According to Variety, both stars used the ceremony to look back on the unlikely beginnings of one of cinema’s defining fantasy sagas.
Elijah Wood and Peter Jackson Turn Cannes Tribute Into a ‘Lord of the Rings’ Reflection
Wood began by recalling the first time he met Jackson and Fran Walsh, explaining that the filmmakers had tracked him down after watching a homemade VHS tape he had shot with friends in Griffith Park. “They wanted to meet the young man who had sent it,” Wood told the audience while describing his visit to casting director Victoria Burrows’ office.
The actor then reflected on the phone call that changed his future forever. “I sat down on the floor of my bedroom and I understood with the whole of my being my life had just been divided into before and after,” Wood said of learning he had been cast as Frodo Baggins. He closed his tribute by telling the Cannes crowd, “I know I’m far from the only person who has had their life changed by Peter Jackson.”
Jackson responded with disbelief after accepting the Honorary Palme d’Or, admitting the recognition was something he never expected to receive. “Thank you for this very unexpected and miraculous award,” the filmmaker said before adding, “A Palme d’Or is never something I never ever thought I would win, ever.”
The director also reflected on the importance Cannes played in the early days of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” revealing that the trilogy faced heavy skepticism before the first picture’s release in 2001. “The media was talking about the gamble was going to fail,” Jackson recalled while discussing concerns surrounding the ambitious adaptation.
According to Jackson, Bob Shaye, founder of New Line Cinema, decided to screen 20 minutes of unfinished footage at Cannes to shift the narrative around the project. Recalling the gamble, the director said Shaye “rolled the dice” by quickly assembling material for the festival presentation. Looking back on the moment, Jackson credited the Cannes screening with helping create the excitement that surrounded the trilogy before audiences had even seen the finished film.
