I thought that there might be something unsatisfying about directing two Tolkien movies after 'Lord of the Rings.' I'd be trying to compete with myself and deliberately doing things differently.

48 frames per second is something you have to get used to. I've got absolute belief and faith in 48 frames... it's something that could have ramifications for the entire industry. 'The Hobbit' really is the test of that.

There was a great magazine in the '80s called 'Cinemagic' for home moviemakers who liked to do monster and special effects movies. It was like a magazine written just for me.

I used to send away for eight-minute Super 8 movies of various Ray Harryhausen scenes advertised on the back of 'Famous Monsters of Filmland' magazine.

I was bullied and regarded as little bit of an oddball myself.

The only thing about 3-D is the dullness of the image.

The vast majority of the CGI budget is labor.

I mean, I didn't have a huge upbringing with movies, I guess.

I didn't want my kids having to pass through an airport named after their father.

To get an Oscar would be an incredible moment in my career, there is no doubt about that. But the 'Lord of the Rings' films are not made for Oscars, they are made for the audience.

Critics in particular treat CGI as a virus that's infecting film.

Strategically, horror films are a good way to start your career. You can get a lot of impact with very little.

I like to keep an open mind, but I do think there is some form of energy that exists separate to our flesh and blood. I do think that there's some kind of an energy that leaves the body when it dies, but I certainly don't have religious beliefs particularly.

Being honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside the names of some of my childhood heroes is slightly surreal and incredibly awesome.

I don't really want to make a stylized film or anything too surreal.

'The Return Of The King' has a conclusion.

To be an original is probably the hardest quality to find if you're a young filmmaker.

When you're starting out, you know, you have to do something on a very limited budget. You're not going to be able to have great actors, and you're most likely not going to have a great script.

My dad always told me that the principal reason he chose New Zealand to emigrate to after World War II was the high regard his father had for the Kiwis he encountered at Gallipoli.

When I was about 14, I got a splicing kit, which means you could chop up the film into little pieces and switch the order around and glue it together.

Stem cell therapy has the potential to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses, which up until now have been labelled 'incurable.'

There are perennial stories like 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Sherlock Holmes' and those sorts of things, which have been around since almost as long as film, and 'Frankenstein' is another one. They're perennial favorites, which get remade every 20 years, and that's OK.

Once the film is out and a lot of people are seeing it, it becomes almost owned by the cinemagoers of the world.

Once upon a time, sound was new technology.