After the reported war between new line and Peter Jackson over some creative issues surrounding the production and selling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson has gone off to generate a filmmaking empire in his native country of New Zealand. There he has set up headquarters and managed to bring together a team of experts and the top of the line talent in the film industry.

On his latest project, the highly anticipated remake of King Kong, he has chosen to work with Naomi Watts from 21 Grams and the recent Best Actor Oscar-Winner Adrian Brodey, and lets not forget the always satisfying Jack Black in a turn as a film director.

While many might criticize Jackson for his overusage of special effects, he has gathered a huge fan base and following mainly because of his faithful adaptation of the beloved Lord or the Rings novel.

There are really just a handful of filmmakers in Hollywood these days who have everything they need at their disposal. They are the Cecile B. DeMilles of today and to whom only imagination can be limiting - and even then they can hire the best writers in the industry. Jackson stands on a pedestal right next to Spielberg, Lucas and James Cameron.

This is bringing us back to a time when directors we are auteur instead of simple button pushers like most TV directors. "When you build a movie with a big ship in the middle of the ocean, you know that youve made it at the top of the list in Hollywood. If you consider it Spielberg made Amistad, Jackson made King Kong and do we need to mention James Camerons ship movie?" says Stewart Greensberg, a film studio analyst.

There is so much power going around that sometimes you feel that its limited and monopolized by the ones on top and its not accessible to anyone else. While some filmmakers have truly worked their way to the top like Spielberg, others have gained power and success almost overnight with a great big movie like Titanic or Passion of the Christ.

Peter Jackson was not a famed director - he had previously made the Frighteners with Michael J. Fox - with a few minor films, but what truly brought him into the great wide spaces was the risk he took with the three films. The Weinsteins originally wanted him to contruct one big movie, but he was the one who pulled away to keep the integrity of the novel.

While he is also rumored to have also had a hand in the making of a few independent films such as Crash and Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com), Jackson concentrates mainly on his epic productions that keep him on his toes and push him to take more risks everyday.