Subject for the Second film?

[Galendor]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

"Tolkien's tale was long and boring. I think I did better."

Is this an actual quote from Peter Jackson? He said this?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Yes.

[Sauron the White]

...somehow, someway, I missed the source of that quote with your post.

[Galendor]

Wow. . . if Jackson really said that, it just disgusts me. Until now, I had assumed that he actually had reasonable appreciation for the books he was trying to adapt to film. Such a statement indicates a deplorable ego and lack of intelligent perspective - without those "long and boring" books his films could not exist. What a crappy thing to say.

WCH, not that I doubt you, but I wish I could find more proof that Jackson made this statement. I haven't been able to find further reputable evidence for it using Google...

[Sauron the White]

Galendor .... its no wonder you cannot find that quote. I cannot locate the Fountain of Youth either.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Galendor

WCH, not that I doubt you, but I wish I could find more proof that Jackson made this statement. I haven't been able to find further reputable evidence for it using Google...

Yahoo will bring up a few references to the comment.

[davem]

Boyens did state in the commentary track to TT:

You meet Faramir and he's like joshing with Frodo about the ring and he says "I wouldn't take this thing if it lay by the wayside, nothing could induce me to pick this up ..." which on first glance is a great line but dramatically, you can't go there. So that was all about deepening the choices and the journeys that these characters have to go on.

Now, to reduce Faramir's conversation with Frodo to 'joshing' & say that his behaviour 'doesn't work dramatically' shows a complete misunderstanding of the incident. Obviously what she has done is scan the text rather than read it, purely in order to knock up a script. Plainly Faramir's statement comes as a result of long, hard thought & reflects a moral choice, & is as far from 'joshing' as its possible to get. If Boyens doesn''t get that she's just thick. The only reason it might have failed in the movie is that they basically cut all of Faramir's explanation of why he would reject it, his dreams & clear statements of what motivates him in favour of a load of invented tosh which added nothing to the story.

So, it certainly seems that Boyens thinks she has improved on Tolkien's work ....

[Elmo]

Originally Posted by davem

Yahoo will bring up a few references to the comment.

Haha the only references to it I found were from this forum and a couple of other ones. Edit: And a reviewer who also doesn't state his source. An internet myth methinks.

[Sauron the White]

Still awaiting the exact source of that stinging Jackson boast. All of my DVD's are at the ready to be thrown into the trash heap along with all the movie memorabillia, film books, and anything that even has to do with New Zealand.

[Sauron the White]

Galendor here is that exact quote that William Cloud Hicklin attributed to Peter Jackson:

"Tolkien's tale was long and boring. I think I did better."

Mr. Hicklin is a very intelligent man who is also an attorney. He also is very knowledgable about the print world of JRRT and Middle-earth. As such, he has a great appreciation for the importance of each and every word in a sentence and would not use any foolishly nor post anything so damaging that he was not totally sure about. I am sure that if he posted it, he either has it memorized including the 100% reliable source he obtained it from or has it directly in front of him along with the source that can be easilly double checked.

Elmo - it is sometimes difficult to find an exact quote on the net. I have every confidence that Mr. Hicklin is soon to post with the exact source of that Jackson quote and then you can double check its authenticity.

Merry Christmas to all.

[zxcvbn]

I am of the same opinion as Elmo: that this 'quote' of PJ is a myth. I can imagine Phillipa Boyens saying something like that, but not PJ. At least not in those exact words. Maybe something like 'Tolkien's narrative was somewhat slow-paced and plodding'(which wouldn't be wholly incorrect).

If Peter really had that little respect for the books, he wouldn't have gone to such great lenghts to adapt them and the Hobbit.

[Galendor]

Originally Posted by Sauron the White

it is sometimes difficult to find an exact quote on the net. I have every confidence that Mr. Hicklin is soon to post with the exact source of that Jackson quote and then you can double check its authenticity.

Merry Christmas to all.

I've checked several permutations of the quote using Google and Yahoo search engines, using quotation marks versus not. I still haven't found a verifiable "original source" for it. But internet search engines aren't the final word on anything.

At this point, I doubt he said it, but then again I wouldn't be surprised either. If he did say this thing, even if drunk on spirits or riding high on critic-adulation, it would be such a crass statement that it would sorely influence my opinion of his character and motives. I might also throw away my movie box sets. I will wait to see if WCH knows any reputable source. I ordered the ROTK Platinum Edition movie, when it comes I might (shudder) watch all of the "bonus commentary" to see if Jackson et al. utter any such blasphemy therein.