Aunty Donna Podcast - Some Blokes Having A Cup Of Tea In A Kitchenette feat. George Lucas, Peter Jackson & Richard Taylor

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

NOT The 56th Anniversary of the Moon Landing. LINKS  Buy tickets to our DREM World Tour https://tour.auntydonna.com/ Follow @theauntydonnagallery on Instagram https://bit.ly/auntydonna-ig  Become a Patreon supporter at http://auntydonnaclub.com/  Join The Aunty Donna Club: https://www.patreon.com/auntydonnaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friends, we are doing our last tour for a fair while with our brand new show Drem. It's the funniest show we've made, in my opinion. Tickets are on sale now. Go to tour.auntiedonna.com A listener production. Hello, everybody. A very exciting episode of the Aunty Donna podcast. We have read your complaints online. We are sticking to the topic. we are elevating the podcast. This is an episode all about the 56th anniversary of the moon landing and we stick to it.

If you want to watch this podcast, there's some funny visual gags, you can watch it on theauntydonaclub.com. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Aunty Donna podcast. You're listening to the Aunty Donna podcast. The greatest fucking podcast in the world. Burning my contact and sometimes I guess we hope you enjoy the motherfucking podcast. Welcome to the Aunty Donna podcast. A few days ago a very special anniversary was had.

The 56th anniversary of the moon landing, where human beings proved their capability, their prowess. Not only did we travel from this small rock to the moon, to the other celestial bodies, we televised it live. Today we're going to be talking, beat by beat, day by day, just how NASA, the American government and those heroes up on the moon achieved it in this very special episode celebrating the 56th anniversary of the moon landing. Wow.

Can you believe it's been 56 years? Yes. Can you say joining us today is Peter Jackson? What? Peter, your film mate. Oh yeah, and George Lucas. Oh. Oh.

To talk about. I was saying, I just do address. We didn't talk about this. Yeah, like we didn't talk, I came in just as me just before. Yeah. Just ignore that that happened. Ignore that that happened. And we've not discussed

that we would be playing these characters until now. Yeah, no, that's fine. To talk about this monumental occasion and specifically its impact on entertainment, we have two wonderful and exciting filmmakers. Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings, The Frighteners, an executive producer on that one where cities are on wheels. Peter, welcome. Zeke, thank you so much for having me this morning. It's wonderful to be here and to talk about that 56 years ago. 56 years ago the people walked on the moon and they said we can never do it and it was much similar to when I directed Lord of the Rings. Now Peter, you're a big believer in restoration of footage.

Is there a restoration of that moon landing footage on the horizon from you and the folks at Wedder Digital? Look, it's a very interesting thought because obviously we found that footage... Oh no. My leg fell off. What? Excuse me? What are you talking about? No, it's fine. Stop the music.

No, no, no, no. It's fine. it's fine, it is fine, it's fine. Did you just say your leg fell off? Yeah, just plopped off, like a doll. Oh Jesus Christ. Like a doll, just plopped off. That's one of the most confronting things I've ever seen. And I've worked with Wetter Digital for many years and we can conjure many things. For example, Jack Black, when he was fighting those bugs in King Kong,

I just told him to say, just swing wherever you like and then we put in the bugs later. So to see a man's leg literally fall off in front of me is quite an affronting thought. George Lucas is here as well. Listen, I'm going to just hop off, I'm going to just hop, I'm going to hop literally. I'm just going to go to the doctor really quickly. Well I would absolutely if your leg has fallen off and there's no pain. No viscera, you understand. Like literally like a ball joint. Kind of like the Trade Federation battle joints.

I'm just gonna step away. George Lucas talking about Star Wars. I'm gonna pop my leg back in. And your legs fallen off and popped back in. It reminds me of when C-3PO was in the air. You guys are good for a bit. I popped my leg back in. And your leg's fallen off without any blood or pain. It reminds me of when C-3PO was in the factory. You guys are good for a bit. You're genuinely not feeling any pain still.

There's no pain. You can see the socket, the bone socket joint. Can you see it? It's like a doll. I have to go to a doctor really quick. It's similar to when I was directing They Shall Not Grow Old, which has found footage from the war sites of World War I. Those young fellows. Look, he's hobbling away with one foot, he's got no leg. And that's what we did with this

show not grow old, these young fellows are sent off to war. What happened to that guy's leg? I'm not sure exactly, it just looked like his leg kind of popped off. Right, well he was sort of running the show which is more of a concern for me now because we're, you're George Lucas the director of Star Wars. Peter Jackson. The person who wanted to do this 56 year storytelling of the moon landing which was an incredible time I remember being a young fellow and seeing that footage on television affected me in

a deeply profound way. I was napping. The person who was running this this chit, his leg fell off and now he's left the podcast literally. Maybe this can be turned more into like a GQ kind of director on director kind of situation. What is it that drives you actually when I think of it at that point? His name uh, Junior. He's the son of mine. Oh, your little driver? Yeah, I gave him a little job, one of my sons. I called him the same name as me and then he just drives me around.

