There and Back Again: Peter Jackson on his post-'Hobbit' life

For nearly two decades, “Hobbit” director Peter Jackson has lived and breathed the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Orcs, elves, wizards, hobbits, dwarves, dragons, and dark lords -- day in and day out, for almost 20 years.

Is it any wonder that Jackson is ready to take a vacation?

“We haven’t had a day where we haven’t woken up and there’s been a deadline coming,” Jackson said while promoting “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” in Toronto earlier this month. “You can’t believe how much we don’t want anything to do.”

Appearing even more frazzled than usual, the New Zealand filmmaker seemed relieved by the very concept of time off with his wife and filmmaking partner Fran Walsh. “It’s always been this looming thing. Now we get to wake up and done, finished… Fran and I have just so badly wanted for once in the 30-odd years of our professional lives to have nothing to do.”

Jackson and his “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” collaborators Walsh and Philippa Boyens began adapting Tolkien’s epic fantasy stories for the big screen in the late 1990s. Now, nearly 20 years, 18 Oscars, billions in box office, and countless goblin decapitations later, the sixth movie in the series – “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” – has finally hit theatres. Much like the titular hero Bilbo Baggins, the film marks the end of an extremely long and taxing journey for the Jackson and company.

“It’s the moment in time where a six-film series finally comes into focus,” the director said. “The first two ‘Hobbit’ movies are the first two acts of an eight hour story. So this is the climax of the story, but it’s also the film that’s the missing piece to carry on into ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ and on into ‘Two Towers’ and ‘Return of the King.’ Until this movie actually existed there were these parts that were sort of out there floating and now they can be together.”

With “The Hobbit” trilogy at an end, the question of Jackson’s future projects naturally came up. What's next for him? What do you do when your 20-year journey is finally over? Well, the filmmaker is currently attached to direct the second “Adventures of Tintin” movie, “Prisoners of the Sun," but he said there was a possibility that might not even happen.

“I’m pouring cold water on everything at the moment,” Jackson declared. “Now that doesn't mean that six weeks into our holiday we won’t be so bloody bored that we’ll immediately start a new project – that’d be fine – but at least we’ll do it for the right reasons.”

Once the press tour for “The Hobbit” concludes, the Oscar-winning filmmaker indicated that for now he’s perfectly content to sit back, relax, and simply contemplate what’s next.

“Looking into the future – which I’m not going to do because I’m having a holiday – but should I look into the future, I don’t know what movies I’m going to make,” Jackson admitted. “But we've put together such a great collection of wonderful actors of all different types [for these films]. I’d be a happy man if I could just make movies for the rest of my life using the cast we've used to date.”

Aside from editing the Extended Cut of “The Battle of the Five Armies” in the new year, does Jackson ever envision himself returning to Middle-earth? After all, there’s still Tolkien’s epic “The Silmarillion” left to adapt. Or will he continue to tinker with the “Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” films for years to come like fellow fantasy filmmaker George Lucas did with the “Star Wars” movies?

The short answer: No.

“I’ve got other things, other films I want to make,” Jackson said. “I think it’d be a terrible, sad thing to spend the rest of my life going over these films trying to make them better. I don’t have any intention of doing that.”

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” is in theatres now.