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

4.0

An engrossing account of the epic journey that Peter Jackson and company undertook to make the Lord of the Rings films, and the impact those movies had on the industry and the hitherto little noticed country of New Zealand. I'm a huge fan of the original material, and while I adored the movies at the time they were released, time has dimmed my admiration just a little (only a little -- I still like to watch the Extended Editions regularly). I still think they were an almost miraculous occurrence, from the decision to make three films (a brave risk, well heralded in this book) to the perfect casting (the story behind Aragorn being one of the more interesting accounts here) to the sumptuous production design by long time Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe (interviewed throughout this book). The story of how that miracle happened is naturally an interesting one, and the author was there along the way, reporting for Empire magazine at the time, and it's clear he has his own respect for the source material. I think my own regard for Jackson's Middle Earth was sabotaged by his treatment of the Hobbit, from the poor decision (imho) to stretch it into a full trilogy (like butter spread across too much bread) to the uneven tone -- is it a slapstick comedy? a grim foreshadowing of LoTR? hey, why not both Jackson seems to have proclaimed; I mean seriously, Howard Shore could as easily have scored that rabbit sled chase to Yakkity Sax. The development of the Hobbit trilogy naturally gets less attention here by the time the first trilogy has had its full account, and probably mercifully so. I would love to someday see something of the art and script developed under Guillermo Del Toro's watch, and I suppose we'll all have to wonder if his version would have been worse or better than Jackson's. This book doesn't undertake to answer that question. The author is clearly an admirer of Jackson, and while that allows him some close access, I think it also causes him to give short shrift to some more problematic issues like the actor's dispute and the ensuing changing of NZ law to favor Jackson. I would have liked to understand the ramifications of that better, but I suppose it was a sidepath from the main story the author set out to tell. In the end, this account, with its view into Hollywood politics and business practices and its chronicle of a Kiwi indie filmmaker's development into a global powerhouse director is a worthy one. I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator did a fine job, even injecting imitations of the people involved when narrating their own words. His Ian McKellan was particularly good.