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King Kong (2005 film)

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And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty, and beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead.
It's beautiful. Beautiful. Beau-ti-ful.

King Kong is a 2005 film about a greedy film producer who assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives. It is a remake of the 1933 classic and 1976 remake of the same name.

Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens.
See also: King Kong, King Kong (1933 film), & King Kong (1976 film).

Ann Darrow

[edit]
  • Good things never last, Mr. Denham.
  • I make people laugh, that's what I do. So, good luck with your picture.
  • Ahh... everything is so peaceful here.
  • It's beautiful. Beautiful. Beau-ti-ful.

Carl Denham

[edit]
  • What are they going to do, sue me? They can get in line! I'm not gonna let 'em kill my film!
  • There's still some mystery left in this world, and we can all have a piece of it. For the price of an admission ticket.
  • [after escaping angry studio executives] Don't worry, Preston, I've had a lot of practice at this. I'm real good at scaring away the investors.
  • And lo, the Beast looked upon the face of Beauty, and Beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead.
  • Dammit, Preston, all you had to do was look her in the eye and lie!
  • Sorry, fellas, but you're gonna have to do better than that. Monsters belong in B-movies.
  • Defeat is always momentary.
  • Just as you go down for the third and final time, as your head disappears beneath the waves, and your lungs fill with water, do you know what happens in those last precious seconds before you drown? Your whole life passes before your eyes... and if you've lived as a true American, you get to watch it all in color.
  • The whole world will pay to see this.
  • We'll give him more than chains. He's always been king of his world!! But we'll teach him fear. We're millionaires, boys! I'll share it with all of you. In a few months, his name will be up in lights on Broadway! Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World!
  • Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you a very strange story. A story so strange that no one will believe it. But, ladies and gentlemen, seeing is believing. And we, my friends and I, have brought back the living proof of our story. The story of our adventure, in which 17 of our party suffered horrible deaths. But their sacrifices were not in vain. Their lives were lost in pursuit of a savage beast. A monstrous aberration of nature. But unlike other wild animals, even the meanest brute can be tamed. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as you will see, the beast was no match for the charms of a young girl. A girl from New York who melted his heart, bringing to mind that old Arabian proverb: "And lo, the Beast looked upon the face of Beauty, and Beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead". And now ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you the story of our voyage, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was more than just a god. He was a king in the world he knew, but he comes to you now a captive... a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World! [The curtain rises to reveal Kong, sitting on the stage, miserable, his limbs cuffed with gigantic chains. The audience gasps] Don't be alarmed! It's perfectly safe! These chains are made of chrome steel. They are strong enough to hold a battleship!
  • Observe if you will... [carefully puts his hand on Kong's arm. The audience gasps] ...I am touching the beast! I am actually laying my hands on the 25-foot gorilla! [Kong's hand twitches slightly, spooking Carl, causing him to jump. The audience laughs.]
  • And now, we have in the auditorium tonight... a surprise guest. The real-life hero of this story. The man who hunted down the mighty Kong! The man who risked all to win the freedom of a helpless female. A big hand for Mr. Bruce Baxter!

Jack Driscoll

[edit]
  • Stop, please! Stop! We have to turn back! They've taken Ann!
  • [noticing the disturbing effigy of Kong on Carl's map] What is that?
  • That's the thing you come to learn about Carl. His unfailing ability to destroy the things he loves.
  • Actors. They travel the world, but all they ever see is a mirror.

Captain Englehorn

[edit]
  • [to Carl, whom he has just saved from a slimy demise in the insect pit] That's the thing about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet, they always crawl back up the bowl.
  • [to Carl, after being uncertain about him bringing Kong back to New York] Forget it, Denham. No chains will ever hold a creature like that.

Jimmy

[edit]
  • [to Hayes, after being told to run if they encounter any danger] I'm not a coward. I ain't gonna run.
  • [referring to Heart of Darkness] It's not an adventure story. Is it, Mr. Hayes?
  • Adventures on a tramp steamer, just like us!

Lumpy

[edit]
  • [at the killing ground, where the hundreds of Kong's victims have been left to rot] Good Lord, it's a bleeding boneyard! They've been ripped limb from limb!
  • There's only one creature capable of leaving a footprint that size.
  • The Abominable Snowman.

