Peter Jackson in action

Six of Peter Jackson’s Oscars quietly share desk space with a grasshopper model from James and the Giant Peach, a Lancaster Bomber, a cardboard replica of Thunderbird One, and piles of toy soldiers. “I sculpt, build, and paint as a hobby. It’s a very relaxing way to wind down before bed,” says Jackson, of the soldiers. Lately they might be especially handy for the ever-industrious Wellington filmmaker, whose current agenda includes The Lovely Bones (premiering at the end of the year), Tintin (a collaboration with Steven Spielberg), and the production of The Hobbit movies, District 9, and a remake of the W.W. II film The Damn Busters. It doesn’t seem as if he’s ever been one to shy away from a challenge, though — the desktop on his computer? Jackson standing face to face with a large bull in Queenstown.