Do you pay him sort of a, is he on a retaining feed? Does he work on, do you pay him superannuation and things like that? He gets a million dollars a day. A million, you pay- A million dollars a day. You pay your son's friend a million dollars a day to drive you around? Yeah. My son. You pay your son a million dollars to drive you around? Yeah, he doesn't drive me around, he's one drive. Is he your son or is he your son's friend a million dollars a day to drive you around? Yeah, my son. You pay your son a million dollars to drive you around?

He doesn't drive me around, he's the one who drives me. Is he your son or is he your friend's son? He's my son's friend, he's my son, he's my friend and he's my son. Does that make sense? Oh, you're friends with your son, that's a lovely thought. I made Star Wars. You made Star Wars? I changed, I changed, I'm, I, there was no such thing as a blockbuster before the war.

Is that coming back? I don't know. This feels relatively rattlesnap because I'm Peter Jackson. I've made the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I look behind. I'm looking now. There's no sign of him outside of the podcast studio.

I directed four Star Wars films. I thought you directed six, did you not? Because there's A New Hope, which I loved. It was a huge profound effect to me when I was a young lad. I directed that one. Yeah, and then there's a second one called the Empire Strikes Back. I co-wrote and produced that one. You didn't write that one? I didn't write it. You didn't direct that one? Right. What was that process like jumping away from behind the behind the lens? Um, I lost a lot of control and it made me very upset. So I said, when I do more of these films I'm not going to let anyone...

You're not a very clear talker. Well, you know what I'm saying. Has anyone ever told you that... I like to speak fast and intense. Yeah, but has anyone ever told you that you're quite hard to decipher the things you're saying? Yeah, my ex-wife Martha is one of the many reasons she edited. You know, she actually edited the first Star Wars movie. I did not know that.

That's fascinating. Look, so the coach has come into the podcast now and he's sitting down, he's got some sort of canned coffee. Well, you went and got a drink. I would love a drink. Yeah, you got a canned coffee drink. Oh, you want a drink? Who are you?

Don't you go and get it. Oh, hey. What are you doing? We're discussing what we're supposed to be. Oh, I'm George Lucas. Oh, fuck. what are you doing? We're discussing that was supposed to be I'm George Lucas. Oh What's wrong I forgot Because I Went outside and I was this

Because you were playing you were doing a character. Do you remember that? Yeah, I remember that now. A person who loves the NASA moon landing. Your leg plopped off without blood. Yeah, but then I was thirsty so I went and bought a drink from the little, you know, over at the radio side of the building. They have drinks for sale.

It's hard to know how to address this because I feel odd to break character. Yeah, I'm not going to break character. Do you think that I would break character? When I was making Lord of the Rings if I just broke characters any minute do you think that would be fair? No, I don't think that would be fair. On Peter Jackson I directed Lord of the Rings in King Kong. I'm George Lucas I'm an executive producer on the Indiana Jones series and I directed Star Wars. I created that from my mind. Do you want me to do like a serious interviewer character for you guys? Oh no I want you to be the guy whose fucking leg fell off. I can't remember what I was doing. What was the leg thing? Jesus Christ like you can't just be

leaving the podcast studio and not having character that character went to the doctor who's gonna come back and tell us why his leg plopped off without pain. Yeah we don't have a lot. Plopped off without pain? We don't have a lot. You played a character. We need an anchor. Yeah but I don't have a lot. Plopped off without pain. We don't have a lot. You played a character. We need an anchor. Yeah, but I don't remember a guy with his leg plopped off. You were playing. This episode was about the NASA moon landing. Yeah. We're celebrating the 56th anniversary, Zech,

of the moon landing. And why is Peter Jackson and George Lucas here? Because at the start of this, it just felt right that I would play a filmmaker who talked about its impact on me as a young lad. Actually Peter Jackson makes sense. Yeah, and then he likes it because he's a nerd as well, they're both nerds. And then you decided brief moments after that, after that, after that, you decided moments

briefly after that that you would have your leg fall off, plop off. What? Plop off? It plopped off like it doesn't sound like something over the sack you said it was like a doll it's a genuine worry Zek that you can just leave the room go get a drink go get a drink yeah if we all did that it would be absolute chaos you can get a drink if you want I I don't mind. See, I feel... Do you think it's John Doosan? John Doosan can have a drink any time he wants. Do you understand that? He pays his son one million dollars a day to drive him around.

That's what drives me. Oh, really? Yeah. What drives you? What drives me is the will to make greatness on the screen. I was beautifully affected by screen images when I was growing up. And so things like, they shall not grow old,

the story of World War I veterans and their story. The Hobbit. The Hobbit, which is the story of Lord of the Rings. Yeah, Pete, when we gonna get that 4K Blu-ray of your early works? That's a great question. I'm working away at it at the moment. In my Wellington office,

we're sitting there working through, trying to get those early works of process Blu-rayed. Get them into the criterion collection. He's a Blu-rayed is that what you call it? I call it Blu-rayed. Yeah right. You should go back and add some... Are we going to do the NASA thing with...

