Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Peter Jackson Directing King Kong for 2005!

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Posted by Steve Anderson (Member # 364) on 03-31-2003, 06:03 PM:

Peter Jackson Directing King Kong for 2005!
Sunday, March 30, 2003 9:36 CST

Five-time Academy Award nominee Peter Jackson will direct King Kong for Universal Pictures, it was announced today by Stacey Snider, Chairman, Universal Pictures. Jackson will begin work on the film immediately following the release of The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, the third and final installment of his blockbuster trilogy based upon the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. Jackson will write the screenplay with his partner Fran Walsh and "Lord Of The Rings" co-writer Philippa Boyens. Jackson and Walsh will produce the film under their WingNut Films banner. Universal Pictures will release King Kong worldwide in 2005.

Jackson will bring his sweeping cinematic vision to the iconic story of the gigantic ape-monster captured in the wilds and brought to civilization where he meets his tragic fate.

The screenplay by Jackson, Walsh and Boyens is based on the original story by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace, which became the classic 1933 RKO Radio Pictures film, directed by adventurers Cooper and Ernest B. Schoesdack. The RKO King Kong has been designated by the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress as one of the 100 Greatest Films and chosen by that organization for permanent preservation as a national treasure.

Jackson will employ the latest motion picture technology to cinematically portray the timeless tale of the beast and his beauty. He will expand on the chapters of the tale that take place in the mysterious and dangerous jungles of Skull Island, and his Kong promises to be a unique and breathtaking creation. As with his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Jackson will shoot King Kong on location in his native New Zealand. The visual effects will be again accomplished by his New Zealand-based company Weta, Ltd., who have twice been honored with the Visual Effects Oscar® for their work on "Lord Of The Rings." They will supplement practical locations in creating primordial jungles and '30s-period America.

"No film has captivated my imagination more than 'King Kong.' I'm making movies today because I saw this film when I was 9 years old. It has been my sustained dream to reinterpret this classic story for a new age," Jackson stated. "The story of Kong offers everything that any storyteller could hope for: an archetypal narrative, thrilling action, resonating emotion and memorable characters. It has endured for precisely these reasons and I am honored to be a part of its continuing legacy."

Snider noted, "Peter Jackson is a filmmaker uniquely capable of capturing the core appeal of enduring classics and in expanding the visual language of motion pictures, as inarguably evidenced in his landmark achievement with the 'Lord of the Rings' films. We are thrilled to be working with Peter and Fran, and we are confident that their execution of 'King Kong' will amaze moviegoers. Anyone who has seen the first two installments of 'The Lord of the Rings' knows that Peter will bring Kong to life as a real character. His vision for the tragic tale of the misunderstood creature, with its poignant character development and technological wonder, will make 'King Kong' compulsory viewing for any real movie lover."

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 04-01-2003, 07:31 AM:

That movie will suck enormously. I think this script team made a lot of unwise choices in the adaptation of Lord of the Rings, but the movies came along OK because there is so much substance in Tolkien`s book. There was still enough left after they had hacked their way through it.
This story however, doesn`t have a lot of substance to begin with. I can`t imagine them making this work.
Using state-of-the-art animation techniques will not help here. A giant gorilla will always look fake. In the original movie, you could accept it because it looked very much like a puppet. You could see it as a nice puppet play. This is going to be the next "Godzilla".

Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 04-01-2003, 12:46 PM:

Wow Michael you're really harsh and it's still two years away.. aren't you just maybe a *little* optimistic that it might be pretty decent? I'm not a fan of remakes but if it's going to be done I'm glad Peter Jackson is doing it.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-01-2003, 12:57 PM:

"This is going to be the next Godzilla"

Mike,

How can you be so negaive about a film that was not produced and you have not seen yet? Based on your opinion, you may may say that the new "KIMG KONG" remake will fail if you have the ability to foresee the future but since you cannot, it might be safer by only predicting it will fail because of the reasons you had outlined in your post. You kind of remind of a lot of young people at the various home video forums I frequent who said "SPIDERMAN" was going to suck when the film project was first announced and had to 'eat crow' when the film turned out to be a big hit. I am personally looking forward to Peter Jackson's film and I know he will produce a wonderful movie. If it turns out to be a bad like you said it would, I will echo your statement that the film sucks but at least I can qualify my statement because I had rendered my personal opinion after I had seen the film.

By the way, what was wrong WIth the "GODZILLA" film remaake. I kind of enjoyed that movie. [Smile]

-Claude

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 04-01-2003, 01:33 PM:

quote:
it might be safer by only predicting it will fail because of the reasons you had outlined in your post

Isn`t that just what I did?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-01-2003, 01:43 PM:

The problem with Godzilla was that the teaser trailers were so good (e.g. the teacher in the museum and the two men fishing in New York harbour) that the feature couldn't really upstage them. Interesting, given current events, that the French were depicted as the villians, though.

