Wellington's King Kong - Making Movies in New Zealand
'I owe
King Kong a huge debt personally because it really did get me wanting to be a filmmaker… I was swept away and transported to another place when I saw that film. It was a love affair that began at that point with me for fantastic cinema and storytelling.'
Peter Jackson
After the blockbuster success of the Academy Award-winning
Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson has been hard at work bringing to life another classic story –
King Kong. Creating his own version of the mighty ape has been a passion since Jackson first fell in love with the original 1933 movie at the age of nine. Now, 35 years later, that vision has become a reality, as
King Kong gets ready to take the movie world by storm.
The Story
'I think the original
King Kong is a wonderful blend – possibly the most perfect blend – of escapism and adventure and mystery and romance… it has that wonderful mixture of emotion and fantasy.'
Peter Jackson
Set during the depression era of 1930s,
King Kong is the classic tale of how beauty killed the beast. It follows the adventures of ambitious director Carl Denham (Jack Black) who joins an expedition to mysterious Skull Island to investigate the legend of a giant gorilla. With him is his leading lady, a beautiful young vaudeville actress called Ann Darrow (Namoi Watts) who has fallen on hard times in New York, and has now been cast in Denham's new film. When they arrive, they discover the great ape really does exist, and they must venture into a dense jungle where prehistoric creatures have remained hidden for millions of years. Captivated by Ann's beauty, the mighty Kong is soothed long enough to be subdued. He is shipped back to New York to face a bleak future in captivity, but breaking free, he tracks down Ann, leading to a final climactic battle atop the State Empire Building.
The Cast
Kiwi director Peter Jackson lined up a star-studded cast for his long-awaited epic, including Oscar nominee Naomi Watts (
21 Grams) as Ann Darrow, a role originally played by actress Fay Wray. Jack Black (
High Fidelity,
The School of Rock) plays her director Carl Denham and Adrien Brody (
The Pianist) stars as Jack Driscoll, the playwright who falls in love with Darrow and becomes an unlikely hero. Jackson used Andy Serkis, a familiar face from
Lord of the Rings, as a ‘motion’ double for the 25ft (15m) Kong, and fans can also spot Serkis aboard the steamer ship SS
Venture, as Lumpy the cook. Colin Hanks (
Orange County) serves as Denham’s long-suffering assistant.
Visual Effects
The film’s spectacular visual effects were created by Wellington-based companies Weta Digital, directed by
Lord of the Rings veteran Joe Letteri, and Weta Workshop, with Oscar winner Richard Taylor at the helm. Miniature models were used to supplement the computer-generated graphics and set locations for New York, the SS
Venture and Skull Island. In fact, the model-making department had the painstaking task of recreating Kong’s jungle-clad island at a one twelfth scale, scaling down trees, plants, dirt and even moss!
Weta Workshop created the early creature concepts for the 15m-high snaggle-toothed ape. Andy Serkis (who brought to life the computer generated character of Gollum in
Lord of the Rings) stepped in to provide ‘motion capture’ performance and facial movements for the computer generated Kong, although miniatures were used for some scenes involving the giant gorilla.
LocationsAs with all his films to date, Jackson set up base at his studios in the Mirimar suburb of Wellington, although location shooting took place in and around the greater Wellington region, with one set even based in Auckland.
WellingtonShelly Bay & Lyall Bay: Skull Island
Filming for Skull Island took place at Lyall Bay. A second large-scale version, including the giant wall which separated Kong from the rest of the island, was built above the Massey Memorial near Shelly Bay. Skull Island was a key location in the original 1933 movie, and Jackson’s film follows the 1933 version faithfully, with a large portion of the film set on the ‘island’.
Seaview, Lower Hutt: New York
1930s New York came alive in New Zealand at Seaview in Wellington’s
Hutt Valley as Jackson created a faithful depression-era version of the Big Apple complete with Broadway, Times Square and Macy’s department store, as well as vintage cars and extras clad in period costume.
Kapiti Island & Cook Strait: Venture Ocean ScenesOcean scenes aboard the steamer,
Venture, were filmed around Kapiti Island, a protected bird sanctuary off Wellington’s
Kapiti Coast. Incidentally, Jackson and his crew made an unscheduled visit to Kapiti Island in March 2005 when they had to abandon the
Venture. The boat began to take on water during filming, flooding the engine room!
Ocean-going scenes were also shot on the Cook Strait, a stretch of water linking Wellington to
Picton, at the tip of the South Island. The Strait is renowned for its rough weather and scenic beauty. The
Venture pier scenes were shot at Mirimar Wharf in Cobham Drive, Wellington.
Auckland
Civic Theatre: New York Theatre Interior
Auckland’s magnificent 1929 atmospheric theatre doubled for the interior of the New York theatre where Kong breaks free of his chains and escapes. A key arts venue, Civic Theatre is still used for a range of performances from dance to theatre, and is one of the few of its type remaining in the world. It is designed to evoke the outdoors at night, and is decorated with motifs and romantic images of the East.
Premiere
The world premiere took place in New York on 5 December 2005, and was released in New Zealand cinemas on 14 December 2005.
Did You Know?
- Peter Jackson will pocket a record $30 million, the highest salary ever paid to a director. The film’s budget was $200 million.
- The Kiwi director made his mark in New Zealand directing a string of B-grade horrors involving blood, gore, zombies, muppets and aliens.
- Peter Jackson's first full-length feature film was the horror flick Bad Taste in 1987, but it wasn’t until 1994 that he grabbed international headlines with Heavenly Creatures.
- Peter Jackson originally wanted to make this film after his supernatural thriller The Frighteners (1996), which starred Michael J Fox. When the rights became tied up, he moved on to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), using ghost effects he had developed for King Kong.
- Fay Wray, the original leading lady, was in negotiations to appear in the film before she died in 2004. Jackson had wanted her to deliver the legendary last line: 'Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.'
- Fay Wray was once famous for her powerful lung capacity, and after a string of B-grade horrors during the 1930s, Hollywood nicknamed her The Queen of Scream.
- The King Kong film is set in 1933, the same year the original film was released.
- Peter Jackson, who is a big World War II plane buff, had an authentic 1930s plane created for Kong’s final battle scene atop the Empire Building.
- Andy Serkis studied gorillas in Africa in preparation for his motion capture 'performance' as King Kong.
- Star Adrien Brody did his own stunt driving.
- Many shots are taken directly from the original film, including the scene where Ann steals an apple.
- Skull Island jungle scenes were originally to be filmed in southern Thailand in January 2005. When the Boxing Day tsunami devastated much of the region, the jungle scenes were filmed in the New Zealand studio.
- The film contains approximately 800 miniature shots.
- Jackson’s new project, announced for 2007, is a screen adaptation of the novel, Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. It tells the story of a 14-year-old girl murdered by her neighbour, who recalls what happened to her from Heaven.
Useful websites:
- www.kongisking.net – Fan site featuring a film production diary, news archives, chatroom and history.
- www.kingkong.com – The official film site with trailer, downloads and photos.