Dialogue

[edit]
Zelman: [learning that Carl has hired a ship to get to a location for his picture] What location, Carl?! You're supposed to be shooting on the back lot!
Carl Denham: Yes, I understand that, but fellas, we're not making that film anymore. And I'll tell you why. The story has changed. The script has been rewritten. Life... intervened. I've come into possession of a map. The sole surviving record of an uncharted island. A place that was thought to exist only in myth. Until now...
Zelman: Whoa, Carl, slow down.
Sleazy Studio Guy: Is he asking for more money?
Thuggish Studio Guy: He's asking us to fund a wild goose chase.
Carl Denham: Where we're going is the only place on Earth where the geese chase us! I'm talking about a primitive world, never before seen by man. The ruins of an entire civilization. The most spectacular thing you've ever seen. That's where I'll shoot my picture. [After a moment's silence] So, any questions?
Sleazy Studio Guy: Will there be action?
Carl Denham: Yes.
Thuggish Studio Guy: Will there be mystery and drama?
Carl Denham: Yes.
Sleazy Studio Guy: Will there be romance?
Carl Denham: Yes.
Thuggish Studio Guy: Will there be danger, terror and suspense?
Carl Denham: Yes!
Sleazy Studio Guy: Will the island natives be friendly or hostile?
Carl Denham: Well, that depends.
Thuggish Studio Guy: Depends on what?
Carl Denham: On which side they're on, and whether or not they might turn out to be bloodthirsty savages. [after a long pause] Any other questions?
Zelman: Are you sure this new picture will make a lot of money at the box office?
Carl Denham: Yes! Now, if there's nothing else...
Sleazy Studio Guy: [raises his hand] Just one more question, if you don't mind my asking?
Carl Denham: [After a moment's silence] Go ahead.
Sleazy Studio Guy: Will there be breasts?
Carl Denham: [incredulous] Breasts?!
Sleazy Studio Guy: You know what I mean! Jigglies. Jiblonkas. Bazooms. You see, in my experience, people only go to these films to observe the undressed form of the native girls.
Carl Denham: What are you, an idiot? You think they asked DeMille if he would waste his time on nude shots? No! They respected the filmmaker! They showed some class! Not that you'd know what that means, you cheap lowlife! [Zelman gives the thuggish studio guy an angry look] Is there anything I can do to make it up to you guys?
Zelman: Actually, there is. Would you step outside for a moment, Carl?
Carl Denham: [leaves the room and points to a glass of water] Gimme that!
Preston: You won't like it. It's non-alcoholic.
Carl Denham: [emptying the water into a plant pot] Preston, you have a lot to learn about the motion picture business. [he presses the glass against the door and listens intently]
Zelman: Don't write him off, fellas. He's hot-headed, sure. But up to now, Carl Denham's made some interesting pictures; he's had a lot of... near success.
Thuggish Studio Guy: He's a preening self-promoter... an ambitious no-talent! The guy has "loser" written all over him.
Zelman: Look, I understand your disappointment –
Thuggish Studio Guy: He's washed up. It's all over town!
Sleazy Studio Guy: He can't direct. He doesn't have the smarts.
Thuggish Studio Guy: This jumped-up little jerk's gonna bankrupt us!
Zelman: The animal footage has value?
Sleazy Studio Guy: Sure! Universal is desperate for stock footage!
Thuggish Studio Guy: Then sell it! Scrap the picture! We gotta retrieve something from this debacle.
Zelman: [sighs] Get him back in.
Zelman's Assistant: Mister... Denham?
[Carl and Preston have disappeared from the waiting room]
Carl Denham: Fay's a size four.
Preston: Yes, she is, but she's doing a picture with RKO.
Carl Denham: [bitter and defeated] Cooper, huh? I might've known.
[Ann is eating from a full plate, trying to disguise her hunger. Denham walks over, carrying a cup of tea]
Carl Denham: Vaudeville, huh? I worked Vaudeville once. That is a tough audience. If you don't kill 'em fast, they kill you. But swimming? Well, that's another story...
Ann Darrow: Mr. Denham. I want you to know that I'm not in the habit of accepting charity from strangers, or, for that matter... taking things that don't belong to me.
Carl Denham: It was obviously a terrible misunderstanding.
