Peter Jackson denies being “retired” from directing

Peter Jackson has denied he is retired from making feature films, despite not making any cinema releases since 2014.

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Known for hits such as The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong, the New Zealand filmmaker has not directed a feature film for cinemas since 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies. He has directed some documentaries for TV, such as They Shall Never Grow Old in partnership with the BBC, and The Beatles – Get Back for Disney+.

The Oscar winner spoke to Screen Rant to promote his collaboration with Colossal Biosciences, who are working to bring back the Giant Moa bird back from extinction. Given the non-cinematic context of the interview, and the time since he last directed a feature film, he was asked if he was retired.

“No, no. I’m certainly not retired” he replied. “We are currently working on three different screenplays. I’m at the moment writing three different scripts. We are producing and have been writing The Hunt for Gollum, which Andy Serkis is going to direct next year. I’ve enjoyed working on documentaries, whether they show I’ve grown old or not, and obviously the Get Back The Beatles project. I’ve enjoyed doing various things with The Beatles, which is great, and that’ll probably carry on”.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum was provisionally announced in 2023, with Serkis, who portrayed Gollum in the original trilogy, returning to the role and also directing the film. It is set for a 2027 release.

In April, Serkis’ former co-stars Liv Tyler, John Rhys-Davies, Sean Astin and Orlando Bloom spoke at a Q&A for the films, and said they would “jump” at the chance to return for any spin-off movies.

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