Wellington.Scoop
The Hollywood Reporter yesterday named Peter Jackson and his colleagues Fran Walsh and Carolynne Cunningham as producers of the year.

In giving them this honour, the publication says that District 9, which is among the most acclaimed releases of the year, is “a reminder of just how effective Jackson, Walsh and Cunningham are as producers.

“For this and their upcoming adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel ‘The Lovely Bones’, the Hollywood Reporter has selected them as its producers of the year.”

Curiously, writes the magazine, Jackson doesn’t think of himself as a producer. Then again, he doesn’t entirely think of himself as a director, either.

“If I have to fill out a passport form or something, in the space to list your occupation I always put ‘filmmaker,’ ” Jackson says by phone from Wellington. “I’ve always thought of myself making films, whether that’s directing, producing or writing. It’s all part of the same process.”

The Los Angeles-based publication reports that unlike many producers, the trio — through Jackson and Walsh’s Wellington, Wellington-based Wingnut Films — don’t seek out projects from others. “We always develop our own,” Jackson explains. “We don’t regard our company or our activities as having any broader context than just making the films we want to make.”

Jackson has told the Hollywood Reporter that he will spend the next year producing “Tintin” and two “Hobbit” movies, which means he won’t direct again before the end of 2010 at the earliest.

“You don’t have to be based in Hollywood to make powerful movies,” writes the influential film industry magazine.