Peter Jackson Was Almost Fired From The Lord Of The Rings And Replaced With Quentin Tarantino

It might come as a surprise to Lord of the Rings fans, but it looks like director Peter Jackson was almost fired by controversial producer Harvey Weinstein.

According to Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-Earth (via The Stuff), Weinstein once threatened to fire Jackson from the first film and replace him with the cult director Quentin Tarantino.

Written by Ian Nathan, Anything You Can Imagine is a book detailing Jackson's journey making The Lord of The Rings movies and in it, we learn how Weinstein hated the idea of breaking up Tolkien's story into three films. The producer wanted the epic to be fit into one film, and Weinstein pushed so hard, he even threatened Jackson that he'd replace him with Tarantino if he didn't go along.

"'Harvey was like, you're either doing this or you're not. You're out. And I got Quentin ready to direct it','Ken Kamins, a fellow producer called in by Weinstein to assist on the project, told Nathan."

That's not all. The director also got a memo from Weinstein's production company giving him detailed instructions how to fit The Lord of the Ring's story into a single movie.

Jackson himself recalled receiving a memo dated June 17, 1998 from the Miramax (the Weinstein's production company) development head Jack Lechner at his New York hotel, which detailed what Nathan describes in the book as "a more radical, streamlined approach", which would enable the story to be told in a single movie. Helm's Deep would be cut, Eowyn would replace Faramir as Boromir's sister, the Balrog would disappear and even Saruman's fate was in the balance."

Of course, in the end, Jackson fought for his pitch to break the book into three films, saying that forcing the story into a single film would "disappoint every single person that has read" it. Thankfully, Weinstein ended up selling the rights of The Lord of the Rings to New Line Cinema who trusted the vision Jackson had for the project.

Read: Westworld Season 3 Officially Announced, Male and Female Actors Getting Equal Pay