King Kong - videos, teasers and stills from filming
All videos, teasers and footage from the filming of the film "King Kong"
King Kong (2005)
Timing:
3:8 (188 min)
6.9/10
8414
8414
7.607/10
173512
173512
7.2/10
469000
469000
What's left behind the scenes
- Peter Jackson received a fee of $20 million for his work on the film. This was a record for directing. There were times when people earned more from a film (percentages of box office revenue), but such a fee, paid before the project even launched, was truly outstanding.
- Jackson's plans for 'King Kong' immediately followed the completion of filming 'The Frighteners,' but difficulties with copyright arose, and Jackson switched to filming 'The Lord of the Rings.'
- Alex Norton and Sylvester McCoy auditioned for various roles in the project, but they did not participate in the film.
- Fay Ray, the actress who played Ann Darrow in the original 1933 film, was supposed to participate in the project, but unfortunately passed away shortly before filming began.
- The film takes place in 1933.
- On April 1, 2005, Peter Jackson spread a rumor in his web diary dedicated to the filming of the movie, stating that he had already begun working on two sequels—'King Kong: Son of Kong' and 'King Kong: Into the Wolf's Lair.' He also stated that both sequels would likely appear in 2006. The main characters of the movie were to fight mutants raised in Hitler's secret laboratories with the help of Kong's son in the sequels.
- Two Brontosaurus models from the 1933 version of "King Kong" were used as a starting point for creating dinosaur models for the new film.
- Initially, Kate Winslet was to play the role of Ann Darrow, but ultimately the role went to Naomi Watts.
- To "get into" the role of King Kong, Andy Serkis spent a long time studying the behavior of gorillas in Africa.
- In one of the opening scenes, Jack Black's character lists the surnames of actresses he would like to cast in his future film – one of the names belonged to Fay Wray, who played Ann Darrow in the 1933 King Kong.
- Tyrannosaurus Rexes have three fingers on their front paws (instead of the scientifically proven two). This detail was also borrowed from the original 1933 film. According to the creators, this fact was explained by the fact that, as a result of evolution, the animals developed an additional finger over 65 million years.
- Jackson's old friend, Howard Shore (who also played the role of the orchestra conductor during Carl Denham's show), led the work on the film's soundtrack. However, two months before the film's release, Peter made an unexpected decision for many to replace the composer. James Newton Howard took over.
- During the filming of scenes involving King Kong, 132 sensors were attached to Andy Serkis's face.
- The first DVD edition of "King Kong" was released long before the film's premiere. This is the first such case in the history of cinema. The disc features video diaries about the progress of filming.
- The role of Jimmy was specifically written for Jamie Bell.
- Peter Jackson's children, Billy and Katie, can be spotted in the first two minutes of the film.
- The New York sets consisted of only four blocks, and all the buildings were single-story. The rest was special effects. The streets were “expanded” using computer technology. In some scenes, the number of pedestrians and cars was doubled, or even tripled, using the same technology as was used for the battle scenes in “The Lord of the Rings”.
- Outside the New York movie theaters, you can see posters for the films "East of Borneo" (1931) and "The Mummy" (1932).
- Around 100 extras were used for filming the scenes in New York, and they wore different costumes for filming different scenes.
- The digital model of New York in 1933 contained approximately 90,000 individual buildings.
- A poster for the film "Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness" (1927) can be seen in the background of the scene where Denham overhears the studio bosses talking. This film was produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who also made the original "King Kong" (1933).
- Michael Muenie auditioned for the role of Bruce Baxter.
- At the end of the closing credits, it states that the film is dedicated to "the first explorers of Skull Island…" followed by a list of the actors who played the main roles in the 1933 film.
- The scene shown in the trailer where Carl Denham (Jack Black) says to Ann: "Scream Ann! Scream for your life!" is absent from both the theatrical and director's cuts of the film.
- The music playing in the theater where 'Kong' is being shown is the original music from 'King Kong' (1933). The costumes worn by the actors on stage replicate the costumes of the inhabitants of the island in the 1933 film.
