A review by ashleylm
Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth by Ian Nathan
4.0
A terrific book that unfortunately dwindles as it goes on (much like a delicious meal with two many courses or portions too large). At first, the author's depiction of the behind-the-scenes drama prior to the movies being greenlit is absolutely riveting stuff, reminiscent of The Late Shift or And the Band Played On (with lesser stakes, granted). The thought of how close this terrific films (I'm a fan) came to non-existence made this gripping reading.
Depictions of how the cast were cast (and how perfect were they!) moved me to tears at points, which is awfully unusually for a backstager. But by the middle of the book we ended up with a lot of information that would already be well-known to aficionados of Extended Edition DVDs' Special Features, and one quickly comes to realise that at this point in the story, the author has been invited to New Zealand and is witnessing first hand. And, oddly, the story becomes less urgent/historical/critical and more puff-piece. It's still very entertaining (esp. if you've only seen the films on screen and not immersed yourself in all-things LOTR) but not as moving as not as necessary.
By the time he gets to The Hobbit movies, of which I was expecting almost as much information, it's swiftly dispatched in one or two chapters, about 5% of the book, which seems a slight disservice given the subtitle. It's not the Making of LOTR, it's Middle-Earth, and the Hobbit movies cover almost as much ground.
So 5 stars for the first half, dwindling to 3, giving us a 4 average.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
Depictions of how the cast were cast (and how perfect were they!) moved me to tears at points, which is awfully unusually for a backstager. But by the middle of the book we ended up with a lot of information that would already be well-known to aficionados of Extended Edition DVDs' Special Features, and one quickly comes to realise that at this point in the story, the author has been invited to New Zealand and is witnessing first hand. And, oddly, the story becomes less urgent/historical/critical and more puff-piece. It's still very entertaining (esp. if you've only seen the films on screen and not immersed yourself in all-things LOTR) but not as moving as not as necessary.
By the time he gets to The Hobbit movies, of which I was expecting almost as much information, it's swiftly dispatched in one or two chapters, about 5% of the book, which seems a slight disservice given the subtitle. It's not the Making of LOTR, it's Middle-Earth, and the Hobbit movies cover almost as much ground.
So 5 stars for the first half, dwindling to 3, giving us a 4 average.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).