Kate Winslet and Peter Jackson during Max Awards in 2013. Photo / Getty Images
Kate Winslet and Peter Jackson during Max Awards in 2013. Photo / Getty Images
Peter Jackson was the man who gave Kate Winslet her first on-screen kiss when she was 17.
The Lord of the Rings film-maker had a cameo in 1994 crime drama Heavenly Creatures, which was one of the first movies he directed.
The film was based on the notorious Parker–Hulme murdercase in New Zealand in which Honorah Mary Rieper – also known as Honorah Mary Parker – was killed in Christchurch, on June 22, 1954, by her daughter, Pauline Parker, 15, and Pauline’s friend, Juliet Hulme.
Heavenly Creatures starred Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their feature film debuts. Photo/Supplied
A retrospective of his career at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday featured clips of his movies, including cult horror classic Bad Taste, King Kong, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Heavenly Creatures, which starred Melanie Lynskey as Pauline and Winslet as Juliet.
Commenting on his brief kiss with Winslet as Juliet, he told the audience: “I realised I gave Kate Winslet her first screen kiss.”
Jackson – who is now 64 – quipped that “must have set the bar pretty high” for Winslet, who has since smooched the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Idris Elba and Evan Peters.
Jackson – who received an honorary Palme d’Or for his life’s work at the Cannes Film Festival – also spoke of his pride at having played a major part in launching Winslet’s stellar movie career, which has included a Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Reader.
Peter Jackson (right) receives the honorary Palme d'Or from Elijah Wood during the opening ceremony of the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival. Photo / Getty Images
According to the Metro, he added: “It’s a lot of fun when you make movies and it’s even more fun when you get to start the career of somebody else in the film industry. I’m very proud [of that].”
Jackson also revealed that Andy Serkis – who he helped turn into the world’s foremost CGI actor after casting him as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings series – has taken on directing duties for the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum, which sees Elijah Wood and Sir Ian McKellen reprise their roles as Frodo and Gandalf, respectively. Serkis returns as Gollum.
He said: “The film is very much an internal story about Gollum’s psychology and his addiction and it’s a very personal story to Gollum, the character. So I thought Andy knows this guy better than anybody.
“I actually, I didn’t think much about the idea of me [directing] at all. I thought the most exciting version of this movie is going to be if Andy Serkis makes it.”
