Movies aren’t exactly new, but for many a year directors were a professional class, not like today where the biggest directors are fanboy hobbyists who’ve taken the reins of Hollywood because they know what fans want. I’d therefore argue we’re witnessing the rise of the second generation of film directors. Ask the Tarantinos, Finchers or Jacksons of the world and they’ll tell you their heroes are the Kurosawas, Peckinpahs, Romeros and Hitchcocks of the former world.
So it’s amusing to see them emulating not just the styles but the behaviours of their personal directorial deities. When Frank Bannister (Michael J Fox) stumbles out of the corner store into a mean-looking biker in The Frighteners the pierced, leather-clad man is played by none other than its director Peter Jackson.
So it was amusing to see Jackson have his second Hitchcock cameo moment in his new film The Lovely Bones. Recognise the heavyset bearded guy testing an antique movie camera in the store where Susie’s dad Jack (Mark Wahlberg) collects his murdered daughter’s first roll of developed film? And although I’m not sure, I won’t be surprised if the camera being played with by the anonymous shopper is the same model (if not the same camera) an 11 year old Jackson crawled around on his parents’ floor with to make his first ever movie, King Kong.