Peter Jackson frames AI as simply the next evolution in special effects technology — a natural progression from the groundbreaking techniques he pioneered with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His position on licensing actors' likenesses shows he's not anti-innovation, just pro-fair-compensation.
Jackson's comments reveal Hollywood's quiet anxiety about how AI discourse has poisoned the well for traditional motion-capture performers. Insiders know Serkis has been campaigning for awards recognition for years — and this is him finally getting a sympathetic ally to make that argument publicly.
Jackson received his Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes on May 12, 2026, presented by Elijah Wood. At Cannes in 2001, the first 20 minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring footage earned rapturous reception — changing perceptions of what became a $2.9 billion franchise.
Jackson's nuanced take cuts through the AI hysteria: licensed use is fair game, stolen likenesses are not. But his real message is an apology of sorts for Gollum — acknowledging that Serkis poured his soul into a performance that awards bodies will never properly recognize.
Peter Jackson doesn't "dislike" artificial intelligence in film — but he thinks the current cultural panic around the technology has unfairly robbed Andy Serkis of awards recognition for his iconic portrayal of Gollum. The Lord of the Rings director made these comments during a Cannes Film Festival masterclass on May 13, 2026, one day after receiving an Honorary Palme d'Or at the festival's opening ceremony. Jackson acknowledged that AI is "going to destroy the world" in broader terms — but when it comes to cinema specifically, he sees it as just another tool.
"To me, it's just a special effect," Jackson said. "It's no different from other special effects." The director, who pioneered groundbreaking digital techniques during his Middle-earth trilogy, positioned himself as pragmatic rather than alarmist on the creative applications of emerging technology. His stance contrasts sharply with many in Hollywood who have called for outright bans or moratoriums on AI-generated content.
That said, Jackson was emphatic about protecting performers' rights to their own likenesses. "If you're doing an AI duplicate of somebody, like Indiana Jones or anyone else, as long as you've licensed the rights off the person who you're showing, I don't see the issue," he explained. "It's when people's likenesses get stolen and usurped." This carve-out for licensed use suggests Jackson sees a workable path forward — one that compensates actors rather than erasing them from the process entirely.
His comments arrive as studios increasingly explore digital resurrection of deceased performers and de-aging technology, moves that have sparked legal battles and union activism. The darker consequence of Hollywood's AI anxiety, according to Jackson, is its chilling effect on motion-capture performances — specifically Serkis' work as Gollum. "I don't think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope for winning any awards," Jackson said.
"Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it's not an AI-generated performance, it's a human-generated performance 100% of the way." This distinction matters to Jackson: motion-capture requires extraordinary physical and vocal commitment from living actors, yet audiences increasingly associate any digital character with artificial intelligence. The result, he argues, is that Serkis — who spent years developing Gollum's distinctive voice and mannerisms through sheer craft — will never receive Academy recognition for work that deserves it.
Jackson also addressed the upcoming Hunt for Gollum film, which Serkis is both directing and starring in — a project Jackson chose not to helm himself. "The film is about Gollum's psychological and addiction," Jackson explained. "I thought, 'Andy knows this guy better than anybody.' So I actually didn't think much of me [directing the new movie].
I thought the most exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis makes it." The decision marks a rare instance of a franchise creator stepping aside to let someone else shape an iconic character — and signals how deeply Jackson respects Serkis' ownership over Gollum's essence. Whether audiences will embrace a Middle-earth story told entirely from its most tragic figure's perspective remains to be seen, but under Serkis' direction, it promises to be unlike anything the franchise has attempted before.
Elijah Wood presented Jackson with his honorary Cannes honor during Tuesday night's opening ceremony, delivering an emotional tribute to the filmmaker who launched his career. "You showed the world something it had never seen before, and nothing was ever the same," Wood told his director. "He helped build an entirely new filmmaking culture at the far edge of the world." Jackson recalled in his own speech that shooting all three Lord of the Rings films back-to-back was initially dubbed a "folly" by media critics who predicted financial disaster — until Cannes 25 years ago, when 20 minutes of Fellowship footage won over skeptical industry observers and changed everything.
