Sourced

• Fantasy is an 'F' word that hopefully the five second delay won't do anything with
  • After receivning the Best Picture Oscar for "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" at the 76th Academy Awards

• I don't take stuff seriously. I saw 'Hellraiser 3' the other day at Cannes; it's OK, it's a good film, I didn't hate it or anything. I thought it was quite good, but it was all just so serious. Some guy walking round with pins sticking out of his face. I just can't sit there and think ,'this is really scary.' If I made a 'Hellraiser' film, I'd like Pinhead to be whacked against a wall and have all the pins flattened into his face.
  • Trash City' Interview

• And so I look back on not just the last ten years but everything that I've done as being sort of an ongoing growing continual film school. I mean I don't think I've got to a point where I've achieved anything that feels like, a particular milestone, but there's still a lot more to learn and hopefully a lot more films to make.
  • Darkhorizons interview (March 27th, 2006)

• Kong bites his head off in a PG13 kinda way
  • A note in the 1996 script for 'King Kong

• I'm a Derek and Dereks don't run
  • Bad Taste' (1987)

• Remember, pain is temporary; film is forever.
  • Return of the King: Extended Edition Special Feature

Unsourced

• It's not that you made a jerk of yourself if you believed. It shows a healthy imagination. They haven't shut their minds off. They're not cynical. The world is a bitter and dull enough place, and if you have some fun for some of the time, that's great
  • On 'Forgotten Silver' (1995)

• I want it to feel real. I don't want it to feel like an artificial studio movie environment. The ideal scenario is you get a sense we've gone to Middle Earth, the castles are all still there, and we've done this by taking our camera crew and extras and filming it in the real places Tolkien wrote about.
  • On making 'The Lord of the Rings

• This is a giant undertaking, but I consider this a personal film. It's my film of a lifetime. I read the book when I was 18 and thought then, 'I can't wait till the movie comes out.' Twenty years later, no one had done it, so I got impatient.
  • On 'The Lord Of The Rings

• New Zealand is not a small country but a large village

• No film has captivated my imagination more than King Kong. I'm making movies today because I saw this film when I was 9 years old. It has been my sustained dream to reinterpret this classic story for a new age.

• The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.

• People have said, "It's such a serious subject; why did you try to make it funny?" Well, obviously the murder wasn't funny, and we never attempted to make it funny, but the friendship was funny. Life is funny: generally, human beings like to enjoy themselves, and there was no doubt that Pauline and Juliet had a hell of a good time, most of the time.
  • On 'Heavenly Creatures' (1994)

• I have a moronic sense of humour
  • On 'Meet the Feebles' (1989)

• Why leave the Shire to film in Mordor?"
  • About filming 'The Lord of the Rings' in New Zealand instead of Hollywood

• What I don't like are pompous, pretentious movies

• There's a laugh with every drop of blood
  • On 'Bad Taste' (1987)