You want to do the NASA thing? Yeah I think that would be good. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to step out as Zack. Oh my god. When I come back I will be... What was the guy? What was his vibe? It was kind of like 3AW guys you do. Sort of that low... Very similar to 3AW and his leg had popped out.

Plopped off. Plopped off. Plopped off. Please say, just for a minute, just a bit of decorum. A bit of a modicum of respect for the podcast. It's what we're asking for because I'm playing Lord of the Rings as Peter Jackson and you're playing George Lucas who made four Star Wars films but produced more and from my understanding you stole it entirely from June, is that right? Not entirely, I took some things. Spice? Yeah, Hans Solo was a spice, you know, he was a smuggler and he smuggled spice. Now, a character has just walked into the room.

He's walking with both his legs, which is a concession for me. Hey guys, what's up? Jesus Christ! Who are you? Zach. I believe it's Zach. And who are you guys? I'm trying to look into this.

Oh, fine. Yeah, and you are? I'm Peter Jackson. Oh, great. Yeah, it's Zach. And who are you guys? I'm trying to look into this. Oh fine. Yeah and you are? I'm Peter Jackson. Great yeah yeah cool so we're gonna do like a interview type thing. Now what's happened with your brain as soon as you left this room? Because I was under the understanding and I don't know about you George. Well I'm pretty upset about all of this. I came here to talk about two things very specifically. What are they? Moon landing. Yeah, me too. And when I did a cameo in the OC and I spoke to the character Seth about Char Char Binks.

Well we can get to those things once we get to those two strangely different... I thought those were the two things I was invited here to talk about. The strange cadence between those two things you're brought in to talk about on the Antidote. And I want to talk about those Sherlock Rolls. Crazy characters. I loved that Sherlock Rolls. Crazy characters, like, bizarre beings, just coming up in my mind. George, if I can get a moment, please.

What are you doing? What is happening to you when you leave this room? You had a wonderful character whose leg was plopping off. So much comedic potential about this character whose limbs just fall away from their body, like fruit that's matured too much off the tree and fell. Like Newton found with an apple fell on top of his head and he said, that's gravity. The legs still.

The legs still here on the floor. Yes, in my mind, there's still a rotting foot on the floor. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you left the room just then and you said to us, Zach, you gave me Peter Jackson and him, George Lucas, the director of A New Hope, our word that you would come in with a new character and now you're pouting your lips? A new character?

No, I wouldn't come in with a new character. You want me to step out and come in with a new character? I'd like the same character from the start. I'd like the plopped off limb character. And he was like a plopped off limb guy. Yes, please bring in plopped off limb guy. Okay, sure. Why am I struggling with the accent is my my concern?

It's a hard accent to jump straight into um I won't leave the room I think something's happening when I step through the door that my brain sort of something There's some sort of like switch at that door like a severance type situation. I've not seen that no No, I'm I would have but I haven't um So it feels like when I step through that door my brain stops working or something. So I'm not going to step through the door, I'm just going to come back as this limb plopping off guy. Do you even need to get up? Uh, no. No. Okay.

So I'm getting up. Maybe just turn around. Yeah, I'll turn around and I'll come back. Oh g'day guys, it's me, Limplop. See, it's not... No, there's a difference. Okay, let's just try it though. it's me Limplop. See it's not... Okay let's just try it though. Hello, hi Limplop. Oh no my limbs keep plopping off. And why are you here? I'm here because my limbs are plopping off and I'm here to talk about moon landings. Thanks Moonplop. George can I speak to you in the kitchen for a minute? Absolutely let's go in the kitchen. Do you want a cup of tea? I love a cup of tea and peppermint. I'll put the kettle on.

I'm going to have a white tea. You just, oh, there it is. It's just boiling up now. Which mug do you want? I've got a couple of fun ones. I've got this one that's like hardly working or working hard. Do you have any mugs with minions on them? Yes, I've got a minion one right here.

It says, it says. Fucking funny as fuck. Oh Jesus, fuck that kettle is giving me the shits. I think it's a whistling kettle. It's a whistling kettle. Well it looks like the kettle is ready. So quick. Well listen, I brought you here for a reason George Lucas. Minions are so fucking funny man. You like minions? Minions make me fucking... Oh man. Oh I didn't realise that. I keep a couple of glass jugs next to my table in my cinema room so every time I see a minion

I laugh so hard I fucking smash it on the ground. What are you talking about? Just fucking smash it. It makes me laugh so much. What are you talking about? I love minions. You love minions so much that you get a glass jug and because you're laughing so much you need to smash it. Yeah like the Greek like the Greeks is that what they do?

Yeah, you know they like to smash I didn't know that because I spent a lot of my time fast and intense I just say I have glass jug right next to me when I'm directing they shall not grow old which is all this old footage And then we find the the frame rate at which we can get it to a Realistic level and when that's working. I just pick up a glass, I smash it on the floor and say we've done it again. Yeah, banana. What are you doing? Are you being George... We'll be right back after this.

Are you being George Lucas smashing a jug? Banana. And you're saying banana because that's what the minions do. Yeah. Listen, I brought you here because I wanted to say to you, are you finding it incredibly strange because I am and I to you, are you finding incredibly strange? Because I am, and I direct Lord of the Rings. I know what strange is, as the writers of Rohan. But do you find it incredibly strange that he's come back and he's not in the same character he was?

