# What's the pre-buzz on Peter Jackson's "King Kong"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607 "2005-11-11T19:19:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/61 "2005-11-14T21:13:31Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Come not between the T-Rex and his wrath. > > This is the foul fiend Kong: he begins > at curfew, and walks till the first cock; he gives > the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the > hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the > poor creature of earth > > DENHAM: Is’t not the king? > KONG: Ay, every inch a king. This is the sort of thing that makes the Dope the best place on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/62 "2005-11-14T21:47:28Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Okay, I’ll stop now. Please, Uncle Will, keep going! Tell us about the bloody parts! ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/63 "2005-11-14T21:47:55Z")
re: discovering actresses on the streets: > [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > That kind of thing could never [happen in real life](http://www.nndb.com/people/489/000022423/)😉 Not to mention the luminous [Rosario](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0206257/) [Dawson](http://www.funmunch.com/celebrities/actresses/rosario_dawson/enlarge/rosario_dawson_8.jpg). _sigh_ > [@](#): > > Discovered sitting on her front porch in New York City and asked if she wanted to be in a movie. I’m really looking forward to Kong. The burning question is: can Naomi scream like Fay? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/64 "2005-11-16T18:49:57Z")
DVD review: [http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/spinsheet111505.html#kin](http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/spinsheet111505.html#kin) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/65 "2005-11-24T02:46:40Z")
The sacrifice scene is so unsexy from the photos I’ve seen… compared to those in which Jessica Lange was oozing sexual apeal… its outright boring. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/66 "2005-11-24T04:38:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yeah, the idea of a giant ape falling in love with a human girl\* is even more preposterous than the idea of a “lost world” island swarming with dinosaurs. Also, it’s clearly implied (from the natives’ mode of worship) that there is only **one** Kong on Skull Island, and there has been only one from time out of mind – and how can there be just one of anything? One animal implies a breeding population, unless it’s the last of its kind. But, if you can swallow those points Dude, it’s a movie about a seven-storey-tall monkey that fights dinosaurs. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/67 "2005-11-24T15:55:51Z")
I’m looking forward to it. I think they’ve taken on the project with the right attitude. _Posted by Diogenes:_ > [@](#): > > The trailer looks great. That snippet of Kong on the ESB, leaping and swatting a helicopter is awesome. Not to nitpick – I just want to assure anyone who hasn’t seen the trailer that it’s _not_ a helicopter, but a biplane. I was really glad that Jackson set the story in the 1930’s. _Posted by N9IWP:_ > [@](#): > > One of the extras is PJ redoing the infamous “spider pit” sequence - with stop motion. (The sequence was removed form the orginal version I think before it premiered. In any case the footage has been lost) Apparently it’s now unlost! At least, I read that the new DVD release includes that formerly lost scene. Yea! (I think my beautiful girlfriend is getting me the DVD as a “get well” present while I’m laid up in a leg brace.) Personally, I think it’s gonna rock. I wasn’t sure about Jack Black at first (my first choice would have been William H. Macy) but from the trailer I think he’s got the right kind of intense, boylike enthusiasm. In defense of Fay Wray: she was actually a decentpretty good actress, and certainly a hard-working one (she starred in _King Kong_ and _The Most Dangerous Game_ at the same time, working 18-hour days running through the same jungle sets for both movies). She could also do comedy, and was funny as a _very_ dumb blonde in the movie _Affairs of Cellini_. And, of course, a fantastic screamer. The 1933 is one of my favorites, so regardless of how Peter Jackson’s movie goes, I’m glad they’re finally coming out with a good DVD release. I know it’s corny, but each time I feel a flutter of excitement when Denham recruits Ann Darrow with something like: “It’s the adventure of a lifetime! It’s excitement and danger, and a long sea voyage that leaves at dawn!” Brings out the kid in me. The 1976 remake was just a bad idea, start to finish. It did produce one surprise: Jessica Lange, who many people expected to fade back into obscurity, but who worked her ass off to become a respected actress. So, I’m hoping for the best with Jackson’s movie. As long as he’s geared up for New York in the 1930’s, y’know what I’d like to see him do? That’s right, Doc Savage. Peter Jackson has the resources and the clout to do a proper Doc Savage movie, which would rock like nobody’s business. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/68 "2005-11-24T17:51:54Z")
I remember Jessica Lange for those very sexy scenes… and I didn’t think the 1976 remake was bad… the acting was subpar… but it seems the same in this new version. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/69 "2005-11-24T19:00:22Z")
