76The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

In discussion with Looking Closer, co-writer Peter Jackson was as interested in Tolkien’s inspiration as his writing, when it came to recreating that fantastic world onscreen. “He was just a guy who was profoundly irritated by things and annoyed, and he vented through this book that he created. And most of the things that he was irritated about are very reasonable things to be angry about,” including the destructive effects of the Industrial Revolution on his beloved English countryside, represented by the Shire and the Ring. “We actually tried to honor all that stuff. We made a real decision at the beginning that we weren't going to introduce any new themes of our own into The Lord of the Rings films. We wanted to make a film that was based on what Tolkien was passionate about.”