He's kind of affecting himself and trying to be a character, but he's not actually the character. Yeah, it's like he's purposely disrespecting us. He's ignoring us. He knows. I think he knows. It's like... I think he knows exactly what he's doing. Sean Bean, when I was talking to him in Lord of the Rings, and I said, you need to...

Sean Bean. Yeah, Sean Bean. Yeah. Is that his name? No, I'm... Yeah. Hello there. Oh, I've got a new character.

A New Zealand character. Who's this? It's your dear friend, Sir Richard Taylor. Oh, Richard Taylor, who worked for the Weta Digital team. I am a part owner of Weta Digital, but my love, my first love and my main project is Weta Workshop, of course. We have had our differences from time to time, but what's interesting, he'll be fantastic to talk about the Moon landing, so what I'd love to do is get you get you Richard. It's great to see you It's great to see you too Great to see you too Peter and I love making movies with you. I designed all the armor and the miniatures

This is a non accessible character for anyone who's just trying to listen to a comedy podcast But for what we're actually talking about which is the moon landing a brilliant character actually to talk about that story and to Talk about the moon landing and what had his effects on him in New Zealand. Me and Peter have worked together for years and years. I did the miniatures and all of the gore effects in his early horror films. Do you want a cup of tea? I'd love a cup of tea, yes.

Well there's only enough water for two cups of tea here. So we're going to have to put that water on again. Oh yes, that's great. Third cup of tea. I love making miniatures for Peter's films. Here we go. Turn that kettle on. Should we wait until the... I'm still concerned about Zack in that other room.

What character is he playing? Who's Zack then, Peter? Zack is this quirky fellow from Melbourne. He's got shaggy hair. Wait the kettle came off. Yes, alright there yes. Hello I'm a big fan of your work. Oh it's Richard Taylor meeting George Lucas two masters of sci-fi films. I have to say a lot of the miniatures I made for Lord of the Rings was inspired by the miniatures I saw in your films in the 70s. We're actually into a competition with each other. Yes, he of course owns ILM and we of course own the wetter companies.

Wow, that would be fantastic to both have you join and discuss that great moon landing and where you were at that time and how it affected you both. How fun would it be to make a miniature moon? You could film it, I'd make the miniature moon. We'd shoot it at a studio in Wellington. What are you talking about? I love making miniatures and armour and all those sorts of things. Sometimes when Weta Digital wants to make a digital creature,

we'll make the skin for it there at Wetter Workshop. Have you seen the film Rampage with Rock and Big Gorilla? Yes, yes. Well that was made entirely in Wellington. Really? Yes. His Wetter Digital made the Gorilla, but he got us to make a shag of its fur to scan it into the computer Should we go back to the podcast?

I don't know why I exist But it's a great... when will these three great minds... I'm drowning, I'm drowning, I'm drowning When will these three great minds ever be together again and be able to talk films? Well we're on the board of multiple companies, I'm sure we talk regularly. Absolutely, and we both have a love of World War I and World War II, the Anzacs. I love making miniatures of World War I, and miniatures for movies, I made a miniatures for most recently... You've said that.

...for the Blade Runner. I love miniatures. He loves miniatures so much. And puppets. Did you do theatures so much. And puppets. Miniatures and puppets. You'll not find anyone who loves miniatures and puppets as much as him. What about me right here?

Who loves miniatures too? You absolutely love miniatures. I love a little puppet. Yes, he loves miniatures. I'm Sir Richard Taylor. Sir Richard Taylor and I'm Sir Peter Jackson. Yeah, we're both Sirs. We both live in Wellington. We could cut your head off like that.

We could. If you're in Wellington, we have that sort of power. But he probably is a miniature version of you. Do you understand? I could make a miniature version of you as easily as you could make a miniature version of me. We both have that power. You in San Francisco, me in Wellington. He could be walking down Cuba Street in Wellington and just make a miniature of you like that. Like that, you see? I'd like to see that.

I love World War I, as does my friend here, Peter Jackson. We both had rival war films, war museums. War exhibitions. Mine had big, big sort of people instead of miniatures think the opposite of a miniature. A big one. What are you doing? What's happening here? What are you doing? I don't know what I'm doing.

Why are you telling me this? I'm just trying to... Well, I've had a lot in common with Sir Richard. Yeah, I know all this. What sort... ask me what I do. I know what you do. You make miniatures. Well, no, but I also make armour.

Armour. That sort of thing. What about the warthog? Did you make the warthog? What? Yes, for the for the the Halo movie that didn't go ahead. Bloom camp. Did that movie get banned? No, well the movie did yes. Oh that's a shame. We made lots of miniatures for that. Dreadful shame.

Yes, we also made the chainmail for the for the Lord of the Rings. Richard, when you're driving through that tunnel in Wellington, do you beep your horn, which is as is want to do in Wellington? Go, boop, boop, boop, boop. There's a big long tunnel and everyone beeps their horn. I'd like to make a miniature of that tunnel if I have the time. I thought that of you. You'd make a miniature of the whole world if you could. Well, if I could, yes, particularly for a science fiction film.