The Cooper/Schoedsack King Kong worked incredibly well and the 1976 remake worked moderately well because both related the story to the historical and social circumstances of the time. The orginal was set in the great depression, with the Fay Wray character having been plucked from the breadline by a dodgy entrepeneur. Its message was that it doesn't matter if there is mass unemployment and insecurity - it could be worse, at least we don't wear grass skirts and worship a gorilla! And of course, the gorilla's ass is duly kicked. Add to that the self-reflexive element of Cooper and Schoedsack sending up their own career in the 1920s and you have a great film. In the 1976 version global capitalism and the developed world's reliance on fossil fuels is the butt of the joke ('wow, this'll beat the shit out of <effeminate voice>'we'll put a tiger in your tank'</effeminate voice>'), hence the dénouement atop the WTC.

I don't see any sense of a political or cultural agenda in this announcement of Jackson's proposed remake. If anything, his intention to enlarge the scenes on the island is a bad omen. In the 1933 film they drag on far too long, IMHO, and were only put there so that the studio could get their money's worth out of Willis O'Brien's special effects. The humour and social commentary are all contained in the New York 'book-end' scenes, and in the village (the ceremonies and later, KK's rampage). From the evidence of this announcement, I agree with Michael that we're probably in for another Godzilla - very spectacular CGI and sound effects, but not much else.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-01-2003, 01:46 PM:

The evil aliens in Kung Pow! were French. [Big Grin]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 04-01-2003, 02:19 PM:

I just looked into my crystal ball. "King Kong" will fail horribly artistically and at the box office. Peter`s career will have a terrible dent. He will not make another movie for 5 years and then come back with a small budget production. I couldn`t see clearly what it will be, but it had Zombies in it.

BTW, Claude, a little off topic, but I recall you like classical music. Check out the recently released DG recording of Mahler 3 with the Vienna Philharmonic/Pierre Boulez. That is one fantastic recording!

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-01-2003, 03:36 PM:

Michael,

If that was what you saw in your crystal ball, I know I will like it even more bacause I love zombie films! [Big Grin]

Gustav Mahler is one of my favorite modern composer and his 3rd Symphony has been one of my favorite. I have a previous DGG release of the work with Claudio Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Jessye Norman and it is superb! I dont know if the disc you recommended is available in the United States yet unless it was simultaneously released all over the world at the same time. I will ask for it when I am at my favorite classical music store when I go there in the next couple of days. By the way, Deutsche Grammophon and it's subsidiary, Archiv has been two of my favorite classical music record lable and have a lot of their recordings. In fact as I had previously mentioned in another post, I have the complete set of all of the recorded works of Ludwig Van Beethoven on the DGG label. When I bought the collection, I was told that every note Beethoven wrote was recorded and is in the collection. Although I had this collection for years, much of the records have not yet been played. Too busy listening to CD's and watching DVds, perhaps [Smile]

-Claude

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-01-2003, 03:38 PM:

Classical music? That's like, Led Zeppelin, right?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-01-2003, 03:45 PM:

I got the Boulez Mahler 6 and didn't really like it - a very impersonal, mechanical performance I thought and the recording was extremely harsh. My favourite Mahler recordings are a 1938 set of 6 78s of Bruno Walter conducting Mahler 1 with the Vienna PO. Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra playing Mahler 7 run it a close second. Michael - what are your thoughts on Rattle at the Berlin PO?

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 04-01-2003, 04:27 PM:

Mahler 3/Abbado is an excellent choice, probably the recording which captures the moods of the music best. I think the playing of the horns which are so important in this music is just completely awesome. You are probably aware that the Vienna Philharmonic play a certain type of horn which is different from anywhere else. It is much more difficult to play but preserves the true romantic horn sound.

The Boulez recording was just released, I think it is a very good recording too. The orchestra is - as almost always - in top form and Boulez` ability to make the smallest details in the music audible without losing the larger picture is stunning.

I think the same about the recording of the 6th with Boulez. Probably my favourite recording of the piece. (Sorry, Leo.) Yes, the recording is very direct, and Boulez makes the orchestra play very much "in focus", and a bit hard, but I think that is fantastic because the Vienna Philharmonic have a very full sound anyway and so you can hear a lot of details while the sound is still very colourful and "big".

