He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh[2] for Heavenly Creatures, which brought him to mainstream prominence in the film industry.

[6] His parents – Joan (née Ruck),[4](p 20)[7] a factory worker and housewife, and William "Bill" Jackson, a wages clerk – were immigrants from England.

[10] Also, as a child Jackson made a World War II epic called The Dwarf Patrol seen on the Bad Taste bonus disc, which featured his first special effect of poking pinholes in the film for gun shots, and a James Bond spoof named Coldfinger.

At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, while being interviewed alongside Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron, Jackson said certain films gave him a "kick".

[18] Around this time, Jackson began working on writing a number of film scripts, in varied collaborative groupings with playwright Stephen Sinclair, writer Fran Walsh and writer/actor Danny Mulheron.

[2] Some of the scripts from this period, including a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, have never been made into movies; the proposed zombie film Braindead underwent extensive rewrites.

[22][failed verification] The following year, in collaboration with Wellington film-maker Costa Botes, Jackson co-directed the mockumentary Forgotten Silver (1995).

[29] In February 1997, Jackson launched legal proceedings against the New Zealand Listener magazine for defamation, over a review of The Frighteners which claimed that the film was "built from the rubble of other people's movies".

Around this time Jackson's remake of King Kong was shelved by Universal Studios, partly because of Mighty Joe Young and Godzilla, both giant monster movies, that had already gone into production.

[32] This period of transition seems not to have been entirely a happy one; it also marked one of the high points of tension between Jackson and the New Zealand Film Commission since Meet the Feebles had gone over-budget earlier in his career.

In 1997, the director submitted a lengthy criticism of the commission for a magazine supplement meant to celebrate the body's 20th anniversary, criticising what he called inconsistent decision-making by inexperienced board members.

[33][full citation needed][34][35][4](p 321) In the Metro article Jackson criticised the Commission over funding decisions concerning a film he was hoping to executive produce, but refused to drop a client-confidentiality provision that would have allowed them to publicly reply to his criticisms.

With the benefit of extended post-production and extra periods of shooting before each film's release, the series met with huge success and sent Jackson's popularity soaring.

The film ended up receiving generally mixed reviews and middling box office returns yet earned Stanley Tucci an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.

[60][61] In early 2010, del Toro dropped out due to production delays[62] and a month later Jackson was back in negotiations to direct The Hobbit;[63] and on 15 October he was finalised as the director[64][65] – with New Zealand confirmed as the location a couple of weeks later.

[68] The film was created using original footage from Imperial War Museums' extensive archive, much of it previously unseen, alongside BBC and IWM interviews with servicemen who fought in the conflict.

The majority of the footage (save for the start and end sections) has been colourised, converted to 3D and transformed with modern production techniques to present detail never seen before.

[73][74][75] It stars Robert Sheehan, Hera Hilmar, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Leila George, Ronan Raftery, and Stephen Lang.

Annie Zaleski of The Guardian, who gave Special Edition a five out of five stars rating, wrote that: "new details tease out deeper meanings in the songs.

Now more prominent, the low-lit backing harmonies on 'Here, There and Everywhere' remake the tune as an old-fashioned rock'n'roll love song; the piano bending out of key on 'I Want to Tell You' mirrors the narrator's insecurity; and McCartney's booming walking bass on 'Taxman' illuminates the biting, cynical tone of Harrison's lyrics... Revolver still sounds so vibrant.

The film is intended to be released in 2026, with Andy Serkis directing from a screenplay written by Walsh, Boyens, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.

[111] In 2012 Jackson supported the American Red Cross "Zombie Blood Drive"[112] together with other famous artists such as The Black Keys band members and the cast of the show The Walking Dead.

[114] In 2009, he purchased a Gulfstream G550 jet registered ZK-KFB; Jackson is one of the richest people in entertainment industry, with an estimated net worth by National Business Review at NZ$450 million.

[124] Jackson is known for his attention to detail, a habit of shooting scenes from many angles, a macabre sense of humour, and a general playfulness – the latter to a point that The Lord of the Rings conceptual designer Alan Lee jokingly remarked, "the film is kind of incidental, really".

[26](p 159) Jackson is one of the lead actors in two of his films: in Bad Taste, he plays two characters named Derek and Robert, even engaging them both in a fight.

His partner Fran Walsh makes a short cameo in The Frighteners as a woman walking next to Cyrus and Stuar just prior the scene featuring their son Billy.

[136][full citation needed] Jackson had a cameo on the HBO show Entourage on 5 August 2007 episode, "Gary's Desk", in which he offers a business proposal to Eric Murphy, manager to the lead character, Vincent Chase.

[140] Jackson is an avid aviation enthusiast and owns a collection of over 40 airworthy World War I-era warbirds housed at Hood Aerodrome near Masterton,[141] and a Gulfstream G650 in Wellington.

[124] As well as this, Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre presents the Knights of the Sky exhibition, featuring Jackson's own collection of WW1 aircraft and artifacts.

This story of aviation in the Great War is brought to life in sets created by the internationally acclaimed talent of WingNut Films and Weta Workshop.