Peter Jackson sends message to terminally-ill Lord of the Rings fan ahead of marathon viewing

The filmmaker admitted he's never watched his trilogy in one sitting

A terminally-ill man had his dreams realised when a marathon session of The Lord of the Rings was introduced by director Peter Jackson.

Californian Chris Bentacourt was settling down to watch all three of the fantasy saga's films as part of a bucket list fundraiser when the face of New Zealand filmmaker Jackson appeared on screen.

Bentacourt, 20, was given a year to live after being diagnosed with leukemia in September. He is looking for a bone marrow donor.

Watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy back-to-back was number 26 on his bucket list, among a range of fundraising activities he is undertaking with his friend Dillon Hill.

Bentacourt was attempting the 12 hour-long viewing session at the offices of US production company Rooster Teeth who had got Jackson to record the surprise message which they played before the first film, the Fellowship of the Ring, began.

“Hello Chris, this is Peter Jackson, sending you some well-wishes from New Zealand,” the filmmaker said before admitting he had never watched all three of his films in one go before.

“I gotta say, you are doing something I've never done,” Jackson told Belancourt who posted the video on Friday (26 January), adding: “I've never had the courage to watch all three Lord of the Rings movies in a single moment."

Speaking about the surprise, an emotional Belancourt said: “Lord of the Rings has been a really big thing in my childhood. Both Dillon and I are really big nerds ... to see that, that was great, that was really great.

”It's an amazing experience, especially if you're in the right theatre ... it is one of the most amazing experiences. It was absolutely phenomenal. For some people it's daunting, 12, 13 hours ... I enjoyed every second of it.“

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Rooster Teeth filmed Belancourt's response which they promised to send back to Jackson.

Belancourt was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009 but later recovered with the disease going into remission. It returned last year.

He is currently working through his bucket list in a bid to fundraise so he can achieve his dream of backpacking across Europe.

To find out more about Belancourt's activities, go to mybestfriendslist.com.

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