Last year, we learned that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures would be teaming up to bring us a brand new King Kong film titled ‘Kong: Skull Island’ along with a sequel to ‘Godzilla’ and a project featuring both iconic movie monsters. After all the casting announcements and casting departures in the following months, we finally got our first look at the latest version of the King of the Apes’s story at San Diego Comic Con this year. However, we haven’t gotten to see much from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts new take on the classic character since then. Now, it seems that we have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the beast itself.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the filmmaker behind indie darling ‘Kings of Summer’ talked about his first foray into major blockbusters with ‘Skull Island’. While discussing the process of bringing Kong to life and the differences from the other films (specifically Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake), the director unveiled the first look at his version of the mighty ape. Then to give some perspective to what we’re looking at, Vogt-Roberts gave this description of what we’re seeing:
“That sequence comes from a point in the movie where you’re not quite sure who Kong is, what his purpose is, how people should be perceiving him. Through the folly of man, where our initial instinct is to attack anything that is not a known quantity, both sides jump the gun, Kong and the humans, and it kicks off a relatively messy engagement. At first, of course you’re going to perceive something like that as a terrible threat and monster — the physicality of him alone.”
As the director mentioned earlier in the interview, this version is meant to be more of a throwback to the 1933 film and it really shows. The resemblance is particularly prominent in the face. Here’s a still from that movie for comparison purposes:
But aside from the homage to what came before it, it might still be a hard sell to get the audience to come out for another Kong remake. Although, the cast is pretty stellar and the 1970s setting may add a new dimension to the story. While we wait and see, let us know what you think about ‘Kong: Skull Island’ in the comments below.
‘Kong: Skull Island’ starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Toby Kebbell, Tom Wilkinson, John C. Reilly, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Tian Jing, and Terry Notary hits theaters on March 10, 2017.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
