The Lord of the Rings (film series) the series are fans of the book, including Christopher Lee, who (alone among the cast) had actually met Tolkien in person, and Boyens once noted that no matter what, it is simply their interpretation of the book. Jackson once said that to simply summarize the story on screen would be a mess, and in his own words, "Sure, it's not really "The Lord of the Rings"... but it could still be a pretty damn cool movie." Other fans also claim that, despite any changes, the films serve as a tribute to the book, appealing to those who have not yet
The Hobbit (film series) between "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". Jackson concurred, stating that "one of the drawbacks of "The Hobbit" is its relatively lightweight compared to "LOTR" ["The Lord of the Rings"] ... There's a lot of sections in which a character like Gandalf disappears for a while – he references going off to meet with the White Council, who are actually characters like Galadriel and Saruman and people that we see in "Lord of the Rings". He mysteriously vanishes for a while and then comes back, but we don't really know what goes on." Jackson was also interested in