NBC is pushing a _“ **Never before seen** preview of King Kong”_ that will appear during the movie Shrek Sunday evening. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/70 "2005-11-24T22:09:45Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Apparently [the spider scene is] now unlost! At least, I read that the new DVD release includes that formerly lost scene. No, it’s definitely still lost, and unlikely to ever turn up. The scene on the restored _Kong_ is included as an extra and is the one that Jackson produced, based on a couple stills and production drawings from the missing sequence, contemporary descriptions of the action, observation of O’Brien’s animation of the spider model in _The Black Scorpion_, careful reconstructions of other models (which Jackson actually owns) from the sequence, use of 1930s effects, and liberal quantities of imagination. It’ll be neat, but at most it’ll be similar to what the original sequence might have been like – not a reconstruction. There’s also been a lot of talk that this scene will be “restored” to body of the film in the new release – not so at all, and a good thing, too. Even if PJ miraculously produced a shot that was frame-for-frame identical to the original, it would be a mistake to insert it into the film – it was taken out because it didn’t fit, and screwed up the pacing. You’ve got the protagonists running furiously in terror, a couple of redshirts fall out of frame, the action stops, the redshirts try to get away, the critters come and eat them, and then _snap_, you’re back to the furious running. Doesn’t work. The good news is that some of the short scenes that were cut out because they were deemed too graphic, suggestive, or crass have been restored to the film. (eg; Kong undressing Ann, killing various people, etc. No idea if they’ll put the bit with him picking his nose in or if that was just the animators arseing about.) There’s a good article on the PJ spider scene at [retrocrush](http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2005/kong/). ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/71 "2005-11-25T00:31:53Z")
…spoilers on the below link! Darkhorse have put up a preview of the first few pages of the King Kong comic…it should give you an idea of how the movie opens. See the preview [here.](http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/preview.php?theid=11-627&p=1) ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/72 "2005-11-25T01:30:51Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > The good news is that some of the short scenes that were cut out because they were deemed too graphic, suggestive, or crass have been restored to the film. (eg; Kong undressing Ann, killing various people, etc. No idea if they’ll put the bit with him picking his nose in or if that was just the animators arseing about.) > > There’s a good article on the PJ spider scene at [retrocrush](http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2005/kong/). I saw a version (at a church youth halloween party) with Kong undressing Ann and eating people, but not picking his nose. Kong had the silliest lecherous grin on his face when he pulled Ann dress off her. Kong also picked a native up, put his head in his mouth, dangled him around a moment and bit his head off. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/73 "2005-11-25T13:27:00Z")
There was also a scene in which Fay Wray’s left breast briefly popped out. Only a cad would use the freeze-frame feature to take a good, long look. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/74 "2005-11-25T15:32:29Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I’ve been geeking out over '30s entertainment for a couple of decades now Have you sought professional help? 😃 > [@](#): > > The art direction is nailed, the special effects and production design are flawless. What about the type? No matter how scrupulous everything else is, they HAVE to screw up the type. (I think there’s some clause in the show printers’ union contract that basically says, “You gonna laser print your signs, ephemera, etc? OK. Use only the fonts supplied with MS Word or we don’t print no lobby cards.”) > [@](#): > > The 1933 _King Kong_ is a special movie – it (obviously) has major “B” elements, but it’s got more soul than any other “monster” picture. I trust Peter Jackson to hit the right notes to bring out the soul (sorry for the cheese) of this story – what makes it an enduring classic. I’m still going to miss the rippling fingerprints in the ape’s coat. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/75 "2005-11-25T19:06:07Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > There was also a scene in which Fay Wray’s left breast briefly popped out. Only a cad would use the freeze-frame feature to take a good, long look. [rocky horror picture show] DR. FRANK N. FURTER: What ever happened to Fay Wray? AUDIENCE: She got fucked by a 40-foot gorilla! DR. FNF: That delicate, satin-draped frame As it clung to her thigh How I started to cry AUDIENCE: You’d REALLY cry if you got fucked by a 40-foot gorilla! DR. FNF: 'Cause I wanted to be dressed just the same . . . [/rhps] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/76 "2005-11-25T22:06:09Z")
Don’t you love the regional variations in _Rocky_ AP? I’d never heard that before. The standard Fay Wray/King Kong line I’ve heard is “She went apeshit!” The next couple of lines in that song turn into a wonderfully sick abortion joke. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/77 "2005-11-25T23:28:30Z")
