Peter Jackson's movie King Kong, which begins shooting in Wellington next month, will be a reunion of the director's dream team from The Lord of The Rings.
King Kong's crew includes cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, production designer Grant Major, art director Dan Hennah, conceptual designer Alan Lee, Weta special effects whizz Richard Taylor, visual effects director Alex Funke, visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri and composer Howard Shore.
All won Oscars for their work on The Lord of the Rings.
King Kong's backers, Universal Studios, had announced some of the cast and crew, along with Jackson's co-writers, The Lord of the Rings Oscar winners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. However, they have yet to announce all key crew appointments.
Rumours have also continued to circulate that some of the filming will take place outside New Zealand. Several American websites reported that some exterior scenes of New York City were shot in a Los Angeles backlot in May. Bangkok newspaper The Nation reported last month that Jackson "will probably choose Thailand as the location for some parts".
A King Kong spokeswoman dismissed the reports. "There has certainly never been any indication that anything would be filmed outside New Zealand. It's just like The Lord of the Rings," she said.
Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody, who is expected to arrive in New Zealand this month for five months' work, will play World War 1 flying ace Jack Driscoll. Brody has been dating supermodel Naomi Campbell.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe two were at the July premiere of Brody's latest movie, The Village, which is the No. 1 film in the United States this week.
Brody told USA Today that King Kong "is the perfect balance for me. It's with a director who I really admire. I think it will be an exciting action-packed kind of experience. And fun for the most part."
Naomi Watts will play Ann Darrow, the part played by Fay Wray in the original King Kong movie.
"Peter Jackson is a genius. He will make it his own and do something completely different and modernise it, even though it's set in the 30s. He's got some great ideas, which I'm not at liberty to divulge right now," she said in a recent interview.
Other stars announced for Jackson's movie are Jack Black as film-maker Carl Denham, Colin Hanks - son of actor Tom Hanks - as his assistant and Kyle Chandler as a young actor.
Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, will play Lumpy the cook and will be the basis for the movements and voice of the computer-generated Kong. German actor Thomas Kretschmann will play The Venture's skipper, Captain Englehorn, Billy Elliott star Jamie Bell will appear as ship's lookout and Jamaican-born Evan Parke as first mate and a World War 1 veteran
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