Llygaid Sgwâr gan Philip Wyn Jones: The Lovely Bones

(Scroll down for English version)

Cafodd Peter Jackson ei urddo'n farchog ar ddiwedd mis Rhagfyr y llynedd; profiad, meddai, oedd yn well na'r Oscars a ddaeth i'w ran hyd yn hyn. Ganed ef nid nepell o ddinas Wellington, Seland Newydd, ym mis Hydref 1961 i rieni oedd wedi ymfudo yno o Brydain.

Tra'n blentyn hoffai wylio'r gyfres deledu Thunderbirds ac unrhyw ffilm oedd yn cynnwys gwaith Ray Harryhausen, pencampwr yr effeithiau arbennig. King Kong (1933) oedd prif ysbrydoliaeth Harryhausen a dyna hoff ffilm Jackson hefyd. Yn wir, penderfynodd ei hail-wneud ac yntau'n ddeuddeng mlwydd oed gan ddefnyddio camera'r teulu, a Kong wedi'i wneud o rwber, darn o wifren a rhan o got ffwr ei fam. O hynny ymlaen, trwy arbrofi'n gyson, dysgodd am effeithiau arbennig, coluro a golygu.

Roedd yn ei arddegau pan ddarganfu lyfrau J.R.R.Tolkien am y tro cyntaf. Cyfarwyddodd ei ffilm nodwedd gyntaf, The Valley, ym 1976. Yn y ffilm amatur hon mae pedwar anturiaethwr (Jackson a'i ffrindiau!) yn meddwl eu bod wedi teithio'n ôl mewn amser ond wedi cael eu cipio i'r dyfodol y maen nhw. Yn fuan ar ôl hyn cafodd Jackson ei swydd gyntaf, yn dysgu'r broses argraffu ar bapur newydd yn Wellington.

Dechreuodd ei yrfa sinematig o ddifri gyda thair ffilm sy'n cyfuno comedi a thrais gwaedlyd eithafol, sef Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1989) a Braindead (1992). Mae'r tair ffilm wedi tyfu'n gwlt. Mae'r gyntaf yn adrodd hanes teithwyr o'r gofod sy'n chwilio am bobl i'w troi'n brydau parod, yr ail yn ffilm bypedau sy'n cynnwys trais, rhyw, cyffuriau a lladd, a'r drydedd yn ffilm zombis. Achosodd pob un broblemau i'r sensoriaid ac yn achos yr olaf torrwyd rhwng deg ac ugain munud allan ohoni neu ei gwahardd yn gyfan gwbl.

Hyd yn hyn roedd Jackson yn adnabyddus i gynulleidfa gymharol gyfyng ac arbenigol ond ym 1994 ymunodd â'r brif ffrwd gyda thair ffilm amrywiol iawn. Seiliwyd Heavenly Creatures ar lofruddiaeth enwog yn Seland Newydd; dwy gyfeilles yn eu harddegau yn llofruddio mam un ohonynt. Portreadwyd un o'r merched gan Kate Winslet. Ym 1995 cyfarwyddodd Jackson y ffilm ddogfen Forgotten Silver, portread o arloeswr yn hanes sinema Seland Newydd. Achosodd y ffilm hon gryn gynnwrf ar ôl i bobl sylweddoli mai jôc oedd y cyfan ac mai Jackson ei hun oedd wedi ffilmio'r darnau cyntefig o'r archifau. The Frighteners (1996) oedd y drydedd ffilm. Michael J. Fox oedd y prif actor yn y gomedi iasoer hon am bensaer sy'n gallu cyfathrebu â'r meirw. Lleolwyd y stori yn yr Unol Daleithiau ond gwnaed y ffilmio yn Seland Newydd.

Hefyd ym 1996 treuliodd Jackson chwe mis yn paratoi fersiwn newydd o King Kong ond penderfynwyd gohirio'r prosiect am y tro ac yn yr un flwyddyn enillodd e'r hawl i ffilmio llyfrau ‘The Lord of the Rings’ J.R.R.Tolkien. Ar ôl cryn oedi ac anghytuno penderfynwyd gwneud tair ffilm fyddai'n cyfateb i'r tair cyfrol yn y gyfres. Ffilmiwyd y prif olygfeydd rhwng mis Hydref 1999 a Rhagfyr 2000. Yna, cyn rhyddhau'r rhannau unigol gwnaed llawer o waith ôl-gynhyrchu a ffilmio ychwanegol. Ymddangosodd y ffilmiau yn 2001, 2002 a 2003. Rhyngddynt enillon nhw 17 Oscar, gan gynnwys un i Jackson am gyfarwyddo'r ffilm olaf, The Return of the King.

