Directed by Peter Jackson / Screenplays by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Peter Jackson

Published in three volumes between 1954 and 1955, J.R.R. Tolkien’s magnum opus of British fantasy was an instant success, and it wasn’t long before attempts were under way to bring it to the screen. Filmmakers whose names have been attached to planned adaptations over the years include David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Richard Lester, Michelangelo Antonioni, George Lucas, Jim Henson and John Boorman, but none of these projects bore fruit. The first version to reach the cinema was a 1978 picture by the American animator Ralph Bakshi, covering the first two novels and intended as the first of two instalments. Despite some innovative animation techniques and fine voice talent, Bakshi’s film met with a lukewarm response and the second part was never made. Even less loved were the American TV films of The Hobbit (1977) and The Return of the King (1980) made by a different animation company, Rankin-Bass. It would be another two decades before the New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson was able to bring to the screen a trio of pictures which finally did justice to Tolkien’s masterpiece. With a combined running time of more than nine hours (or eleven in the extended versions), winning no fewer than 17 Academy Awards and grossing $3 billion worldwide, Jackson’s trilogy is the very definition of a cinema epic. From start to finish it brims with spectacular landscapes, action-packed set pieces and breathtaking visual effects, but its greatest charm lies in a pitch-perfect ensemble cast who, from Hobbits to Elves, from Dwarves to Men, from Andy Serkis’s treacherous Gollum to Ian McKellen’s magisterial Gandalf, breathe life and magic into Middle Earth.

Framed Dimensions: 330mm x 410mm

Acrylic on 300gsm Arches oil paper
Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.