- The scene in which Kong tears the jaw of the V-Rex is also present in the 1933 film.
- The billboards of Coca-Cola, Pepsodent, and Chevrolet visible on Times Square are identical to the advertising posters in the 1933 film.
- King Kong's roar is a lion's roar, slowed down by half and played in reverse.
- In an early version of the script, Ann Darrow was the daughter of a famous archaeologist, and Jack Driscoll was his assistant. In one of the first scenes, Ann's father was killed by Indonesian soldiers who were trying to hide his discoveries on Skull Island.
- Upon its release, 'King Kong' was the most expensive film in history (not adjusted for inflation), exceeding the budgets of 'Titanic' (1997) and 'Spider-Man 2' (2004). Peter Jackson's film had a budget of $207 million.
- Adrien Brody was the initial and only candidate for the role of Jack Driscoll. He signed a contract to star in the film before the script was even written.
- The hand-held camera constantly carried by Carl Denham is a Bell & Howell 2709. The same type of camera was used during the filming of “King Kong” (1933).
- In one scene of the film, Naomi Watts wears the exact same hat as Fay Wray in “King Kong” (1933).
- In the holds of the 'Venture', you can notice an empty cage with a sign that reads 'Sumatran rat monkey'. The same monkey was the cause of the reanimation of the dead in Peter Jackson's film 'Braindead' (1992). In that film, the monkey was also caught on Skull Island.
- During the production of the film, Peter Jackson kept online video diaries, which were available for viewing on the kongisking.net website. New reports from the set were added every 2-3 days.
- The film studio where the filming took place is located quite close to the local airport, so planes often appeared in the frame during outdoor shooting.
- According to the creators, King Kong's height is approximately 25 feet (about 7.6 meters). In the 1933 film, his height was about 50 feet (15.2 meters). However, in proportion to people and objects, Kong's height was approximately the same as that of the new Kong.
- The film contains approximately 800 shots of miniature work.
- Upon its release, 'King Kong' became the film with the largest number of special effects in the history of cinema – about 2400 shots. It surpassed the record previously set by 'Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith' (2005), which contained approximately 2200 shots with special effects. Notably, the number of special effects increases significantly in each new film by Peter Jackson: 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001) – 560 shots, 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' (2002) – 800, 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003) – 1488.
- This film was the last picture whose production was personally approved by the former Chairperson of the Board of Directors of 'Universal' studio, Stacey Snider, shortly before her move to 'Dreamworks'. Initially, she demanded that the film's duration not exceed 160 minutes, but after viewing a rough cut of the film, she agreed to increase the screen time because she really liked the new version of 'King Kong'.
- At one stage of production, Andrew Lesnie (cinematographer) suggested making the film black and white.
- It took around six hours to apply Vicki Houghton's makeup for the role of the witch, but the scenes featuring her lasted no more than two minutes.
- The script pages that Jack gives Carl are genuine pages from the 1933 film's screenplay, one copy of which belongs to Peter Jackson.
- Peter Jackson originally wanted to cast Robert De Niro or George Clooney in the role of Carl Denham.
- Jack Black limited himself to a 1930s-style wig and completely refused makeup when he learned that Clint Eastwood had never used it during filming. It was later revealed that he had been lied to about Eastwood.
- Adrien Brody refused the use of a stunt double during the filming of the scene in which his character tries to distract King Kong by driving away from him in a taxi.
- The insects that attack Jack Driscoll at the bottom of the canyon are giant versions of the weta, an insect native to New Zealand. The name also refers to Peter Jackson's special effects studio.
- The scene in which Denham, Driscoll, and the ship's crew fall into a canyon teeming with giant insects is a reference to a scene in “King Kong” (1933), where the protagonists fell into a canyon inhabited by giant spiders. However, this scene was cut from the 1933 film.
- Rick Baker played one of the pilots who shoot at Kong atop the Empire State Building. Baker played Kong in “King Kong” (1976).