Yn 2005 daeth prosiect King Kong yn fyw eto. Penderfynodd Jackson gadw'n ffyddlon at fersiwn 1933 o ran cymeriadau, digwyddiadau a golygfeydd unigol ond bod cyfle nawr i fanylu ac ymhelaethu. Bu'r ffilm yn llwyddiant ysgubol, yn arbennig y tu allan i'r Unol Daleithiau ac ar DVD.

The Lovely Bones (2009) yw ffilm ddiweddaraf Jackson fel cyfarwyddwr. Cafodd ei seilio ar nofel gan Alice Sebold a dreisiwyd gan ddyn oedd wedi llofruddio merched eraill. Portreadir y llofrudd, George Harvey, gan Stanley Tucci a'r ferch bedair ar ddeg oed gan Saoirse Ronan oedd yn dair ar ddeg oed ar adeg y ffilmio. Yn y nofel a'r ffilm caiff y ferch ei llofruddio yn gynnar yn y stori ac mae hi'n cadw golwg ar bawb a phopeth o'i safle yn y nefoedd.

Yn ogystal â chynhyrchu ei ffilmiau ei hun mae Jackson eisoes wedi cynhyrchu District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009) ac mae'n bwriadu cynhyrchu The Dambusters (Christian Rivers, 2010), The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Steven Spielberg, 2011), a The Hobbit, 1 a 2 (Guillermo del Toro, 2011 a 2012).

Philip Wyn Jones
Golygydd ac adolygydd ar ei liwt ei hun
philip@philipwyn.wanadoo.co.uk

-----

Film director and producer Sir Peter Jackson was knighted in December 2009. More exciting, he exclaimed, than winning an Oscar. He was born not far from Wellington, New Zealand, in October 1961 to British parents who had migrated there.

As a child he loved watching Thunderbirds on TV and any films that featured the magical special effects of Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen had been inspired by the 1933 King Kong which was also Jackson's favourite film. At the age of twelve he decided to re-make it using the family's camera and a King Kong made out of rubber, pieces of wire and his mother's fur coat! His film career had begun. Over the next few years he learnt all about special effects, make-up and editing.

In his teens he encountered the writings of J.R.R.Tolkien for the first time. He directed his first feature in 1976. The Valley, starring Jackson and his friends, was a time-travel adventure. Four explorers think they have gone back in time whereas they are actually in the future. Soon afterwards he left school and was employed as a printer on a Wellington newspaper.

His film career really took off when he made three films notable for their comedy and extreme violence; Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1989) and Braindead (1992). All three rapidly achieved cult status. The first presents travellers from outer space who are on a mission to process humans into fast food, the second features puppets, rape, sex, drugs and murder, the third is a zombie movie. Each film was a censor's worst nightmare. Braindead was either banned outright or passed in versions minus between ten and twenty minutes.

Up to this point Jackson had appealed to a rather specialised minority audience but he joined the mainstream in 1994 with three very different films. Heavenly Creatures was based on a notorious New Zealand murder case. Two teenage girlfriends killed one of their mothers. One of the girls was portrayed by Kate Winslet. In 1995 Jackson directed a documentary, Forgotten Silver, about a pioneer of New Zealand cinema. This film proved to be very controversial once the public realised that it was a practical joke. The scratchy archive footage was the work of Jackson himself. The Frighteners (1996) starred Michael J. Fox and was a scary comedy about an architect who could communicate with the dead. This film had an American setting but was shot entirely in New Zealand.

Also in 1996 Jackson spent six months preparing a new version of King Kong but the studio decided to shelve the project for a while. At about the same time he acquired the rights to film Tolkien's ‘The Lord of the Rings’. After much disagreement it was decided to make three films which would correspond to Tolkien's three volumes. Principal photography for all three took place between October 1999 and December 2000. Before each part was released extensive post-production work and additional filming was undertaken. The films appeared in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and between them garnered seventeen Oscars including one for Jackson as director of the last of the three, The Return of the King.

In 2005 the King Kong project was revived. This time Jackson decided to stay close to the 1933 version with regard to characters, events and individual scenes but felt free at the same time to go into more detail and be expansive. The film was a great success especially outside the USA and on DVD.

The Lovely Bones (2009) is Jackson's most recent film as director. It is based on a novel by Alice Sebold who discovered that the man who had raped her was guilty of the rape and murder of other young women. The murderer, George Harvey, is portrayed by Stanley Tucci and the fourteen year old victim by Saoirse Ronan who was aged thirteen when the film was made. In the novel and film the girl is murdered early in the story and observes subsequent events from her vantage point in heaven.

As well as producing his own films Jackson has produced District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009) and plans to produce The Dambusters (Christian Rivers, 2010), The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Steven Spielberg, 2011) and The Hobbit, 1 and 2 (Guillermo del Toro, 2011 and 2012).

Philip Wyn Jones
Freelance editor and reviewer
philip@philipwyn.wanadoo.co.uk