Sir Peter Jackson and the story of middle earth put New zealand on the map, and now a new biography has set out to tell the inside story of how it happened and the drama behind it.

Acclaimed film writer Ian Nathan spent hours upon hours interviewing Sir Peter.

In that time, he found out some surprising things which are revealed in his book "Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-Earth".

Nathan told Mike Hosking that it was Heavenly Creatures that launched Jackson to the world’s stage and put him alongside the likes of James Cameron and Ridley Scott.

The two talked about how Jackson was as an interviewee, the insights Nathan got into Jackson's work and some of the hidden stories of the famous trilogy’s creation.

LISTEN TO IAN NATHAN TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE