Let the hyperventilating begin: the geek god is at long last coming to Comic-Con.
Peter Jackson is a writer and producer for Guillermo del Toros coming Hobbit films.
Each July more than 100,000 comic-book, science-fiction and fantasy fans gather in San Diego for the raucous convention known as Comic-Con International. Movie studios fly in battalions of megawatt stars to promote projects.
But one sci-fi/fantasy deity the director Peter Jackson has never attended, despite having had many of his movies hyped at the show. When Universal took his King Kong remake to Comic-Con in 2005, Mr. Jackson was holed up in an editing booth in his native New Zealand. Nor did he make it for any of the three Lord of the Rings installments, all of which he directed.
Come July 27, the director, a three-time Oscar winner, will face the mob in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center in support of District 9, an alien-internment thriller set for release by Sony on Aug. 14. Mr. Jackson produced the film, which was directed by his friend Neill Blomkamp, who will also attend.
Im thrilled that I finally have the opportunity, Mr. Jackson said in an e-mail message. Neill is a tremendously talented young director, and hes made an extraordinary film, so it was important to me to come to San Diego to spread the word. He added that attendees will be in for quite a ride, but did not elaborate.
District 9, starring a cast of unknowns, is about an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slumlike conditions on Earth. The aliens find help in a government agent sympathetic to their plight.
We are overjoyed that the stars have aligned for this, said David Glanzer, Comic-Cons director of marketing and public relations. Mr. Jackson has a huge fan base here and is notorious for listening to his fans, he said, which should make for a really interesting panel.
But so many people are looking foward to this movie here. weird.
