HIS PRECIOUSES
DEEP WITHIN ONE of the discreet buildings that comprise Peter Jackson’s filmmaking kingdom in Wellington can be found one of the greatest collections of film history in the world. This vast, temperature-controlled chamber, as cluttered and precious as a pharaoh’s tomb, is testament to the opportunity success has granted the ultimate film geek. Not to collect replicas and models, but the real thing. And Empire is being given a tour by the proprietor himself.
“I’ve kind of stopped — the prices are getting high,” admits Jackson. These days, he says, it would take something very special to get him bidding. Aside from personal keepsakes (and his military collection: largely from World Wars I and II and the Napoleonic era),
