[Peter Jackson] is a fascinating read, appealing to both those who love this filmmaker's creations as well as academics ... Leotta writes in an accessible and engaging way and has a fresh and breezy style that pulls you from chapter to chapter ... [A] must-have addition for any film fan's book shelf.

We Are Cult

From edgy Aotearoan independent to global Hollywood imperialist, Peter Jackson's career has been consistently fascinating, and he has an able chronicler here in Alfio Leotta. We are all the richer for this fine study.

Toby Miller, Emeritus Distinguished Professor, University of California, Riverside, USA; Sir Walter Murdoch Professor of Cultural Policy Studies, Murdoch University, Australia; Profesor Invitado de Comunicación Social, Universidad del Norte, Colombia; Professor of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University/Prifysgol Caerdydd, UK; and Director of the Institute of Media and Creative Industries, Loughborough University in London, UK

Alfio Leotta's new book on Peter Jackson is the essential work on Peter Jackson and New Zealand Cinema, with particular strengths in Jackson's relationship to tourism and the roles that Wellington and the national New Zealand film industry played in shaping his career. Crucially, it also innovates in discussing Jackson's key collaborators and their contributions to the Jackson empire.

Kirsten Moana Thompson, Professor and Director of Film Studies, Victoria University, New Zealand

As the first book in the new Bloomsbury Companions to Contemporary Filmmakers, Alfio Leotta's Peter Jackson sets the bar high for this new series. Leotta provides a must go-to guide to the work of this maverick filmmaker responsible for the most significant film franchise in film history. In equal measure an auteur, production, screen innovation, business and political economy study Leotta adroitly analyses the films, their critical reception, the contribution made by Jackson's key collaborators, and the filmmaker's trajectory from a low budget New Zealand filmmaker to a major Hollywood director. Along the way we encounter Jackson's transformation of his home town of Wellington into an important centre for filmmaking innovation and his reengineering of our contemporary systems of globally dispersed production to his advantage.

Tom O'Regan, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, Australia

One in Bloomsbury's Companions to Contemporary Filmmakers series, this book offers a comprehensive but concise profile of New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson.

American Reference Books Annual