A review by fallingletters
Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth by Ian Nathan

4.0

Anything You Can Imagine made a great read when when I was in a slump a couple weeks back. Although it's massive, it's compulsively readable. Nathan explores the grand scale logistics of getting the films made, often from the business side of things (as opposed to the kind of 'making of' you see in the film appendices). The narrative tone is similar to an engaging magazine article. Lots of quotes from various people involved. Nathan appropriately focuses on The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit doesn't enter the narrative until about 500 pages in. I suspect a lot of the information in this book could be found elsewhere, but I learned a lot from it, such as: why the rights were so tricky to get (and exactly how Weinstein was involved...), how the cast was pinned down, and why Jackson wasn't originally set to direct The Hobbit. A must read for fans of the movies.