A producer who worked for the Weinsten Company allegedly made arrangements for Tarantino to take over after the disgraced movie mogul accused Jackson of wasting $12 million for the film.

• May 4, 2018

AceShowbiz - Quentin Tarantino was nearly hired by Harvey Weinstein to replace Peter Jackson as the director of "The Lord of The Rings". The New Zealand filmmaker initially developed the project with Weinstein's Miramax firm, but they had heated disagreements over how to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novel, as the movie mogul wanted the book condensed into a two hour movie.

Weinstein accused Jackson of wasting $12 million by developing a two film script, according to British writer Ian Nathan - the author of a new book, "Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson & The Making of Middle-Earth". In an extract seen by editors at the Stuff.co.nz website Ken Kamins, a producer working for Weinstein, revealed he made arrangements for Tarantino to take over, telling the writer "Harvey was like, 'you're either doing this or you're not. You're out.' And I got Quentin ready to direct it."

In 1998, Jackson received a memo from Miramax executives telling him how to cram the book's vast array of characters and complex plot into one film, but told Nathan that he decided to walk away rather than compromise on his vision. "It was literally guaranteed to disappoint every single person that has read that book," the 56-year-old explained, recalling that he explained that he no longer wanted to deal with Weinstein's "c**p" and quit saying,"Tell Harvey to go ahead and make his film and good luck."

According to the writer, Kamins eventually persuaded his boss not to push ahead with his own version and to allow Jackson to sell his plans for the movie elsewhere. The filmmaker eventually teamed up with New Line Cinema to turn Tolkien's novel into a screen trilogy that won 17 Academy Awards and earned $2.9 billion at the box office.

Last December, the director admitted that he had avoided casting the actresses Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino in the films due to negative advice from Miramax executives. Both actresses are among dozens who have accused Weinstein of assault, and Judd is now suing the disgraced mogul for allegedly derailing her career.