Peter Jackson talks about "Lovely Bones"

Since Lord of the Rings rocketed Peter Jackson from an independent no-name to Hollywood royalty the 48 year-old director has been defined by epic adventures, melodramatic stories, and budgets over $100,000,000. But in Jackson's latest direcorial effort, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel "The Lovely Bones," is a more intimate look at the devastation the loss of a child brings upon a family.

The story is a departure from the three-hour blockbusters Lord of the Rings and King Kong, and that's exactly what attracted Jackson to the project. I "was very, very - I wouldn't say I was tired of big-budget fantasy films, but I certainly felt that I had to have a break from those type of films," said Jackson. "And The Lovely Bones was a project that we partly chose it because it was so different. Because there's no doubt that the way that you stay interested in what you're doing is to keep trying new things and to do things you've never done before."

One through-line between Jackson's recent projects is they are all adaptations of beloved source materials. It's a process that Jackson, along with his writing partners Philipa Boyens and wife Fran Walsh, struggle with each time they tackle a new script. "It's seeing passages of the book that you really liked, that you assumed you'd put into the movie, but you suddenly haven't got time for them," said Jackson. "It's having to say goodbye to characters and to scenes that you were looking forward to doing. But when you start writing the script, you realize that there's no room for it."

The events found in the Lovely Bones, rape, murder and the destruction of family are far from PG-13 material but it was important for the director to keep the material accessible to young adults. "We've got a daughter who was 12 years old when we made the movie, she's 13 now. And we wanted her to see this film. We really made the movie partly for her because it revolves around what happens to a 14-year-old when this creepy guy down the road lures her into a room and kills her," said Jackson. "And you know we wanted the movie to have some aspects of the movie be a lesson because this stuff does actually happen in real life, unfortunately."

Jackson hopes that the film will serve as a springboard for his young star, Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan. "Peter Jackson: Well, she is terrific. She's an Irish actress, but she puts on a perfect American accent. She was 13 years old, I think, when we first met her, and cast her in the film. And she has the qualities that I think a great actor needs."

The Lovely Bones, opening in limited release Dec. 11, is being pegged my many pundits as a major factor in this winter's awards race. Jackson is currently writing The Hobbit scripts with Guillermno Del Toro and co-directing The Adventures of Tin Tin with Steven Speilberg. As for what he's doing in the future Jackson enjoys the uncertainty. "I don't have a plan to do one or the other. I just follow my nose."