- Frank Darabont (director of “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) and “The Green Mile” (1999)) played one of the machine gunners who shoot at Kong atop the Empire State Building.
- The complete original director's cut has a runtime of 201 minutes. It includes additional scenes: Immediately after entering the jungle, the search party encounters a furious ceratopsian with a split horn on its nose. It stamps its feet, then collapses, exhausted. Denham films it. After fleeing the apatosaurs, the group stops on the shore of a swamp, and Lumpy begins building a raft. The longest cut scene (immediately after Ann’s escape from Kong): the group floats on rafts through the swamp, and is attacked by arthropods resembling scorpions, then by a monstrous fish (called a “piranhadon”). Three sailors die, and Preston miraculously saves Denham's camera. At this time, Ann stops at a cliff, drinks from a spring, then hears Driscoll’s voice. She runs, but in the wrong direction. The group encounters a strange, non-flying bird resembling an ostrich, which Lumpy accidentally shoots. After this, Hayes leads his squad to a tree that fell into the chasm. After the battle in the gorge, Bruce urges the survivors to climb up the rope, and Jimmy takes the cap of the deceased Hayes. Two short moments where Kong breaks through the ruins of the native city. The scene of the military attacking Kong in New York.
- During her escape from the Tyrannosaurus, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) falls and slides down. In this scene, it is clearly visible that her dress gets very dirty, but in the next frame it is already clean.
- Peter Jackson received a fee of $20 million for his work on the film. This was a record for the directing profession. There have been instances where people earned more for a film (percentages of box office revenue), but such a fee, paid before the project even launched, was truly exceptional.
- Jackson had "King Kong" planned immediately after finishing "The Frighteners," but difficulties with copyright arose, and Jackson switched to filming "The Lord of the Rings".
- Alex Norton and Sylvester McCoy auditioned for various roles in the project, but they did not participate in the film.
- Fay Wray, the actress who played Ann Darrow in the original 1933 film, was supposed to participate in the project, but unfortunately, she passed away shortly before filming began.
- The film is set in 1933.
- On April 1, 2005, Peter Jackson spread a rumor in his web diary dedicated to the filming that he had already begun working on two sequels – "King Kong: Son of Kong" and "King Kong: Into the Wolf’s Lair." He also stated that both sequels would likely appear in 2006. The main characters of the film, with the help of Kong's son, were to fight mutants bred in Hitler's secret laboratories in the sequels.
- Initially, Kate Winslet was supposed to play the role of Ann Darrow, but Naomi Watts eventually landed the part.
- To 'get into' the role of King Kong, Andy Serkis spent a long time studying gorilla behavior in Africa.
- An old friend of Jackson's, Howard Shore, was working on the soundtrack (Howard also played the role of the orchestra conductor during Carl Denham's show). However, two months before the film's release, Peter made an unexpected decision for many to replace the composer. James Newton Howard took over.
- Outside New York movie theaters, you can see posters for the films “East of Borneo” (1931) and “The Mummy” (1932).
- A poster for the film “Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness” (1927) can be seen in the background in the scene where Denham is eavesdropping on the studio bosses' conversation. This film was produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who also made the original “King Kong” (1933).
- At the end of the closing credits, it states that the film is dedicated to “the first explorers of Skull Island…”, followed by a listing of the actors who played the main roles in the 1933 film.
- The scene shown in the trailer, where Carl Denham (Jack Black) says to Ann: “Scream Ann! Scream for your life!” is absent from both the theatrical and director's cut of the film.
- The music playing in the theater where Kong is being shown is the original music from “King Kong” (1933). The costumes worn by the actors on stage replicate the costumes of the inhabitants of the island in the 1933 film.
- Upon its release, “King Kong” became the most expensive film in history (without adjusting for inflation), surpassing the budgets of “Titanic” (1997) and “Spider-Man 2” (2004). Peter Jackson’s film had a budget of $207 million.
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