The past seven years my life has been consumed with writing, directing and producing The Lord of the Rings trilogy. 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.

Two years of pre-production were followed by two hundred and seventy four days of principal production, which in turn have been followed by three years of post-production. Each stage of the process of making these films has presented unique challenges; I remember asking myself, whenever things got particularly hard, would I rather be doing something other than making The Lord of the Rings?

And the answer was always no.

This is because 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. 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. I will always be grateful to New Line Cinema for giving me the opportunity to bring my version of The Lord of the Rings to the screen.