You'd find yourself. Perhaps you'd have a miniature spacecraft miniature space car flying over the miniature planet. Alright, Charlie Kaufman over here. Sir Richard, what do you mean by that? There's a little Synecdoche, New York over here. What's that then? What do you mean by that?

Synecdoche, New York. Oh, that's a nice film. Yes, I saw it at the Wellington Film Festival. Are there any miniatures in Synecdoche, New York by Richard Kaufman? Charlie Kaufman. Charlie Kaufman, you know, he's... Have you met Charlie? No, I've not met him, no. Richard Kaufman. Charlie Kaufman. Charlie Kaufman, you know. Have you met Charlie?

No, I've not met him, no. No, he's nice but he doesn't really need many miniatures. No, he doesn't need... Well apart from Animalisa. He made a lot of things. Lots of miniatures. Predominantly entirely miniatures. Very small. So in that film he went, do you know what? About that big.

Do you know what? He thought he filmed. I mean, lots of my films, there's not enough miniatures, yes. Very small. So in that film he went, do you know what? About that big. Do you know what? He thought he filmed. I mean, lots of my films, there's not enough miniatures. No miniatures in my films. So I'll make a film entirely of miniatures. Well now, both of you like to use CGI. Oh yes. And I'm always saying to Peter,

Peter, maybe put a couple of miniatures in there. Richard, so Richard, so thank God you're here. I'll think, oh goodness, I've always wanted to do this show. No, no, no, no, we're not doing, we're in a kitchen. Richard, what I'm talking, what I want to say to you is we're in the kitchenette. Oh yes. Of a podcast studio. Yes.

Here's your cup of tea. Thank you, I love tea. Here's your cup of tea. Oh thank you. I love models as well. Here's mine. I've had mine white. With two sugars.

Yes, yes. I like models, toy models and whatnot as well. Go on then Peter. We're guesting on the podcast by the Aunty Donna boys. Oh that's nice. And we're talking about the 56th anniversary of the moon landing. Oh that's nice, yes. I love the moon landing. I'd like to make a miniature moon. Well I think we'd be great to go back into that room and see our friend Zech and say, Zech, we've got three wonderful filmmakers to talk about the moon landing and its impact on film.

Because I'd love to know what scale. The moving image. I'd love to know what scale. What do you mean by scale? Oh you're talking about miniatures of course. One to eight, one to sixteen, one to thirty, two. What is the ratio? Sometimes I think about how many scales there are and I get so fucking excited.

Yes, absolutely. When I was making miniatures for his film Meet the Feebles, it was very different to the miniatures I made in Lord of the Rings. Have you ever made a miniature that's one to one? Well that would just be a set and yes I have made a few of them at the wetter workshop. What if you were doing a one-to-one of something that was already quite small? Mmm. Well that's still... Like a mouse, have you ever done a miniature for a mouse at one-to-one? Well that would still be a full-scale mouse. A miniature mouse would be tiny. What about a miniature for like a building

that just comes up to your hip? Well that would already be a miniature and not be one-to-one but if the building is that size. No that's the size of the building. Have you ever made a miniature? That's not a miniature at all. Have you ever made a miniature of a miniature village? A miniature of a miniature village?

I've not, but I could see a situation where I'm making a miniature of a village and in that village is a miniature village, that's the miniature of the miniature village. How miniature would you go? You've got one to two there. How miniature would you go? I would probably go a bigature, that's what we called them on Lord of the miniature village. How miniature would you go? You go 1 to 2 there. How miniature would you go? I would probably go a bigature, that's what we called them on Lord of the Rings, quite big miniatures. I'd probably do a 1 to 3 ratio of the miniature of the village, making the miniature village

within the village, the miniature miniature village. If that was, well it depends what scale that was before it went to 1 to 3, that would probably be quite a small already, probably a 1 to 20. And why would you increase the size of a miniature village? Well no, I'd miniaturise the miniature village. So that's a 1 to 20 miniature village and a 1 to 3. So what's the maths on that? Would that be a 1 to 60?

Yep. 1 to 60. Yes, nailed it. 1 to 60 miniature village. Would it be a 1 to 60 miniature miniature village? Well, but no, it wouldn't be, would it? Because it would be a 1 to 60 miniature village. Would it be a 1 to 60 miniature village? Well, but no, it wouldn't be, would it? Because it would be a 1 to 3 of a 1 to 20 miniature village. George, you seem to be agreeing with everything he's saying.

He's doing the maths correctly. But I wouldn't be basing the miniature on the village, so it wouldn't be 1 to 60, I'd be basing it on the miniature village. Exactly. So it would be a miniature village, 1 to three of a one to twenty miniature village yes okay does that make sense Peter because if we can't get this nailed down we can't make the movie I don't think we're making a movie about a miniature village. We're having a cup of tea in the kitchenette. This is just a hypothetical. This is just some blokes having a cup of tea in a kitchenette.

