project was taking a direction very different from what Peter Jackson and his partner in production Fran Walsh had originally envisioned. As a result, they implored co-founder Weinstein to develop the project in other studios.Miramaxdecided to agree on two conditions: Jackson and Co. had to set up the pitch within the week, and that the studio that decides to get on board has to agree to make all the three films at once. Eventually, the film was sold to New Line.
Other than the issue with the film’s runtime, Miramax had also originally insisted on making two films out of the books instead of three. However, New Line suggested that it be made into a trilogy instead.
It was actually Bob [Shaye, New Line founder] idea to do three films instead of two. The original pitch was to do two films and Bob goes, ‘There’s three books, why are you only making two films?' – Mark Ordesky, Producer, New Line Cinema.
Apparently, Ken Kamins was also taken aback by New Line’s response to the project, as it played right into what they had envisioned for the franchise.
He said, ‘Tolkien did your job for you. He wrote three books so you have three movies,’ and I’m kicking Peter under the table not believing what I’m hearing… They said yes on Monday and were out of pocket $12 million by Wednesday.
Although it is a relief that the films did not follow Weinstein’s vision of the franchise, it is still fun to wonder how the films would have looked at the hands of thePulp Fictiondirector.
