Friday July 8, 2005

Director Peter Jackson finds the king in Kong

By RIZAL JOHAN

New Zealand-born director Peter Jackson is having a swinging time with his latest project, King Kong. The Lord of the Rings trilogy director recently finished principal photography on the project and is now in post-production as the film is set to hit the big screens the world over in December.

Once again, Jackson has assembled the crew who worked with him on the award-winning Lord of the Rings films including cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, producer and writer Fran Walsh, writer Phillipa Boyens and New Zealand-based Weta Digital and Workshop for visual effects.

Jackson has also rounded up an interesting cast for the remake of the 1930s feature such as Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Thomas Kretschmann, Adrien Brody, Jamie Bell, Colin Hanks and Andy Serkis.

Serkis played the actor behind the motion capture for the creature Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, and Jackson uses the Brit actor’s talent once more for the motion capture of King Kong.

Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is caught in a showdown between King Kong and a T-Rex in King Kong.

Jackson has set the remake with the original film’s timeline in the 1930s and will feature the spectacular Skull Island, where dinosaurs still roam and Kong is worshipped as a god by the island’s inhabitants. Watts stars as vaudeville actress Ann Darrow in Depression-era New York.

When Darrow finds herself out of work, she hooks up with entrepreneur, raconteur, adventurer and filmmaker Carl Denham (Black) who is struggling to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry.

It is Denham’s quest for glory, however, that ultimately leads to catastrophe.

For Jackson, watching King Kong when he was nine was what got him hooked on filmmaking.

He was reported to have said during an interview on the set of the movie: “Well, it is absolutely true that when I saw King Kong it did make me want to become a filmmaker. I’ve no idea whether I would be making films if I hadn’t seen King Kong.”

As for his vision of the remake, Jackson was determined to do a version that would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the original classic.

“I want to try to do a version of Kong that basically catches the wonderful, mysterious adventure. It’s hard,” he admitted.

Judging by the pictures that are available from the movie, King Kong looks to be a very promising film to watch this Christmas.

To get an even better glimpse of things to come, you can view the trailer at www.kingkongmovie.com. The tentative release of the film locally is set for Dec 14.

eCentral

Director Peter Jackson finds the king in Kong