How They Became Famous Well technically, this director didn't become famous until Lord of the Rings. Before those films, he was perhaps best known for a handful of comedy-horror films which fitted very comfortably into the B-movie category. Bad Taste and Dead Alive, directed in 1987 and 1992 respectively, mixed cartoonish gore with dark comedy. Bad Taste revolves around a village invaded by aliens wearing massive prosthetic heads. What They Did Next Directed and produced one of the best known, highest-grossing, critically acclaimed movie franchises of all time. There was enormous buzz around the release of LOTRs at the time, but much confusion as to the history of its director. Prospective audiences and critics were confused that such a big budget had been handed over to a director with such a low profile. They needn't have worried so much. The films were praised throughout the film world and take their place today among the greatest films ever made. Jackson is yet to convincingly repeat the trick though. Since the LOTRs he has directed the bloated, disappointing King Kong, which again utilised CGI impressively, but failed in almost every other area. Perhaps more comfortable in the Lord of the Rings universe, he returned to familiar subject matter with The Hobbit trilogy, and though extremely popular, these films have not had the same impact as his previous work.