Ann Darrow: It's just that I haven't been paid in a while...
Carl Denham: [mock sincerity] That's awful. Anyway, Ann. May I call you Ann? You wouldn't happen to be a size four by any chance, would you? [Ann pauses mid way through a mouthful of food, her appetite suddenly draining away.]
Ann Darrow: What makes you think I'm a size four?
Carl Denham: Well, that depends on... how much you weigh. [Ann abruptly stands] No, no, no, no. Oh God, no! You've got me all wrong. Miss Darrow, please! I'm not that type of person at all!
Ann Darrow: Well then, what type of person are you?
Carl Denham: I'm someone you can trust, Ann. I'm a movie producer. [sincere] Believe me, I am on the level. No funny business. Please, sit down. Please... pretty please, with sugar on it. [Ann hesitates a moment before sitting down once again] Okay. [pitching the film] Ann, I want you to imagine a handsome explorer bound for the Far East.
Ann Darrow: You're filming in the Far East?
Carl Denham: [looking her in the eye and lying] Singapore, to be exact. On board a ship, he meets a mysterious girl. She's beautiful, she's fragile. Haunted. [Ann looks up... caught by the tale Denham is weaving] And she can't escape the feeling that forces beyond her control are compelling her down a road, from which she cannot draw back. It's as if her whole life has been a prelude to this moment; this fateful meeting... that changes everything. And sure enough, against her better judgement...
Ann Darrow: She falls in love.
Carl Denham: Yes!
Ann Darrow: But she doesn't trust it. She's not even sure if she believes in love.
Carl Denham: Uh... really?
Ann Darrow: If she loves someone... it's doomed.
Carl Denham: Why is that?
Ann Darrow: Good things never last, Mr. Denham.
Carl Denham: So you're interested? [hurriedly gathering up his hat and coat] Good. That's settled then. Now, I don't wanna rush you or anything, but we are under some time pressure.
Ann Darrow: Well, I really –
Carl Denham: Ann, I'm telling you. You're perfect - look at you! You're the saddest girl I've ever met. You're gonna make 'em weep, Ann. You're gonna break their hearts!
Ann Darrow: See, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Denham. I make people laugh, that's what I do. [suddenly stands] So... good luck with your picture.
Carl Denham: [follows Ann to the door; growing desperation] Ann! Miss Darrow, please! I'm offering you money, adventure, fame, the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage that starts tonight! You wanna read a script? Jack Driscoll's turning in a draft as we speak.
Ann Darrow: Jack Driscoll?
Carl Denham: Sure, why? Wait. You know him?
Ann Darrow: No, not personally. I've seen his plays.
Carl Denham: [sensing her in interest, starts getting excited] What a writer, huh? And let me tell you, Ann... Jack Driscoll does not want just anyone starring in this picture. That's when he said to me, "Carl... somewhere out there is a woman born to play this role". [quiet realization] And as soon as I saw you, that's when I knew.
Ann Darrow: [uneasy] Knew what?
Carl Denham: It was always going to be you.
Carl Denham: I'll give you another thousand if you leave right now.
Captain Englehorn: Ah, but you haven't given me the first thousand yet.
Carl Denham: Two thousand – it's a deal. Will you take a check?
Captain Englehorn: Do I have a choice?
[The boat is leaving the dock, and Carl has forced Jack to accompany him because he hasn't finished the script]
Jack Driscoll: Dammit!
Carl Denham: I keep telling you, Jack, there's no money in theater. You're much better off sticking with film.
Jack Driscoll: I don't do it for the money, Carl. I happen to love theater.
Carl Denham: No, you don't. But If you really loved it, you would've jumped.
[Carl is discussing the rest of the script with Jack as he is typing on a typewriter]
Carl Denham: She's standing at the railing. She doesn't know it yet, but they are sailing towards disaster. You got that?
Jack Driscoll: Okay, so she turns... the first mate is staggering towards her. There's a knife sticking out of his back.
Carl Denham: Wait a sec. We're killing off the first mate?
Jack Driscoll: That's assuming she knows who the first mate is.
