Peter Jackson Considered Radical Measures To Forget His Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Peter Jackson, the director behind the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, has been making the rounds on social media in recent weeks for revealing how Amazon's creative team ghosted him after opening up a conversation for him to be a part of their upcoming "The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power" series (via Insider). To his credit, Jackson seemed politely content to stay on the outside for this particular project, not to be cruel, but rather so that he could enjoy the production in the way a fan might be able.
It's not talked about all that much, but that has to be difficult for creatives, right? That is to say, they never really get to enjoy their own work how others do. Sure, they're obviously well compensated for it, and there are infinitely worse issues to suffer, but not getting to enjoy art feels like a Grade A Bummer. Apparently, Jackson has put some serious thought into this very problem because he's debated utilizing some bizarre, radical measures so that he could finally enjoy his own work.
Peter Jackson considered hypnotism so that he could forget his own movies
In a podcast interview with members of The Hollywood Reporter, Peter Jackson said, "When we did 'The Lord of the Rings' movies, I always felt I was the unlucky person who never got to see as a coming-out-of-the-blue film. By the time there were screenings, I was immersed in it for five or six years. It was such a loss for me not to be able to see them like everyone else. I actually did seriously consider going to some hypnotherapy guy to hypnotize 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 ... "
In brief, Jackson mourns that he could never enjoy the movies like a fan with fresh eyes, and that's a loss anyone can sympathize with, especially in relation to "Lord of the Rings," a trilogy of films that practically set the golden standard for quality adaptations.
What makes this even more interesting (read: funny or sad, depending on the perspective) is that Jackson's casual interest in hypnosis reads like the rich version of all those articles — like this one from Kotaku — where the question "if you could forget any story and read/watch it again, which one would it be?" was posed. Where civilians are stuck in the yearning phase, people like Jackson have the means to pursue solutions, even if they're hilariously unorthodox. It's astonishing what one can accomplish with the right kind of funds, a "can do" kind of attitude, and a mild detachment from reality.