Air date revealed for Peter Jackson's ground-breaking First World War film They Shall Not Grow Old
The film will colourise archive footage and convert it into 3D
Peter Jackson's ground-breaking First World War film They Shall Not Grow Old will have its television premiere on BBC2.
The archive feature film will broadcast on Armistice Day (11th November) at 9:30pm, as part of BBC2's commemorative coverage marking the 100th anniversary of the armistice.
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Jackson, best known as the man behind the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies, is set to bring WWI to life using wartime footage — colourised and converted to 3D — from the Imperial War Museums’ film archive.
It will be accompanied by original audio from the BBC archives, using the voices of veterans to narrate the events of 'the war to end all wars'.
Jackson, who directed and produced, said he hoped the film would enable audiences to connect with the "Charlie Chaplin-type figures" we usually see in archive footage.
"I wanted to reach through the fog of time and pull these men into the modern world, so they can regain their humanity once more – rather than be seen only as Charlie Chaplin-type figures in the vintage archive film," he explained.
"By using our computing power to erase the technical limitations of 100 year old cinema, we can see and hear the Great War as they experienced it.”
Following its broadcast, the BBC will reportedly air a ‘making-of’ documentary about the project, featuring interviews with Oscar winner Jackson.
They Shall Not Grow Old will air on 11th November 2018 at 9:30pm on BBC2
