Hey folks, Harry here... Hollywood Reporter sat down in New Zealand to have a chat with Peter Jackson regarding KING KONG, where... besides essentially telling them it would be shot 100% in New Zealand and that they're building a huge Sound Stage for Kong to act on... he really didn't give any details about the script (which isn't written yet) away, but he did say that they are treating it as a drama instead of a fantasy... a technique that served him well on LORD OF THE RINGS. This was the most information let out...
"As far as crew go, "LOTR" veterans include Jan Blenkin and Caro Cunningham, both of whom are producing "Kong" with me; Andrew Lesnie is on board as (director of photography); Grant Major is production designer; Dan Hennah is supervising art director. Both Weta Workshop, led by Richard Taylor, and Weta Digital have been at work on "Kong" for some months now. Howard Shore is doing the music. We are talking to all other crew at the moment and imagine the majority will be "LOTR" veterans."
I'm hoping to get to do a big 20 Questions - where I get to receive queries from you good folks regarding KING KONG for Jackson... AFTER they've completed the first draft of the script and have a better idea of what exactly they've done to our precious Kong. Also - a few tidbits regarding some of the other LOTR folks...
Had a chance to speak briefly with Sean Astin today who wanted me to tell all you fans that were so supportive and vocal about trying to get him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, that what you said and wrote truly touched him and he will always be honored by your support. That's what he was going to say on the SAG awards except that John Rhys Davies knocked him out of the way to introduce Bob Shaye. Astin also told me that he met with Stan Lee recently and had an extensive conversation regarding FANTASTIC FOUR with him... As you all know, Sean announced that he was "in the field" and working his heart out to land the gig to direct FANTASTIC FOUR at Fox. Sean told me that he specifically wants all of us to know that any support that we have for him landing the gig would mean the world to him!
In additional news, Howard Shore has mentioned that there are apparently plans to issue the full 12 hours of LORD OF THE RINGS music that he created for the film in an enormous 8 to 9 disc set... Personally - I'd recommend 9 discs, with each disc capturing a member of the Fellowship. Perhaps that's just my desires. I'd also recommend a large cd sized round box, that from the outside looked like an enormous one true ring. Ok... maybe that one really is just me... All I know is I don't want to see it come out in Japan with far better packaging than I can get here... like the ALIEN box set in the Alien head... or the Terminator set in a Terminator Endo-Skull. That always makes me weepy and frustrated.
One tidbit that I got from Peter recently is this. For Carl Denham's crew that are on Skull Island to shoot his "latest movie" within the film, he is of course seeking out vintage film equipment... of the era. WELL - one such item is extra special. If you see Denham hold up a light meter in the film before capturing the spectacle of the natives "Kong" dance... That Light Meter is the same Light Meter that Willis O'Brien used in checking the light levels on all the stop-motion animation shots in the making of the original KING KONG! That's one of those minor little tidbits of trivia, but for anyone that is a geek of film history - it's cool to know!
