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Peter Jackson considered hypnotherapy to forget The Lord of the Rings

By Ariba Bhuvad

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - MARCH 15: Peter Jackson, New Zealand director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy poses with the props from the fil set in his Wingnut Films office in Wellington New Zealand. Jackson has been nominated for best director at the 2002 Academy Awards and his film 'The fellowship of the Ring' has a further 12 nominations. (Photo by Robert Patterson/Getty Images)
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - MARCH 15: Peter Jackson, New Zealand director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy poses with the props from the fil set in his Wingnut Films office in Wellington New Zealand. Jackson has been nominated for best director at the 2002 Academy Awards and his film 'The fellowship of the Ring' has a further 12 nominations. (Photo by Robert Patterson/Getty Images) /
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Imagine you are Peter Jackson and made the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy but didn’t get to experience it as fans did: with a clean slate. There is something beautiful about watching these magnificent movies for the first time, which Jackson obviously couldn’t do after laboring over them for years.

While speaking on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Jackson shared that he seriously considered hypnotherapy to try and forget his experience directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His desire was to experience it as a regular fan watching the movies for the first time.

To accomplish this, Jackson approached English illusionist/mentalist Derren Brown. “When we did The Lord Of The Rings movies, I always felt I was the unlucky person who never got to see [them] as a coming-out-of-the-blue film,” Jackson said. “By the time they were screening, I was immersed in it for five or six years. It was such a loss for me not be able to see them like everyone else. I actually did seriously consider going to some hypnotherapy guy to hypnotise me to make me forget about the films and the work I had done over the last six or seven years so I could sit and enjoy them. I didn’t follow through with it, but I did talk to Derren Brown about that and he thought he could do it.”

Peter Jackson wanted to forget The Lord of the Rings

I absolutely do not blame Jackson for thinking about taking such measures. When I think back to my experiences watching The Lord of the Rings movies for the first time, it puts a smile on my face.

During the podcast, Jackson also mentioned that he was ghosted by the creators of the upcoming The Lord of the Rings series on Amazon Prime Video. “They asked me if I wanted to be involved – [writer-producer Fran Walsh] and I – and I said, ‘That’s an impossible question to answer without seeing a script,’” Jackson shared. “So they said, ‘As soon as we get the first couple scripts, we’ll send them to you.’ And the scripts never showed up. That’s the last thing I heard, which is fine. No complaints at all.”

Those scripts never did arrive, and Jackson was left in the dark about the entire project. Whether or not that’s a bad thing is up for debate. Based on what we’ve seen of the upcoming series, it looks like it’s more than capable hands. But they probably shouldn’t have given him false promises of scripts and all. Why ask if they aren’t going to deliver? Very strange indeed.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres on Amazon Prime Video on September 2.

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