Andy Serkis' heartfelt speech about Peter Jackson maybe made us tear up

Congratulations, Peter Jackson!

Oscar-winning producer/writer/director/awesome dude Peter Jackson celebrated the (overdue?) unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday. Though he's from New Zealand, the Lord of the Rings filmmaker dreamed of having his own Hollywood star since he was a kid.

The goofy gang was all there for the ceremony:

Andy Serkis even gave a speech at the event. What Serkis said was so touching, that we went ahead and transcribed much of it for you. You might want to get a tissue for this one if you're the type of person who cries when you hear incredibly sweet, sincere and articulate compliments (just us?). If you prefer to watch the video, he starts talking at 38:00:

There's about 10 billion, billion things I could say about Peter Jackson. Unfortunately I've only got two minutes... Before I ever met you I watch Heavenly Creatures and was so affected by it. It was such an inspiring film. That is how you make a movie. It was like a heightened, poetic, cinematic honesty and I'd never experienced the like before...

I met you in London... I knew almost immediately I'd spend a considerable amount of time during the rest of my life working with you. I felt a huge amount of affection for you immediately. You offered me an amazing challenge. You said you weren't sure how we would achieve what we were going to do, but it would be fun... I never even knew what the word unitard meant until I met you, so thanks you for that.

In the 15 years that have passed you brought much-needed magic, mystery, cinematic poetry, creative ambition and most of all joy to the film industry, and to the world. The passion that you had as a seven-year-old boy who cut up his mother's stole to make a stop-motion puppet for the first of your remakes of King Kong is still infectious and it's still irrepressible as ever.

You really are, genuinely, one of greatest filmmakers on the planet. A genuine, bonafide, ain't no bull-, visionary. Your extraordinary leadership, your forensic thinking, your attention to detail, pioneering, fearless risk-taking and your work ethic are matched only by your sense of mischief and anarchy. You really are the most incredible human being. A generous, honest, storyteller. Your generosity is always extended beyond just the making of your films and beyond your collaborators, as evidenced by single-handedly creating a culture whereby you involve entire audience around the world in every aspect of the filmmaking process, so that they also feel part of the family. You allow them to invest their passion.

You have taught all your followers that filmmaking is a process, a process that marries tireless endeavor and graft, with the fact that it works at its best when it's intertwined with living. And your capacity for that is huge. I mean, who else could possibly make a trilogy of films on this scale while simultaneously combating the Arkansas justice system freeing three wrongly accused men after 18 years of imprisonment, building a world-class aviation museum, whilst developing projects and technologies to make cinema more exciting and immersive, ensuring the future of the New Zealand film industry and tourism industry, as well as being the most incredible, devoted parent?

Pete, it gives me such pleasure on behalf of all your casts, all your crews, all your collaborators, the thousands of people whom you've given employment to, the millions of fans worldwide and the generations of future watchers who you will continue to thrill for decades, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the fun, and for all the fun to come.