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Preview by: Jack Foley
HAVING conquered Tolkien's Lord
of the Rings in the most emphatic way possible, Peter Jackson
now turns his attentions to another timeless tale.
King Kong will be released worldwide in December and, from the
strength of its teaser trailer alone, looks set to be another
colossal achievement for the New Zealand-born director.
It's actually the third cinema adaptation of the King Kong story,
following in the footsteps of the classic 1933 original and the
1976 remake (starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange).
Yet with Jackson at the helm and a cast including Jack Black,
Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin
Hanks and Kyle Chandler you can safely assume that this could
be the most significant adaptation yet.
The teaser trailer suggests as much, given the impressive special
effects that show Kong wrestling with dinosaurs, trashing cars
in downtown New York and roaring at the top of his lungs impressively.
The acting, too, looks spot-on, with Black, Watts and Oscar-winner,
Brody, looking certain to add some gravitas to proceedings.
Speaking to USA Today ahead of the recent release of the trailer,
Jackson maintained that work is still in progress on the epic,
with plenty still to fine tune ahead of the movie's December 14
launch in the UK.
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"We are deciding on the length
of his fur, how tangled it should be, and how much grey to work
around the eyes," he is quoted as saying.
The look of Kong is certainly something that Jackson is keen
to make perfect.
To add to the authenticity, photos of silverback gorillas were
superimposed on Kong's image, with several tweaks being made.
"He's not the Hulk of gorillas. That's the charm of Kong,"
the director told USA Today. "He is past his prime and isn't
the super-virile ape of 30 years ago."
Kong's movements, which were put together using Andy Serkis (the
actor behind many of Gollum's mannerisms in Lord of the Rings),
are also designed to create a more physical reality.
Serkis, for his part, studied gorilla behavior in Rwanda, and
even does some grunt work on Kong's behalf.
As things stand, Kong's vital statistics measure up as follows
- he stands 25 feet (real gorillas top out at 6 feet) and is 120
to 150 years old (30 is normal in the wild, or 50 in captivity).
Yet Jackson has also invested a back story in the look, suggesting
that Kong has seen plenty of scrapes.
"We had the notion that Kong's jawbone was smashed in an
ancient fight and mended itself at a crooked angle," he says.
Of the stars, Watts predicts that her relationship with Kong
will be much more emotional than in previous films, hinting at
a more tender side to Kong.
All of which bodes well for another potentially Oscar-winning
epic from the man behind Frodo and co.
Roll on December 14....
Watch the trailer...
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