I thought we were maybe talking about a movie that we were going to make using my workshop. We're in a workshop. The host of the podcast that we were going to make using my workshop. No. The host of the podcast that we were on, their leg plopped off and then they went away and then they disappeared. Did he? Oh yes, he went off. Like a doll, like a marionette. Yes.

Oh that's not good is it? I thought, kind of like an action. Was there any viscera at all? No viscera at all. Now how would you go about making that if you needed someone's leg to plop off without viscera? Well you know, you and I are big fans of viscera. all. Now, how would you go about making that? If you needed someone's leg to plop off without viscera... Well, you know, you and I are big fans of viscera. We come from Hauro originally.

Oh yes, it's so fun to make with ketchup and chocolate sauce. Yeah, that sort of thing. But what would I do? I'd probably do, depends if it's a miniature. If it's a miniature, I'd maybe use something like a doll, and then put like a skin type thing on it. But if it's real, I don't know, maybe a fake leg? I'd make a fake skin. There'd definitely be some 3D printing for the inside of the plopping off leg. Bit of a trial and error R&D would go into that

before we did anything, some screen tests, that sort of thing. Did you know Viggo Mortensen, he kicked that boot and it actually hurt his foot greatly and so I remember that. And performatively I thought, well I'm going to keep that in the movie. You made me make a big boot to go around his cast. That scream was real. Did I? Yeah you said make me a big boot. That's not a real fact, that's what I improvised just then. No because I thought that might be the case. We could get the footage, we could go back

and we could just remove his foot. That's what you'd be wanting to do, I've heard that a bit you like to recreate you like to change your movies quite a lot if you ever wanted to Oh, you like to change it. Yes, but I'm not much of a fan of CGI I prefer the miniatures and the seats you can do them quite small in the computer now Well, you could do everything nearly on a computer Peter I don't like the fact that you've made a rival World War I exhibition to me. No, and I don't like that you've made one. We could have made the best World War I exhibition ever,

but instead we've got two rival World War, this is a fact. Yeah, we've made two rival. We each made a different World War I exhibition. Mine was with big people. So I went the opposite way. I went like three to one. You want to break new ground? Yes. But mine was good too. George, I've always wanted to know what was it like filming Star Wars? No, listen,

we're in the kitchen here. We could be doing this on a podcast. We should talk about this on the podcast. Should we do this on the podcast? Let's walk into the other room. Zek, I've got great news for you. Who's Zek? Where's Zek? I think he's outside getting a drink. Not another drink. He's going to be pissing for days. That's the second drink he's got on this podcast.

I think I'd like to make a miniature, Zek. Well let's all se- I fucking think you would. You would miniaturise the world. What did you think of that Matt Damon move where everyone was really tiny? Oh that one? Well that was funny wasn't it? Because a lot of the things they had to build were big! The opposite of miniatures.

Because the point of a miniature... Well no, explain that to me. That doesn't quite work in my head. Because they're small so you need to make small houses for the people. Because Matt Damon was shrunk down! Richard. Sir Richard. But Matt Damon was never actually tiny. because Matt Damon was shrunk down. Yes, but... Richard, Sir Richard.

But Matt Damon was never actually tiny. He was normal size, so to make him look tiny, you have to make the houses big. No, Sir Richard, they shrink him down in that movie. There's a scene where they do it. Well you know that's fake, don't you? You know how we fake things when we make our movies. Oh absolutely, I never had... There was no giant gorilla in King Kong.

That was all done using special effects of the movie. And I told him, I said, we should do it with a miniature. What? We should do a miniature King Kong. And he wanted to do it at CGI. He said, even if I wasn't doing it at CGI, I'd do it with maybe a costume, or maybe a puppetry or stop motion. Miniature is not the right technology or technique to make a King Kong.

That's what you said to me, I remember. Yep. One thing that wasn't miniature was the runtime. Ha ha ha! He got you there, Peter. I should have heard long, long, long movie. I like George, he's fun. No, I'm not. Listen, George. You're a fun guy. No I like to get

divorces. I like to upset my neighbors, they're not fun. Why would you upset your neighbor? What'd you do there? Well I wanted to... Did you get out the whipper snipper on a Saturday morning? I wanted to extend my ranch and the people around me said no no no no and I said okay I'll just build a bunch of low income homes in the affluent area and then everyone went alright fine. What are you talking about? So you wanted to build, you wanted to extend your ranch out into other people's property. This is Skywalker Ranch. Yeah I wanted to extend the ranch.

Yeah? And all the people in the area around me were like, no we don't want you to do that. And I went, okay that's fine, I'll just build a bunch of low-income houses. So people could live there. And then all the rich people lived around me. I went, all right, fine, extend your range. So I sort of threatened them. You threatened them with poor people. Yeah, with property.

I quite like that, actually. I think that's quite funny to sort of make the poor people, the rich people, not the poor, I don't like playing with their emotions, but I like that you played with the rich people, made them admit that they were prejudiced. I think it would have been funnier if I then just still built the houses somewhere, because the houses kind of needed to be built. Peter Jackson likes playing PS5 on his big cinema screen at home.

