Peter Jackson Turned Down Directing 'Aquaman' – Twice

Don't even think about asking Peter Jackson to direct a superhero movie, because he's not interested. The Lord of the Rings filmmaker recently revealed that he's not interested in directing a superhero film, so much so that he turned down the opportunity to direct Aquaman twice. To be fair, Jackson doesn't say he hates superhero movies – just that he'd rather not spend his time making one.

Peter Jackson hasn't directed a big scale feature film since 2014's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and while he might return to blockbuster filmmaking again some day, don't expect his next project to feature superheroes. Speaking with Empire, Jackson revealed that in the past, Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara approached him about directing Aquaman, and Jackson had to turn him down twice.

"He said, 'Are you a fan of Aquaman?' I said, 'No.' Six months later: 'Peter, are you a fan of Aquaman?' I said, 'No, Kevin, I already told you this,'" said Jackson. He added: "I'm not a superhero guy...films are hard. I only want to make something that I have a deep passion for." It's hard to argue with that reasoning, and when you're Peter Jackson, you can afford to pick and choose your projects.

As for when we can expect Jackson to get back to feature filmmaking, Jackson stated: "I don't really anticipate making another theatrical film for a year or two." It seems the only sort of comic book related content Jackson is interested in is Tintin – a project he's been attached to direct for years now.

Last year, a rumor surfaced claiming Jackson was mulling over a DCEU project. That was after Aquaman had finished filming, which suggests that Jackson briefly dabbled with the idea of directing another superhero movie, or that the rumor was totally false. Based on Jackson's comments here, I'm guessing the latter is the case.

Hobbit prequels aside (ugh), Jackson is a wonderful filmmaker, and I have no doubt he could've brought something interesting to Aquaman had he wanted the gig. But everything worked out for the best: James Wan ended up helming the film, and created a big, goofy, wildly enjoyable epic that ended up surprisingly almost everyone, and breaking box office records too.

In any case, I look forward to Jackson returning in "a year or two" – provided he's not making more Hobbit sequels. In the meantime, his acclaimed Word War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old is now available on Blu-ray and digital.