Around here, it’s “She got apeshit on her,” and “You’d cry too, if you had apeshit on you.” ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/78 "2005-11-26T23:45:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yeah, the idea of a giant ape falling in love with a human girl\* is even more preposterous than the idea of a “lost world” island swarming with dinosaurs. Also, it’s clearly implied (from the natives’ mode of worship) that there is only **one** Kong on Skull Island, and there has been only one from time out of mind – and how can there be just one of anything? One animal implies a breeding population, unless it’s the last of its kind. But, if you can swallow those points (with which I doubt Jackson will presume to meddle) – and if you can overlook the implicit racism of an “ape” lusting after a white blonde woman (ditto) – it’s a ripping good yarn! > \*BTW – what did Kong do with all those other sacrificial victims that the island’s people offered him at apparently regular intervals? Was Ann Darrow the first one he did not immediately use as a light snack? I guess that’s just one of many things you’re not supposed to think about. At the bookstore the other day I glanced through \*\*The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island \*\* (alas, I can’t afford it just now, but sooner or later it’ll wind up on the shelf-- I love lavishly illustrated treatments of fantastic ecologies such as Wayne Douglas Barlowe’s **Expedition** and the like). The designers at Weta Workshop present \*\*The World of Kong \*\* as the results of an extensive scientific exploration of Skull Island following the events of the movie. From the contents, it seems apparent that the filmmakers did indeed put a lot of thought into constructing as plausible a backstory as possible to justify the existence of the island’s extraordinary ecology. For one thing, the book speculates that Kong’s species (_Megaprimatus kong_), while superficially resembling the African mountain gorilla, may in fact have been more closely related to the extinct giant Asian primate _Gigantopithecus_– which would make more sense for a species native to a South Pacific island group. We also learn that Kong was indeed the last survivor of his kind, which had evidently been suffering a slow attrition over many thousands of years. It is suggested that the cause of this decline may also have been the reason why _M. kong_ might have been forced to achieve such enormous proportions to survive in the first place-- aggressive competition from the island’s dinosaurian species. The text reminds us that great apes in general exhibit a relatively low reproductive rate, which probably contributed to the species’ decline. I only had a quick look through the book, so I don’t know whether they employed similar ingenuity to justify the existence of meat-eating _Brontosaurus_ or giant spiders, but it seems that Peter Jackson and his crew gave an enormous amount of thought even to the stuff from the original movie that you weren’t supposed to think about. How much of that will make it to the screen remains to be seen, but the fact that they were very conscious of these issues makes me hopeful that the film will address them in a creative and adroit manner. Supposedly Peter Jackson has been thinking about this movie for quite a while, and his team displayed an impressive ability to present the fantastic with richly nuanced realism in \*\*The Lord of the Rings \*\* trilogy. I’d also suggest that the whole “giant ape falls in love with human girl” premise isn’t necessarily an entirely ridiculous idea, if one leaves aside the notion that the attraction was entirely sexual. If Kong was indeed the last of his kind, then anything reminescent of other members of his species would be likely to inspire an emotional response. Chimps and gorillas will often interact with human beings who display the proper behavioral cues-- witness the work of that Jane Goodall tramp, for example. Also, human facial and bodily proportions resemble those of juvenile or infant apes; perhaps Kong’s fascination with Ann Darrow was due to hazy memories of long-vanished baby Konglings. As for whatever happened to the other sacrifices… good question, although I wouldn’t be surprised if the new movie tries to answer that as well. It’s unwise to speculate without evidence, but perhaps Kong reacted differently to Ann because her appearance or smell was different from that of the islanders. Or perhaps their sacrifice ritual had some bizarre provision for the victim to try and sneak away after a few days, or something equally unfathomable and steeped in myth. You’ve got to remember, these are just simple islanders. These are people of the land; the common clay of the Lost World… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/79 "2005-11-27T00:25:15Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > At the bookstore the other day I glanced through \*\*The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island \*\* Ooh, that looks cool. I like the [group photo of the Weta crew](http://media.filmforce.ign.com/media/546/546724/img_3161596.html). ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607/80 "2005-11-28T12:48:23Z")
Newsweek preview: [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10216525/site/newsweek/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10216525/site/newsweek/) Audio interview of the person who saw the preview: [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10220604/site/newsweek/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10220604/site/newsweek/) Brian [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pre-buzz-on-peter-jacksons-king-kong/330607.md?page=5)