Oh absolutely, it's one of my great place to unwind after a long day of making They Shall Not Grow Old. Yeah, what are you playing on? Uncharted 4. Oh very nice. You're playing Marvel Riders. Guitar Hero. I've got a way to play Guitar Hero on PS5. I like to play Marvel Rivals. You know, we have on our staff someone that can make swords. Yeah. Swords and arrows and that sort of thing. Yeah. They make them like old times.

Richard, look, if I can be perfectly honest, you're quite a dull person really. It's just minute as this, minute as that and swords and... honest, you're quite a dull person really. It's just, miniatures this, miniatures that, and swords and... What are you talking about? I mean, when I say someone's who's fascinated in these things, that's actually really quite fascinating. But when you have nothing else going on... I think the issue is here with three people that are really at the head of our sort of careers and our various things. We all work in the same industry. It's quite hard not to just talk shop, you know. It's hard to talk at a level.

Well, what else do you like to do, Richard? I like, I mean, I've always liked model toys, that sort of thing. It's the same shit. It is, it is. I mean, I've made my hobby into my career. But say one thing that is nothing, nothing at all, not a skerrick of it is to do with, to do a skerrick of it is to do with miniatures. One hobby. I like virtual reality, that sort of thing, but I do like miniatures.

Yes, that's my favourite thing to do. No, say, talk about your favourite food. Not really a big food guy. I could make a miniature food. Well that's, no, that's just cutting larger food into smaller portions. Well I wouldn't make it out of the food because the pores of the bread would be too big. You'd have to make it out of a whole new thing. You're talking about hors d'oeuvres? Do you like hors d'oeuvres?

No, no I'm talking about if I were to make a miniature sandwich. Funga food. Funga food, no that's just cut up food but still normal size. If I were to make a miniature sandwich, I would have to make tiny little bits of strawberry, you know, so I wouldn't use less strawberry jam. I'd have to make a new thing that looks like little jam. I don't think you want to. I think you'll literally just do the portion sizes smaller. No, no, that's just...

Because of ham. Well, the seeds... Ham is just ham cut from ham, and you just make the ham smaller. No, no. I think with strawberry jam jam I tend to agree that the seeds... The seeds would be too big. Of course, but I'm talking about a seedless jam. Well, he's got you there. No, because it's...

The globules are too big. Yeah, the glug. I'm not talking about the globules either. I'm talking about globulous jam. What are you talking about? Globulous jam. I don't tell you how to make the edits and the filming. Yes you do, that's exactly what you do.

You said there's me on Lord of the Rings. I think there's seedless gem, I don't think there's glug-less gem. Do you understand the seeds would look too big? The seeds would be as big as the sandwich. I can see that, but I'm talking about a seedless gem. Yeah but the glugs, you've got to take the glugs into account. I don't know what you mean by glugs, if I'm being perfectly honest. It's gluggy, it's gluggy.

Glugs and glugs of jam. A smaller jam would have smaller glugs. Alright, I concede on the jam, but maybe a sandwich is not glug. There's no jam in it. Maybe it would have been a vegemite sandwich, for example. Well, even then, the bread, the big holes in the bread would be too big. As big as the sandwich. You'd need to make the bread out of something finer than flour. But then it wouldn't be bread, would it?

No, it's a miniature of a sandwich. It has to look like bread. But it needs to be digestible, Richard! In the same way, usually, the digestible sandwich would be ingested. Nobody has to ingest it! I'm talking... Yes, you're the one talking about literal edible miniature sandwich. No, well then you're just talking about a smaller portion of sandwich. No, we're talking Sir Richard, that's right. But that's not a miniature.

That doesn't appear to be normal size when you put it in front of the right kind of lens. I'm talking about miniatures. When you're talking about a miniature house that you've built, you're still building out of the same concrete, Richard. No I'm not. The concrete would have too many big rocks in it! Tensions seem to be... Oh it's a bit tense ever since he did a rival WWI exhibition in Auckland!

And he did a rival WWI museum at the same time in Wellington! It feels like something deeper going on, it's not really about that. Yes, it's been tense for a little while! I was trying to put praise on the NZX, these young fellows who went off to war. I love them, I wanted to make them big. You understand that's a big difference for me. I like miniatures usually but I said, no we're not going to, we did do a couple of miniatures, a miniature Gallipoli. Did I about Gallipoli?

We did a little miniature Gallipoli. But Winston Churchill sent us to the wrong beach in Turkey. He sent us to the wrong beach but I made a miniature Gallipoli if you Churchill sent us to the wrong beach in Turkey. He sent us to the wrong beach, but I've made a miniature Gallipoli, if you'd like to see that, at my exhibition. Miniature Gallipoli is still atrocious horror. A horror. A one third of the horror, but still quite a lot of horror. Even at that scale, even at one third of the scale. 120. 120. At one 20th of the scale, still Gallipolioli still horrific. So you know the twin tower not the twin towers goodness That was horrific The miniature of the twin towers well, I've made a miniature of the two towers from Lord of the Rings

I'm talking about the World Trade Center Which was take which was attacked by the Taliban in 2001. And what I'm saying is it would be a very similar set of techniques, a very similar workflow to make a miniature of the twin towers as it would be to make a miniature of the two towers. Of course it's different look and you'd be coming at me saying oh you could use normal concrete for that and I'd say it won't look good on the camera. You know this don't you? Oh, but here's your problem. Is the twin towers were not built,

and that's the problem, is they were built with steel beams. Well, and I would have to use a different material. Maybe steel, but probably a different material. Like what? Small steel? I don't know, just maybe aluminium. Mike, twin towers out of aluminium. Well, I'm not making the... The Taliban be sitting there laughing at you.