I am a huge fan of Boulez, I have to admit.
His readings are often criticised as being "impersonal" or "cold", but I disagree. Actually I think Boulez is one of the most "lyrical" conductors, because he pays a lot of attention to musical detail, colour and expressive nuances which many other conductors miss. What makes it even more fascinating for me is that he understands musical structure so well that all those details are not shaped randomly, but so that they lead from one to the next naturally.

I have the recording of 7 with Rattle but haven`t really had time to listen to it yet.

I am not sure about Berlin/Rattle. The orchestra has gone through troubled times, and I think that Rattle is basically a good choice because he does some interesting things and his programming is intelligent and innovative.
But it remains to be seen if he can "tame" the orchestra. I know that he is very careful at the moment because it is not easy to handle them. Abbado got very frustrated about it...

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-01-2003, 05:09 PM:

Judging a movie alone by its visual effects quality (or lack thereof) is not right.

The things that a 2005 version of "King Kong" needs to make it a good movie is a GOOD SCRIPT, GOOD ACTING, GOOD DIRECTION. Visual effects quality is down the list of priorities. FX work is just icing on the cake.

There are a lot of really great movies of many years past whose visual effects quality is horribly antiquated (i.e. very fake looking compared to today's potential). Yet those films are still good, typically because the story and characters keep the thing together.

Concerning the problem of giant gorrilas always looking fake, I thought the folks behind "Mighty Joe Young" did an incredible job with that film. Many of the CGI scenes in that film looked very believeable. I just wish the movie itself had been better.

Then you have to count the years that have passed since the release of "Mighty Joe Young" and other CGI films featuring creatures with many millions of individually animated hairs and fur (such as "Monsters Inc."). Computing technology continues to advance at a dizzying rate. So I would expect a new "King Kong" to be a visual CGI improvement over the ground broken with "Monsters Inc." and "Mighty Joe Young."

My main concern is the actual story and presentation of it. That's going to be the thing that determines whether it sucks or not.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-01-2003, 11:21 PM:

Of course here in Salt Lake City you can hear Mahler performed live quite a few times a year. Last Sat. night was the 4th, and the Saturday before that was the 2nd! I love this town...in less than 10 min. I go from home to one of the best Orchestra Halls in the world, and listen world class orchestras!!
http://www.maurice-abravanel.com/abravanel_hall_.html
Mark

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 04-02-2003, 12:12 AM:

I heard the Utah Symphony in Berlin a few years ago. The orchestra was really quite good. The Hall looks interesting. I couldn`t find a link to a concert schedule on the website, though. It would be interesting to see what they play the season over.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 04-02-2003, 12:31 AM:

quote:
Classical music? That's like, Led Zeppelin, right?

You bet!

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 04-02-2003, 12:50 AM:

Although Honolulu is a very remote American city and over two thousand miles from it's closest major west coast sister cities, Seattle, Portland San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, we have an excellent symphony orchestra. The Honolulu Symphony Orchestra ofen performs Mahler's work. When I was younger and was a season subscriber, I was fortunate to see in person a lot of celebrated artists and even composers who came as guest conductors. I am very fortinate to have seen in person Igor Stranvinsky and his associate Robert Craft shorthly before the master died. I also saw Aaron Copeland and Aram Khachaturian who did not want to conduct his famous "Saber Dance" but relented and offered it as one of his encores. Than there was Maxim Shostakovich who conducted his father's (Dmitri) Symphony No. 5 in D Minor. The artist I have been fortunate to see included Van Cliburn, Jacquline DuPre, Ravi Shankar among many others. I have also been very privileged to see two famous conductors and their orchestras when they came to Honolulu on tour. One of the greatest joy was to see in person Herbert Von Karajan and the Vienna Phiharmonic Orchestra when I was a very young man and Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in early 1960.

-Claude

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-02-2003, 09:06 AM:

Michael,
Try this link..... http://www.utahsymphony.org/ to see whats on the schedule.
Mark

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 04-02-2003, 10:59 AM:

Thanks. There were only dates in April and May displayed, but I could get an impression of the program structure.

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 04-07-2003, 07:26 PM:

Peter Jackson recently revealed the following details regarding his upcoming remake of King Kong to The Dominion Post in New Zealand.

- The film will be released through Universal and is expected to hit theaters in 2005.

- The film budget will be around $200 million.

- Shooting is expected to begin by mid-2004. Jackson, along with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, are expected to start on the script this October.

- The screenplay will be based on the original story by Merian C Cooper and Edgar Wallace.

- The film will be shot in exotic locations around New Zealand as well as Wellington.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-08-2003, 07:06 AM:

So KK is going to trash Wellington, is he? Maybe he's got bored with New York after two goes at it...

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 04-08-2003, 08:48 PM:

Trash Wellington, our capital city, where parliament sits. Yea!