Peter Jackson's King Kong!

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Peter Jackson Talks The Hobbit & King Kong
Source: News.com.au Monday, December 1, 2003

At The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King premiere in Wellington, New Zealand, director Peter Jackson talked about his upcoming project, King Kong, which he is currently writing with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Australian actress Naomi Watts has already been tipped as the star and media attention is now turning to those who worked on "The Lord of the Rings". "We don't really know who's going to be in King Kong yet," Jackson said.

"Whether it's King Kong or films in the next 10 or 20 years, I'm hoping that I'm going to be and I'm actually fully intending to try to work with all these people again because they've just been so fantastic."

Like "The Lord of the Rings," King Kong will be shot in New Zealand. The visual effects will again be undertaken by Weta Ltd.

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Peter Jackson Reveals King Kong Details!
Source: The Dominion Post Tuesday, December 2, 2003

While its's still about two years away, director Peter Jackson has revealed new details about King Kong to The Dominion Post. Here's snippets from the interview...

Director Peter Jackson, fresh from the Return of the King world premiere, will start work on his $200 million King Kong film in Wellington next month.

Jackson, who will be in Los Angeles tomorrow for The Return of the King's United States premiere, said he still had to edit an extended version of the third Lord of the Rings film for DVD late next year. He wanted it done before Christmas.

But after taking a short holiday, he would spend most of his time from January working on King Kong, inspired by the 1933 film. Shooting is planned for August mainly in Wellington.

Jackson said that, because the film would be set in the 1930s, to create the period it would be easier to shoot about 80 per cent of the film at his Miramar studios. Some of the natural locations, including King Kong's home, Skull Island, would also be shot at the studios.

A key feature of the film is a freighter ship, Manuia, believed to be berthed at Miramar which takes King Kong from Skull Island to New York.

"I'm interested in (King) Kong being quite stylised and the jungles of Skull Island I want to be very over-the-top, like a jungle from hell. I imagine we are going to be more successful pulling that off in the studio or in a back lot than we are trying to find a beech forest in the South Island," he said.

There would be some location shooting for scenes on beaches or in boats, "but I'm not imagining a huge amount".

Jackson confirmed that it looks likely that Naomi Watts will play the lead, Ann Darrow, in the big budget film. For more on the casting, which will mostly consist of members of the ship's crew, hit the link above!

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Clooney and De Niro eyed for Jackson's King Kong
07 December 2003

Director Peter Jackson is poised to flex his Hollywood muscle by securing a top male film star for his new project King Kong - he wants to lure George Clooney or Robert De Niro here.

While Jackson is overseas attending The Return of the King premieres, he is also in talks with agents to cast stars for the $100 million remake, to be filmed in Wellington next year.

Naomi Watts is in talks to play Ann Darrow, the female lead played by Fay Wray in the 1933 original film.

But it is understood Jackson has long-harboured desires to cast Clooney - or Oscar winner De Niro - as male lead Carl Denham, the adventurer who captures the giant ape and brings him back to New York.

Sources involved in the project said Jackson wanted to hire either star when he first talked to Universal Studios about the remake in 1996.

The project was suspended in mid-1998 when the studio feared it would clash with two other monster movie remakes, Mighty Joe Young and Godzilla.

The delay allowed Jackson to go ahead with the Rings films.

Given the widespread commercial and critical success of the trilogy, Jackson now has considerable clout when it comes to picking his stars.
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And the director was also tipped to again put himself in one of his films in a cameo role - possibly that of the pilot who shoots down King Kong in the film's climax, the source said.

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Peter Jackson Talks King Kong
Source: Variety Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Variety columnist Army Archerd talked to "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon about his next film, Universal's King Kong.

In August he starts filming back in New Zealand with Naomi Watts, of whom, he says, "I've been a fan for years." As for Kong himself, Jackson says, "We want him to be quite real." And the period of the film will be the same as the original - 1933 - with the Empire State Building and the biplane, "which is ingrained in memory. I want to be respectful."

After that, he admits, "I want to make smaller films."

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Jack Black Aboard Peter Jackson's King Kong!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Envy star Jack Black has been in cast alongside Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. Black will play Carl Denham, an adventurer filmmaker who is trying to make a name for himself in 1930s New York. Robert Armstrong played the role in the 1933 original.