Carl Denham: Come on, Jack. It was an honest mistake. Ann is nearsighted. It could have happened to anyone.
Jack Driscoll: I was joking, Carl.
Carl Denham: The point is she's horrified. She has to look away. And that's when she sees it.
Jack Driscoll: Sees what? What?
Carl Denham: [intensely] The island.
Jack Driscoll: We're filming on an island now? When did this happen?
Carl Denham: [shushing] Jack, keep your voice down. I don't want the crew getting spooked.
Jack Driscoll: Why would they get spooked? What's it called?
Carl Denham: All right. It has a local name... but I'm warning you, Jack, it doesn't sound good. [whispering] They call it Skull Island. Did you get that?
Jack Driscoll: What's wrong with this place?
Carl Denham: There's nothing officially wrong with it. Because, technically, it hasn't been discovered yet.
Jack Driscoll: [to himself] Okay. All right. So we arrive at this place. [he begins to type it out, saying the letters out loud as he does] S... K... U... L... L... Island.
[Carl turns to see Jimmy has overheard the whole thing]
Bruce Baxter: What do you think, Driscoll? Dialogue's got some flow now, huh?
Jack Driscoll: It was pure effluence.
Bruce Baxter: I beefed up the banter.
Jack Driscoll: Try to resist that impulse.
Bruce Baxter: It's just a little bit of humor, bud. What are you, a Bolshevik or something? [leaves]
Jack Driscoll: [to himself] Actors. Travel the world, but all they ever see is a mirror.
Carl Denham: Relax, Captain. We're not going thousands of miles. But if it makes you feel any better, I'll make it worth your while.
Captain Englehorn: I tell you, Denham, there's nothing out there.
Carl Denham: Well then, I guess you've nothing to lose.
Mr. Hayes: If someone were to tell you this ship was headed for Singapore, what would you say?
Lumpy: I would say they're full of it, Mr. Hayes. We turned southwest last night.
Carl Denham: Gentlemen, please. We're not looking for trouble, if that's what you two are worried about.
Jimmy: No. You're looking for something else.
Carl Denham: Yes, we are. We're going to find Skull Island. Find it, film it, show it to the world. For about 25 cents, you get to see the last blank space on the map.
Lumpy: I wouldn't be so sure of that.
Preston: What do you mean? Is there something you're not telling us?
Lumpy: Seven years ago, me and Mr. Hayes were working our passage... on a Norwegian schooner.
Mr. Hayes: We picked up a castaway. We found him in the water. He'd been drifting for days.
Lumpy: His ship had run aground on an island way west of Sumatra. An island hidden in fog. He spoke of a huge wall... built so long ago... that no one knew who'd made it. A wall over 200 feet high... as strong today as it was ages ago.
Preston: Why did they build the wall?
Lumpy: Does the name "Kong" mean anything to you?
Carl Denham: Oh, come on, guys! That's nothing but a native superstition! A legend! A myth!
Lumpy: Even legends, or myths, have a basis of truth. Anyway, as I was saying, the castaway, he spoke of a creature... neither beast nor man, but something monstrous, living behind that wall.
Carl Denham: [unimpressed] A lion, a tiger... or a bear, perhaps. A man-eater. That's how all these stories start.
Preston: What else did he say?
Lumpy: Nothing. When we found him the next morning, he'd stuck a knife through his heart.
Carl Denham: [laughing] Mmm-hmm. Sorry, fellas, but you'll have to do better than that. Monsters belong in B-movies.
Mr. Hayes: Even if you find this place, even if you go ashore with your friends and your cameras, you won't come back alive. Just as long as you understand that.
The Venture: [hands out a message to the Captain just outside] Message for you, Captain.
[meanwhile, Carl Denham rushes upstairs]
Carl Denham: What's going on? [sees Hayes turning the ship with a steering wheel] Hayes, why are we changing course?
Hayes: Don't look at me, Denham. You'll have to ask the Captain.
Carl Denham: [sees Englehorn] Englehorn, you can't turn this ship around without...
Englehorn: [cuts Denham off] Outside, Denham! Right now. [from outside the ship] There's a warrant out for your arrest. Did you know that?
Carl Denham: Englehorn, if this is a joke –
