Peter Jackson recalls when he “snapped” on The Lord of the Rings set

It’s been 20 years since Peter Jackson’s wonderful Lord of the Rings movies came into our lives. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since Frodo, Sam, and all the other characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels came to life on the big screen.

To commemorate the two-decade anniversary, Jackson spoke to Deadline about making these historically successful films, including a time when he snapped on set during a battle over the budget.

Initially, Jackson was given a $60 million budget per movie. Big fantasy blockbusters may be common today, but at the time few had attempted them, and that wasn’t enough money. Jackson would need upwards of $120 million for each movie, and that made the financiers nervous.

Jackson recalls that New Line executives Rolf Mittwe and Bob Shaye were “very upset with us as the budgets went up. The anger was understandable. They aren’t the bad guys in this story; we are really the bad guys for going over budget.” I’m sure all was forgiven when the movies went on to become massive hits.

When Peter Jackson “snapped” while filming the Battle of Helm’s Deep

But things got worse before they got better. Things hit a low point when Jackson was filming the Battle of Helm’s Deep for The Two Towers, one of the most epic battles yet committed to film.

Producer Barrie Osborne was on set, lugging around a large box with a cell phone since service was so bad in Wellington where they were filming. He had a message for Jackson, who didn’t like what he heard:

"It was a period of time when New Line were at their most angry with us in terms of the budget. I am on the parapet, probably with Viggo [Mortensen], and I see Barrie. It took him about 30 minutes to huff and puff his way to get on the top, and so I kept on shooting. Barrie arrives and says, ‘I have the studio, I’ve got to connect you with Michael Lynne of New Line.’ I ask why. He says, ‘Oh, he’s going to threaten to sue you and sell the house from under you to cover the cost overruns.’ Barrie was just the messenger, but it was one of the only points where I really snapped. I said, ‘Just tell Michael Lynne that I’m shooting this f**king film and I’m doing the best job I can, and I’m not going to interrupt my day with a phone call like that.’ Barrie picked up the cellphone and made his way back down to the car and drove off."

Poor Osborne.

When a studio executive “sobbed” to Peter Jackson in the bathroom

There were other incidents. Jackson recalled things getting emotional when he was screening footage with Bob Shaye, and the executive indicated to go with him into the bathroom. “I followed him, and we went into a bathroom, he shut the door. I’m there alone in a bathroom with Bob Shaye thinking, what the hell is this? He looked at me and he said, ‘Please, Peter, please, we have all these partners, they’re relying on the success of this film. If it doesn’t work, they’re going to go under, so I just want you to know how important it is for me that we don’t let our partners down.’ And he began to cry. I mean, Bob began to sob, and it was literally the most personal moment that I ever had with him.

But all’s well that ends well, because not only did the movies get made, but they went on to be a massive success. Beyond the financial windfall, the trilogy snagged 17 Academy Awards, with The Return of the King winning Best Picture.

The Hobbit trilogy followed years later. It didn’t achieve the same level of success, and Jackson admitted he was “winging it” when he made those.

In the coming months and years, we’ve got an animated Lord of the Rings movie to look forward to as well as a highly anticipated live-action series from Amazon. There’s also the Gollum video game, and actor Andy Serkis is doing a Lord of the Rings audiobook.

Clearly, the world of The Lord of the Rings is here to stay, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m sure not complaining.

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h/t Gamespot