Sir Peter Jackson to focus on WW1 museum

[Dave Homewood]

Sir Peter Jackson to focus on WW1 museum
Published: 5:32AM Thursday January 15, 2015 Source: AP

Director Sir Peter Jackson is putting his energy into helping launch a museum to commemorate World War I after finishing his "Hobbit" movie trilogy.

If he has any plans for future blockbusters, he's not saying.

Sir Peter was speaking in Wellington where he was helping host an event to promote the local film industry. Directors Jane Campion and James Cameron also attended.

Sir Peter is a World War I history buff who owns a number of planes from the era.

He said the plan for the Wellington museum was to open during April to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli battle.

He said more galleries would be opened over the coming four years to mark other battles in which New Zealanders fought.

The NZ Herald reported earlier that Jackson had been recruited by the government to curate the museum, and he was expected to gather aircraft, tanks and other artifacts from private and public collections.

"That's where most of my time is now, which is good," Sir Peter said. "It's fun. And it's free. The exhibits will be very, very interesting, and I'm enjoying it."

Sir Peter said he was also enjoying getting some rest after finishing the "Hobbit" - although he wasn't entirely done, because he was still working on an extended version for DVD release.

But he said he was happy to take a break from new film projects for a while.

"It's the first time in five years that I haven't woken up in the morning and had deadlines" he said. "... no phones ringing, screaming 'When are we going to see this? When are we going to do that? And I'd forgotten what that's like. So I'll let that last for a little bit longer before I destroy it."

The trilogy finale, "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," has earned $545.3 million globally after opening in most places in mid-December.


tvnz.co.nz/national-news/sir-peter-jackson-focus-ww1-museum-6218465

[delticman]

Will it be regular visits to the museum over the next five years to see even more reproduction flying aircraft.

[TS]

I wonder if we will ever see the reproduction of the likes of a Vimy, Gotha, Handley Page Bomber and others???

Would be great but I suppose time, money and the size of them would come into play here.

[Dave Homewood]

If this museum is set up in a similar way to the AHC at Omaka, with WETA Workshop displays, it'll be fantastic. it opens on the 18th of April with the first exhibit focussing on Gallipoli but Sir Peter said on Radio NZ News that each year new exhibits will be placed in there to reflect the century since major battles NZ was in, such as The Somme, Paeschendaelle, etc.

[nuuumannn]

I wonder if we will ever see the reproduction of the likes of a Vimy, Gotha, Handley Page Bomber and others??? Would be great but I suppose time, money and the size of them would come into play here.

Pretty much, and also the availability of drawings. A Gotha or a Handley Page bomber repro would be an awesome sight though. The HPs in particular were huge - TVAL would have to build a bigger hangar...

Two flying reproductions of Vimys have been built; Lang Kidby's one that flew the great record setting flights that Vimys made in 1919 over 20 or so years ago, which is now on display at Brooklands, and the other one that was built in the 1960s named Triple First and was on display at the RAF Museum.



There's a model of Triple First on display at the AHC at Omaka, along with a nice Gotha. Odd that a model has been made of a reproduction of a Vimy.

[Deleted]

Sometimes reproductions are more interesting for the modelbuilder - for instance I have a model kit of a Focke-Wulf 190 to build and modify as the Omaka-based repro, and I earlier built another as a Jurca replica with DC-3 prop based in Germany as well as a Pfalz D.III with four-cylinder DH engine - although, considering the focus on accuracy etc at the AHC, perhaps it's a placeholder that was already in Sir Peter's collection?

Also a flying, 100% scale Gotha replica was underway in the USA some time ago. It featured in the news pages of Classic Wings, although I seem to remember reading the builder had died?

"If he has any plans for future blockbusters, he's not saying." - disappointing to me considering the work that's gone into the Dam Busters replicas, and the success of the Tintin film (the sequel to which he's to direct).

I'd be keen to visit the museum for sure.

[nuuumannn]

although, considering the focus on accuracy etc at the AHC, perhaps it's a placeholder that was already in Sir Peter's collection?

It's likely, Zac. Triple First is quite an historic airframe in itself now, I guess, like Laing Kidby's Vimy. Triple First was built by the same guys who built the Vickers FB.5 Gun Bus flying reproduction that's also at Hendon, in 1969 to commemorate 50 years since Alcock and Brown's flight across the Atlantic.

Making a model of a replica is a bit like converting your Buchon into a Bf 109 and painting it in Battle of Britain movie colours. The one done in the UK certainly looks the part and because of its involvement in the film, its markings are more historic than any bogus Bf 109 colours painted on Buchons. It's subjective of course, a bit like seeing a P-40 without a shark mouth; maybe someone could do a flying Buchon in Spanish markings and not resembling a Bf 109, just for a change?

Also a flying, 100% scale Gotha replica was underway in the USA some time ago. It featured in the news pages of Classic Wings, although I seem to remember reading the builder had died?

I remember vaguely hearing about this a few years ago, being built by a guy called Ron Bloomquist in TX but heard a rumour the fuselage had been scrapped (), but nothing since. A section of centre fuselage and rh wing of a Gotha was built for the film Flyboys and is on display at Manston in the UK. I also recall a project from the 1970s of a full scale HP o/400 repro in the UK, but what of that I don't know.

Thank heaven for Jackson and his interest in the Great War. I'm sure the commemmorations here in New Zealand would be just as poignant if Jackson wasn't around, but he certainly adds an element that no one else does.