Watts is playing Ann Darrow, an American actress who makes a living performing in Broadway song and dance shows. The project, which will shoot in Jackson's native New Zealand, is set up at Universal Pictures.

"I've been wanting to work with Jack Black ever since I saw him in High Fidelity," said Jackson, who is also writing the remake along with his "Lord of the Rings" co-screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. "He's a smart and versatile actor blessed with an abundance of energy and charm and I'm absolutely thrilled that he is joining us on 'Kong."'

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Op dinsdag 30 maart 2004 08:39 schreef Hare het volgende:

[..]

Hmm, vraag me af of dit een goed plan is. Straks kan je de twee apen niet uit elkaar houden

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Op dinsdag 30 maart 2004 23:21 schreef fratsman het volgende:

[..]

Neeee! Niet Jack Black! PJ doe ff normaal zeg!

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Adrien Brody Also Joins Jackson's King Kong
Source: Variety Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Adrien Brody (The Pianist) is in talks with Universal Pictures to join the cast of Peter Jackson's King Kong, says Variety.

The Oscar winner has been offered the role of Jack Driscoll, a former World War I fighter pilot who is the love interest for archaeologist Ann Darrow, to be played by Naomi Watts.

On Monday, the studio announced that Jack Black will play showman Carl Denham who brings the giant gorilla to New York City from Skull Island.

Filling the Driscoll role is the last major casting to be done for the film, adds the trade. In the 1933 original, Driscoll spends much of the film trying to rescue Ann Darrow from Kong after the ape takes a liking to the beauty.

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Peter Jackson Talks King Kong
Source: Entertainment Weekly Monday, April 26, 2004

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly includes an interview with "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy director Peter Jackson talking about his upcoming adaptation of King Kong. Naomi Watts will play the big ape's love object, Ann Darrow. Adrien Brody will play Darrow's boyfriend, former WWII pilot Jack Driscoll, and Jack Black will be blustery adventurer Carl Denham, who imports Kong to Manhattan.

"We are not reinventing it," says Jackson referring to the 1933 original film. "Our story follows the same structure. It starts in New York, goes to Skull Island, and there's dinosaurs on the island. Then it comes back to New York and there's the Empire State Building and the biplanes and the whole thing."

He says that one thing they're trying to do that the original didn't is to make it more "emotionally truthful. I put that ahead of anything else, including technology and the realism of the effects," he adds.

"Everybody's image of 'King Kong' is that it's this amazing beauty-and-the-beast love story. And when you look at the original film, there is as sense that Kong is feeling an attraction toward Ann-probably the first empathy he's felt in his life toward another living creature. But Ann is not giving him a thing. She just looks at him as an object of horror the entire time. She screams at him, she's terrified. Her relationship with Kong doesn't go beyond that. We're having a lot of fun making it more psychologically real."

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Andy Serkis is King Kong!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Friday, June 11, 2004

Andy Serkis, who brought to life Gollum's movements and voice in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is reuniting with Peter Jackson to become the man behind the monster in Universal Pictures' King Kong.

Like he did for Gollum, Serkis will provide motion capture reference for the character of Kong, who will eventually be realized as a completely computer-generated creature.

Serkis also has been cast as Lumpy the cook, a member of the crew of the Venture, the tramp steamer that sails to Skull Island.

"I expect this time round will be a very different experience for both Andy and myself as we'll actually get to shoot extended drama sequences together," Jackson said. "It will be a little weird seeing Andy out of his Gollum gimp suit -- and I hope we can both make the adjustment!"

Commenting on Kong himself, Jackson said: "While Andy will provide very valuable onset reference, this doesn't mean we will be softening Kong by attempting to humanize him. The power of the story lies in the fact that this is a savage beast from a hostile environment, and we don't intend to compromise that."

Serkis joins Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody in the cast. Jackson and his "Rings" colleagues, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, are writing, with Jackson and Walsh also producing.

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Op maandag 16 augustus 2004 18:09 schreef Dutch_Courage het volgende:
Ik denk dat deze film gaat floppen. Ik kan me niet voorstellen dat dit thema een groot publiek aanspreekt.