Commissioned by Harvey Weinstein, the journey to Mordor was supposed to take half the time.
Hollywood careers are like icebergs, and the movies you actually see are just the tip breaking through the surface.
One of the great painful truths of working inside the system is that filmmakers can build entire careers out of developing material and selling work without having anything to show the ticket-buying public. It’s why so many films get announced then never happen. For directors, it’s a numbers game. Staying afloat means developing 10 things and praying to god at least one of them actually gets made.