Well it would be a miniature Taliban. We're going to get that down in the morning. But it would be a miniature Taliban with miniature planes. The Taliban could have pushed over one of the twin towers made of Aluminium. Everything's miniature. Everything's miniature. You're the problem. You're why the war on terror exists here. No, you've got to understand. If I make a miniature...

You could use microwaves if the twin towers were made out of aluminium. That's exactly right. Have you ever put aluminium in the microwave? Yes, no, but George, it would be a bigature. It would be a bigature. It would still be twice as tall as you, George. But what I'm trying to say is... Sir Richard could... What I'm trying to say is, if you put aluminium in a microwave...

Yes I know that. Concede that Sir Richard, if in Drift's name on 9-11, at the very least concede that on 9-11 if the twin towers were made of aluminium and the Taliban had big microwaves... This is a straw man argument. It's a minute to just concede argument! It's a minute just conceited! It's a microwave argument. If the towers were made of aluminium on 9-11, are they normal size? Yes, and there's a very big microwave in this circumstance!

And there's a huge microwave, twice as tall as the towers themselves. Well they've taken the microwave technology and turned them into guns. Oh okay, that's very fun. You could make a science fiction with that concept. You can make miniatures for that. I could make a miniature again. In my mind it would sound like... How fun would that be? But concede at the very least, Sir Richard.

Yes, I concede that. But can you just concede one thing at my end? It would have been a disaster, even worse than it was already. But can you concede for me, with a miniature or bigature, a bigature two towers, twin towers, you would have a miniature jet. You'd have two miniature jets and probably not even miniature Taliban. Just let me finish my point, Peter. Let me finish my point. If you had a bigature two twin towers, you'd have a bigature aeroplane also made of something like aluminium and the Taliban would at minimum be miniatures, I think they'd be CGI Taliban.

That's what you'd do, you'd put CGI Taliban in those miniature planes. Well, I'd probably get two or three people to play Taliban and then repeat them over and over and over again. And then you put them in sort of blue, a green screen Taliban. Absolutely, yes. Put them into them. But do you see that it would be a very similar situation. You'd have to throw the miniature aeroplane into the miniature towers creating a similar

situation. We'd even have to probably do a few cuts in the aluminium beam so it collapses. All I walked in here today was trying to say, do not build the twin towers out of aluminium. That would be an absolute... And I've never said that. It would an absolute... And I've never said that. It would be absolute havoc. I've never said that. I've just said if you want to make a miniature twin towers... Setting yourself up.

I think that would be fun though if we make a miniature twin towers. Wouldn't that be fun Peter? Get the gang back together again. Make a little twin towers movie. Oh that'd be fantastic wouldn't it? Or even better, a moon landing movie. Oh, that would be great. I could make a miniature moon, a miniature little Apollo. Well... Hit it, Lindsay. Hit it, Lindsay. Who's Lindsay? Lindsay's producer.

Oh, hello, Lindsay. What an incredible episode of the Aunty Donna podcast where we discuss the 56th anniversary of the moon landing with two of the world's greatest, most, maybe not prolific, but... We certainly invented an industry. Oh God, is that one? I didn't know you were in this world. Are you in this world?

Oh yes, I'm from Mullington. It's a four hour flight from here. No, I thought that... I don't know you were in this world. Are you in this world? Oh yes, I'm from Mullington. It's a four hour flight from here. No, I thought that we'd stepped away from that and this was like recorded after. Tell us what happened this episode. In this episode, we started talking about the 56th anniversary of the moon landing. Things got a bit crazy. His leg fell off. Leg fell off.

My leg fell off. Got a drink. And I think the leg falling off was just an excuse to get a drink. Maybe. Because he hadn't had one. We'll never know. We'll never know. But probably.

Could have been my leg fell off and then I thought, well, this is a good opportunity. You know, it could have been the other way is in fact what happened. Yeah. You know, people say, some people say the answer you've done a podcast is getting worse. And I would argue it's always been this bad. Yeah, it's always been this bad. Yeah, it's just your memory. Maybe you've just gotten older and you're sadder that your life didn't go the way you planned.

Yeah, so thank you so much for joining us. Maybe that's what it is. For joining us on this. Can't wait to read those comments. And have yourself a Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Beautiful. I'm not at your Christmas.

Why not? You've been listening to the Aunty Donna Podcast. Thanks for joining us for another RIP episode brought to you by AuntyDonnaClub.com. See you next week!