Peter Jackson looks to First World War museum project

Having completing The Hobbit movie trilogy, Director Peter Jackson is now focusing his attention on a First World War museum project at Wellington’s landmark Dominion Museum Building (pictured).

Wellington-based Jackson, who filmed and directed both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies in his native New Zealand, is leading the creative team developing the exhibition, announced last August by Prime Minister John Key.

The museum is scheduled to open in April to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Gallipoli campaign, with a gallery dedicated to the event. Over the next four years, further galleries to mark other battles in which New Zealanders fought will also be opened.

Other partners in the project – which will run from April 2015 through the duration of the centenary period – include the New Zealand Defence Force and the Wellington City Council.

Commenting on the project, Jackson stated “(the museum) is where most of my time is now, which is good.

"It's fun and it's free. The exhibits will be very, very interesting and I'm enjoying it.

“This museum will not cover the strategies of the generals, but will deal with what life was like for both the Kiwi soldiers leaving their families to fight a foreign war on the other side of the world, and for those left behind.”

Jackson has also been urged to back a permanent museum dedicated to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

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3rd November 2014 - NATIONAL ANZAC CENTRE OPENS TO COINCIDE WITH WWI FLEET DEPARTURE COMMEMORATION

25th April 2014 - COLLABORATIVE ARTS PROJECTS TO MARK 100 YEARS SINCE FIRST WORLD WAR