King Kong: The Re-Imagining of an American Classic

by Liana Thompson

KongIsKing.net, sister site to TheOneRing.net, presented a detailed analysis of the King Kong movie trailer released to coincide with this summers’ War of the Worlds.  Scheduled for release December 14th, 2005, this film is the iconic story of a gigantic ape captured in the wild and brought to civilization where he meets a tragic fate.

The movie stars Jack Black as Carl Denham (showman with an appetite for greatness and a plan to create the ultimate adventure film), Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll (playwright and hero), Andy Serkis (formerly in the dual roles of Gollum and Smeagol) plays both King Kong (doomed giant monkey) and Lumpy the Cook, and Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow (out-of-work actress).

Directed by triple Academy Award winner LOTR director Peter Jackson, Kong is, like LOTR, filmed primarily in New Zealand.  Jackson re-teams with writing collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Visual effects are again accomplished by Weta Digital, creating the primordial jungles of Skull Island and the bustling metropolis of ‘30s Manhattan.

Predicted by Mr. Sayer, the presenter, King Kong “will be the 800 pound gorilla in the box office.”  There will be dinosaurs and spiders in the story, even though—perhaps especially because—Jackson has arachnophobia. 

Kong fights three tyrannosauruses, not just one.  “There’s a lot of emotional content in it.  It’s really phenomenal!” Sayer stated.

Several of the production diaries available on the web site were also shown.  Production diaries are sort of video blogs made during the production of the film which have been approved by Peter Jackson.  The quality of these is good; many will probably end up as extras on DVDs.  Most notable were an April 1st video involving supposed sequels to the unfinished Kong film, and one true one in which the art departments’ excellent attention to detail is called into use making poop props for several types of animals.

Check out the website:  KongIsKing.net