Peter Jackson’s three Lord of the Rings movie are considered some of the best movies ever made. Surprisingly, it seems that Jackson would rather forget the experience of making the greatest fantasy movies of all time, even going so far as to say he wanted a hypnotist to erase his memory.
Don’t worry, though. It’s not because Jackson secretly loathes the films; it’s for a far sweeter reason. “When we did the Lord of the Rings movies, I always felt I was the unlucky person who never got to see [them] as a coming-out-of-the-blue film,” Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter. “By the time they were screening, I was immersed in it for five or six years.”
“It was such a loss for me not to be able to see them like everyone else,” he continued. “I actually did seriously consider going to some hypnotherapy guy to hypnotize me to make me forget about the films and the work I had done over the last six or seven years so I could sit and enjoy them. I didn’t follow through with it, but I did talk to Derren Brown about that, and he thought he could do it.”
Is there anything nerdier than considering using hypnotism to erase your memory so you can enjoy a big-screen version of your favourite books? We don’t think so.
Still, it looks like Jackson’s finally got his wish. He’s not involved with Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings TV series – despite being asked – so he can finally enjoy Tolkien’s world as a fan. The new series is a prequel set during Middle-earth’s second age (thousands of years before the events of the films) and will explore the fall of Numenor as well as the rise of Sauron.
If you want to know more about Amazon’s Lord of the Ring series, we’ve written a guide, or you can check out our list of the best Lord of the Rings characters.