Peter Jackson shared a story about his son's emotional reaction at the 2004 Oscars while speaking at an event at the Cannes Film Festival
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Jackson won three awards that year for his final installment in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy
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The director said his son was “really invested” when it came to the award for Best Picture, which was presented by Steven Spielberg
Peter Jackson's son Billy is his biggest supporter.
The New Zealand filmmaker, 64, shared a story about his son's emotional reaction at the 2004Oscarswhile speaking at an event at theCannes Film Festivalon May 13.
Jackson won three awards — Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay — that year for his final installment intheLord of the Ringsmovie trilogy,The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The epic, overall,won all 11 awardsit was nominated for.
Looking back on the monumental night, he said, "It's funny because my son Billy, who's actually here somewhere, I think he was about six or seven years old when the Oscars happened and he was in New Zealand watching it on TV."
Jackson said Billy was “really invested” when it came to the award for Best Picture, which was presented bySteven Spielberg.
“Steven looks at the envelope and he says, ‘It's a clean sweep.' And Billy thought the winner was a movie called 'Clean Sweep' and he burst into tears,” he said.
Jackson later shared the story with theJawsdirector.
“I told Spielberg that afterwards and he was really, really, really ashamed of himself. He said, ‘Oh no, I can't believe I made your son cry,' " he recalled.
The filmmaker also noted that each of his threeLord of the Ringsmovies won Oscars.
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“But there was just a feeling, the zeitgeist was that probably there'd be a big Oscar haul in the third film, that Oscar voters were holding their vote back until number three. And it was right. I mean that's what really happened,” he said.
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Jackson shares son Billy Jackson, 31, and daughter Katie Jackson, 30, with his wife, Fran Walsh. The couple have been married since 1987.
Walsh is a screenwriter and producer, and she co-wrote all ofThe Lord of the Ringsmovies. Making the series even more of a family affair, Billy and Katie appeared in small roles in the three movies.
At the Cannes Film Festival, Jackson received an honorary Palme d'Or fromElijah Wood, who portrayed Frodo Baggins in the trilogy. The actor recalled meeting Jackson after sending in an audition video while presenting Jackson with the award.
“He had seen a VHS tape I'd made with friends in the woods of Griffith Park, and now they wanted to meet the young man who had sent it. And when a little while later the call came that I was going to be Frodo Baggins, I sat down on the floor of my bedroom and I understood with the whole of my being my life had just been divided into before and after,” he said, perVariety.
“I know I'm far from the only person who has had their life changed by Peter Jackson,” Wood continued.
Jackson also directed the threeHobbitmovies and produced the 2024 animated movieThe Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. He will next produce the upcoming installments,The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the PastandThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
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