The Lord of the Rings Producer Barrie Osborne is no stranger to larger-than-life film productions. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) documents the creation of Francis Ford Coppola's celebrated Apocalypse Now!, and features Coppola's famous declaration at the Cannes press conference: "My movie is not about Vietnam—my movie is Vietnam!" Michael Sagrow, writing about Coppola on salon.com, notes that there was "something both lunatic and exhilarating" about Coppola's further explanation—"We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane."

Barrie Osborne was the Production Manager for Apocalypse Now!. In interviews following press screenings of The Return of the King in L.A., Osborne downplayed any comparison between Jackson's films and Coppola's. But the comparisons are hard not to draw—not that New Line threw too much money or equipment at Tolkien's story, or that Jackson, et al., went crazy in the task; but in the same way that Coppola's film took on the character of its subject in the crucible of the production, so also did Jackson's cinematic trilogy take on the character of Frodo's struggle to destroy Sauron's Ring.

"The past seven years of my life has been consumed with writing, directing and producing The Lord of the Rings trilogy," Jackson wrote in publicity materials for The Return of the King. "It has been an exhausting journey, not unlike that of our fictional protagonists, Frodo and Sam; there has not been much sleep, no time for a normal life and there were days when we all wondered if we would make it to the end."

But make it they did. And oddly enough, Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens—the three principal screenwriters for the Rings series
—are just as perplexed, at this point in time, as Frodo and Sam at Mount Doom.

If the last seven years' story arc—the production cycle for Jackson's The Lord of the Rings—is compared to the story arc of the movies themselves, the press screenings and international premiers of Return during the first week of December mark the climax of the story, just as the destruction of the Ring at Mount Doom marks the climax of Tolkien's story. And at Mount Doom, all Frodo and Sam really know is that the task has been more-or-less successfully completed; they are not really sure of their fate, nor sure of how history will remember their effort.

Jackson expresses some of this same feeling when he writes, "I am happy to let these films go off into the world and for them to become whatever this generation, or future generations, make of them. Whether my contribution is ultimately judged 'dainty or undainty,' it has now been made." But he is being somewhat disingenuous when he coyly concludes, "The trilogy is truly out of my hands now and in the hands of those for whom these films were made: the people who love these books and who have always loved film."

The Return of the King, as we all know, is not really finished—nor is the trilogy finished, nor the story arc of Jackson's production concluded—until the postproduction and press tour is completed for the inevitable Extended Version (and complete boxed set). There are even likely to be pick-ups and voice-overs for some actors. So what Jackson is really facing, and commenting on, is the denouement of his own story. Still to come for Jackson? His own Houses of Healing, his own Scouring of the Shire, his own Grey Havens. The difference is that Jackson knows these things lie before him—much as Frodo knows what lies before him, while Sam, Merry and Pippin somewhat blithely assume that Frodo will be around forever.

So what is Jackson's mood at this point? Not all that sunny. Take his opinion of the movie's ending as an example. While Walsh believes that Frodo's fate demonstrates a confidence that we "will endure in some form?—that there's more to life than life, that Frodo himself transcends death—and concurs with the comfort of that vision, Jackson begs to differ. "It's extremely poignant that Frodo effectively is ultimately killed at the end of this film. I mean, he does ultimately die in the film. He can't live." He pauses to reflect a moment. "Yeah. It just makes [the conclusion] very sad."

Fans who haven't seen the film need not be unduly alarmed by Jackson's comments; and those who have may be rightly befuddled. But if we remember that Jackson is still in the middle of his own story—and remember that he knows, like Frodo, that his own story is really still far from over—we can forgive him if he seems burdened by the sadness which weighs on him. He has carried the weight of his own Ring; and while Boyens and Walsh, like Sam, have helped carry him, they have not carried the Ring themselves, nor have they paid quite the personal price which Jackson has. It would be tempting to remark that Jackson still has his own cross to bear, if only he believed in such a thing.

So while Jackson's personal denouement sees cast and crew mostly go off on their merry way following the climax of the production's story arc—while Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd buy their home-away-from-work to enjoy together in New Zealand; while Sean Astin continues his own path as a director and father; while Orlando Bloom moves on to grand spectacles like Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Troy; while Liv Tyler finds a new life in marriage—the tale is not yet over for Jackson. It's a good thing that he has found joy in the fellowship along the way, for there does not seem to be much joy left in the work that has been "prepared in advance" for him to do.

"I have been lucky enough to work with some of the most talented cast and crew any filmmaker could wish for, anywhere in the world," he says. "Through the long years of production it was apparent that we all had one thing in common: a great and enduring love of the books, which in turn, resulted in an unfailing commitment to do our best work on these films."

And with that, Jackson has come to his own Mount Doom, and has thrust his own burden into the flames: the weight of Tolkien's Rings.

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