King Kong Behind The Scenes Feature on NBC InFlight Access Hollywood

NBC In-Flight video of the behind the scenes of King Kong (2005) Access Hollywood profile.

King Kong is a 2005 American monster film co-written, produced, and directed by Peter Jackson. A second remake of the 1933 film of the same title, the film stars Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Adrien Brody. Set in 1933, it follows the story of an ambitious filmmaker who coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to the mysterious Skull Island. There, they encounter prehistoric creatures living on the island as well as a legendary giant gorilla known as Kong, whom they capture and take to New York City. Filming for King Kong took place in New Zealand from September 2004 to March 2005. The project's budget climbed from an initial $150 million to a then-record-breaking $207 million.

It was released on December 14, 2005, in Germany and the United States, and made an opening of $50.1 million. While it performed lower than expected, King Kong made domestic and worldwide grosses that eventually added up to $562 million, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film in Universal Pictures history at the time and the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2005. It also generated $100 million in DVD sales upon its home video release. King Kong garnered largely positive reviews from critics and appeared on several top ten lists for 2005. The film was praised for its special effects, performances, sense of spectacle, and comparison to 1933 original, though some criticisms were focused on its 3-hour long run time. It won three Academy Awards: Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. A tie-in video game was released alongside the film, which also became a commercial and critical success.

Jackson saw King Kong as an opportunity for technical innovations in motion capture, commissioning Christian Rivers of Weta Digital to supervise all aspects of Kong's performance. Jackson decided early on that he did not want Kong to behave like a human, and so he and his team studied hours of gorilla footage. Serkis was cast in the title role in April 2003 and prepared himself by working with gorillas at the London Zoo. He then traveled to Rwanda, observing the actions and behaviors of gorillas in the wild. Rivers explained that the detailed facial performance capture with Serkis was accomplished because of the similarities between human and gorilla faces. "Gorillas have such a similar-looking set of eyes and brows, you can look at those expressions and transpose your own interpretation onto them." Photos of silverback gorillas were also superimposed on Kong's image in the early stages of animation. Serkis had to go through two hours of motion capture makeup every day, having 135 small markers attached to different spots on his face. Following principal photography, Serkis had to spend an additional two months on a motion capture stage, miming Kong's movements for the film's digital animators.

Apart from Kong, Skull Island is inhabited by dinosaurs and other large fauna. Inspired by Dougal Dixon's works, the designers imagined what 65 million years or more of isolated evolution might have done to dinosaurs and the other creatures.

Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson
Based on King Kong by Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace
Starring Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Jamie Bell, Evan Parke, Lobo Chan, Kyle Chandler
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie
Edited by Jamie Selkirk
Production company WingNut Films
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date December 5, 2005 (New York City), December 13, 2005 (New Zealand), December 14, 2005 (United States)
Running time 188 minutes
Countries New Zealand, United States

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