Peter Jackson Reveals Why ‘Mortal Engines’ Took Ten Years to Get Made

When Mortal Engines opens in theaters this December it won't just mark his first film project [...]

When Mortal Engines opens in theaters this December it won't just mark his first film project since 2014's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It will mark the end of a ten-year journey to bring Phillip Reeves' post-apocalyptic steampunk novel to life. Now, Jackson reveals why that journey has been so long.

Jackson, who co-wrote the film, spoke told Screen Rant that he first attempted to make Mortal Engines back in 2008, but couldn't make it work at the time. The reason? Practical effects for a film of Mortal Engines' scale simply weren't possible a decade ago.

"Certainly, digital CG people and digital doubles are the thing that has really clicked in the last few years," Jackson said. "And I'm sure we'll be seeing quite a bit of that in some of the people I've shot on this film. Because this movie is the sort of scale that you can't really build sets. I mean, we're building as many sets as we can and we're building what we can but it's just such a... you know, having a city that's like a mile long on wheels and these massive... you just can't build anything [like] that this size."

The city Jackson is referring to is London. Mortal Engines is set in a future that follows the "Sixty Minutes War" which ravaged the Earth, causing cataclysmic events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Engines, gears, and wheels were attached to the city of London making it mobile and able to consume other cities. The technology spread, leading to a state of so-called "municipal Darwinism" where larger, faster cities consume smaller ones. When attempting to recreate this back in 2008. Jackson said that the plan was to use miniature sets, but didn't offer the creative flexibility that a full-size set and CGI provides. It would have been more expensive as well.

"With miniatures, it's really... it's almost to the point where miniatures are more expensive than doing things on a computer," Jackson said. "Plus, you know, with a miniature, you have to decide on your shot. You know you... you know, obviously you've got the shot and there's a miniature DP and you decide on what the camera move is, and you do it and that's your shot. So, I think the flexibility and the discovery of how, you know... of how to cover some piece of action with a visual camera is a great tool."

As for who is getting those shots, Mortal Engines will be the directorial debut of Christian Rivers, worked as a storyboard artist and art director on both of Jackson's franchises and even won a Visual Effects Oscar for his work on King Kong. You can get a taste for what to expect both from Reeve and the CGI for Mortal Engines in the first official trailer for the film released yesterday.

Mortal Engines opens in theaters on December 14th.

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