Anything You Can Imagine cover art

Anything You Can Imagine

Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth

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Anything You Can Imagine

By: Ian Nathan, Andy Serkis - introduction
Narrated by: Tristram Wymark
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About this listen

The definitive history of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth saga, Anything You Can Imagine takes us on a cinematic journey across all six films, featuring brand-new interviews with Peter, his cast & crew. From the early days of daring to dream it could be done, through the highs and lows of making the films, to fan adoration and, finally, Oscar glory.

Lights
A nine-year-old boy in New Zealand’s Pukerua Bay stays up late and is spellbound by a sixty-year-old vision of a giant ape on an island full of dinosaurs. This is true magic. And the boy knows that he wants to be a magician.

Camera
Fast-forward twenty years and the boy has begun to cast a spell over the film-going audience, conjuring gore-splattered romps with bravura skill that will lead to Academy recognition with an Oscar nomination for Heavenly Creatures. The boy from Pukerua Bay with monsters reflected in his eyes has arrived, and Hollywood comes calling. What would he like to do next? ‘How about a fantasy film, something like The Lord of the Rings…?’

Action
The greatest work of fantasy in modern literature, and the biggest, with rights ownership so complex it will baffle a wizard. Vast. Complex. Unfilmable. One does not simply walk into Mordor – unless you are Peter Jackson.

Anything You Can Imagine tells the full, dramatic story of how Jackson and his trusty fellowship of Kiwi filmmakers dared take on a quest every bit as daunting as Frodo’s, and transformed JRR Tolkien’s epic tale of adventure into cinematic magic, and then did it again with The Hobbit. Enriched with brand-new interviews with Jackson, his fellow filmmakers and many of the films’ stars, Ian Nathan’s mesmerising narrative whisks us to Middle-earth, to gaze over the shoulder of the director as he creates the impossible, the unforgettable, and proves that film-making really is ‘anything you can imagine’.

Direction & Production Entertainment & Celebrities Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV History & Criticism Celebrity Entertainment Magic Magic Users Fiction Thought-Provoking Fantasy

Critic reviews

‘This book truly is the definitive history of the Lord of the Rings films. Nearly every single element of the productions is coverd here, from writing, to shooting, to Oscar-night jitters. Nathan’s prose does exactly what you want from a book like this: it makes you feel as if you’re really there.’
SlashFilm

‘In breezy and often cheeky prose, Nathan tells a grand story worthy of the annals of great filmmaking… there is much to learn, to chuckle over and to admire as Jackson and his band of indefatigable Kiwis face down the naysayers.’
Daily Mail

All stars
Most relevant
Well read (although Tolkien fans will spot a number of mis-pronunciations!) and informative story of the development and realisation of the LOTRs film trilogy. The Hobbit is very much treated as ‘and then he made the Hobbit’ with far less content, but given it was (in my opinion) far less of an achievement, I think the balance was right. Highly recommend for all Tolkien fans.

Excellent and informative.

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Excellent book, an in depth discovery and history of the making of the films, right up to Amazons announcement of a show.
The only issue is the reader - who has clearly never seen any of the rings or hobbit movies. He can’t pronounce any of the names or places, which is embarrassing - you’d think of you were going to spend 22 hours reading a book on a set of films, you’d at least watch one of them.

Great book, shame about the reader

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As an avid LotR fan, this was thrilling! So many new details and stories on the making of the trilogy and told in a forthright and honest manner. My only issue was the performer clearly has never watched the films or read the books as his pronunciation of characters and place names (so important to JRRT) was truly woeful and distracting.

Loved the content!

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A fantastic look at the laborious process of getting the amazing LOTR trilogy made. It really goes to show how this was the biggest low-budget film trilogy ever made.

Great for any fan of the films!

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This painstaking account of the Kiwi director's journey from satirical schlock meister to ostensibly the Ruler of Middle Earth will delight Tolkein fans, but is also a fascinating description of the film process, and a small travel guide to the wonders of New Zealand.

From discussions and arguments about where the money's going to come from to make the first film, to the final post production flourishes, every twist and turn of the making of six extraordinary films is outlined in Nathan's relaxed and amusing prose, and read brilliantly by Tristram Wymark, who gets ALL the accents and voices right. The only tiny quibble I have is that Nathan confuses the actors Luke Evans and Lee Pace, but that's the only hiccup in a long and complex piece.

I've always found the film making process fascinating, but even if listeners don't share my interest, it's a highly entertaining and intelligent book, well worth the monthly credit.

Middle Earth revealed

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