LOTR Auteur Jackson knighted in NZ
Peter Jackson, the Oscar-winning film director, has been made a knight in the first New Zealand honours list since the country reinstated the title. New Zealand has Jackson to thank for a robust economy during the LOTR years.
Sir Peter, whose final Lord of the Rings film Return of the King won best Picture and Best Director, mapped 17 Oscars for his Lord of the Rings trilogy. Jackson was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
He said that the honour was an “incredible moment”.
“I didn’t think anything would surpass the 2004 Academy Awards, but I was wrong,” he said. Jackson has slimmed considerably in the interim years since the LOTR completion.
The film-maker, whose latest movie The Lovely Bones is already a box office hit after being released on Boxing Day, is one of five New Zealanders to become knights or dames in the honours list.
Sir Peter was made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002.