Production officially gets underway on Peter Jackson's "King Kong" on Monday reported Universal in a press release late last week. A media press conference was held the other day to announce the launch of the project with stars Adrien Brody, Naomi Watts, Jack Black and a slimmed down Director Peter Jackson all turning out to answer the usual questions.
The quartetposed in front of a full-scale replica of the ship Venture berthed at a 1930s-style New York wharf, which included East River Shipping Co warehouses, all at the Miramar studios near Wellington.
In terms of the film's look, in the production press release Jackson said "I very much want to respect the iconography of the original film, because I don't believe we should try to change what worked. Our version of 'King Kong' will reflect the same sort of dramatic sensibility we employed on 'The Lord of the Rings' -- placing real characters, with real dilemmas, in the context of a truly fantastical world. I'm determined to give the film a gritty reality and to play the dramatic elements of the story for all they're worth. Our movie is set in 1933, and this is important because it means we can invest the story with the mystery and romance of a bygone era. The Thirties was a time of discovery, when we did not know the full parameters of the world and literally, anything was possible".
Jackson also revealed he briefly toyed with the idea of making this a three dimensional flick - "I thought it would be fun to shoot a film in 3-D and I thought about Kong. We explored all the latest technologies (but) we were just a bit too late". "Kong" opens worldwide on December 14th, 2005.
Thanks to 'Dust Bunny' & 'Paul'