Englehorn: It's no joke, Denham. I've been ordered to divert to Rangoon.
Carl Denham: Another week. I haven't got a film yet. Please, I've risked everything I have on this trip.
Captain Engelhorn: No, Denham. You've done more than that. You risked everything I have.
Carl Denham: What do you want? Tell me what you want, I'll give you anything!
Captain Engelhorn: I want you off my ship.
Carl Denham: [contemplating his arrest] I'm finished. It's over for me, Jack.
Jack Driscoll: And how did you think this would end, Carl?
[In the cabin, the ship's compass spins wildly and points in all directions]
Captain Englehorn: Check our position. And while you're at it, use the stars.
[Hayes exits the bridge with a sextant and returns almost immediately.]
Hayes: There are no stars, Captain.
Jack Driscoll: [examining the map] What is that?
Carl Denham: What?
Jack Driscoll: That. That right there.
Carl Denham: [sarcastically] I don't know. What is it, a huge ink blotch? [looks at the map and sees the disturbing effigy of Kong]
Jimmy: I always wondered how Cortés felt when he first saw the Inca treasure. El Dorado, I believe.
Hayes: That wasn't Cortés, Jimmy; that was Pizarro, and he died busted. [After a long pause] So what's on your mind?
Jimmy: I'm getting worried about Miss Darrow and the others. [referring to "Heart of Darkness"] Which brings up a couple of questions from this book I've been reading. Do you mind if I...?
Hayes: Ask away, Jimmy.
Jimmy: Why does Marlow keep going up the river? Why doesn't he turn back?
Hayes: There's a part of him that wants to, Jimmy. A part deep inside himself that sounds a warning. But there's another part that needs to know. To defeat the thing which makes him afraid. "We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages of those ages that are gone leaving hardly a sign, and no memories. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there, there you could look at a thing monstrous and free."
Jimmy: It's not an adventure story, is it, Mr. Hayes?
Hayes: No, Jimmy. It's not.
Ann Darrow: Who do you suppose could've built that wall?
Bruce Baxter: I was up in Angkor once. That structure is bigger than this, and no one knows who constructed it.
Carl Denham: Bring the tripod and all of the film stock.
Herb: You wanna go to the six-inch lens?
Carl Denham: [considers the size of Kong, who he has just seen for the first time] The wide-angle will do just fine.
Carl Denham: [while filming a herd of Brontosauruses] Walk forward, Bruce.
Bruce Baxter: What?!
Carl Denham: You're the star of this picture. Get into character and head toward the animals!
Bruce Baxter: Those animals are the least of our worries! We're after Miss Darrow, remember?
Carl Denham: Look, will you do as you're told?
Bruce Baxter: Well, if you insist...
Bruce Baxter: Are you sure about this, Denham? Don't we have a stand-in for this type of thing?
Carl Denham: I need you in the shot or people will say they're fake.
Bruce Baxter: Nobody's gonna think these are fake!
Jack Driscoll: Bruce, get this through your head. We're not leaving this island without Miss Darrow!
Bruce Baxter: Then you can go and keep looking for her. Or you can stick with us as long as you don't hold us up. Either way, you probably won't get off this island alive.
Jack Driscoll: You wanna know something, Bruce? I always knew you were nothing like the tough guy on the screen. I just never figured you for a coward.
Bruce Baxter: Hey, pal. Hey, wake up. Heroes don't look like me, not in the real world. In the real world, they got clean teeth, a cowlick and a flat stomach. I'm just an actor with a gun, who's lost his motivation. Be seeing ya.
[They pull them out of the insect pit]
Carl Denham: Oh, thank God.
Captain Englehorn: Don't thank God. Thank Mr. Baxter. He insisted on a rescue mission. Me? I knew you'd be okay.
Bruce Baxter: Just so you know, if it wasn't for me, you and your friends would've been bug chow!
Captain Englehorn: That's the thing about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet... they always crawl back up the bowl.
Carl Denham: Hey, buddy? I'm out of the bowl. I'm drying off my wings and trekking across the lid.
Captain Englehorn: You really wanna know something, Denham? It's a pity you didn't die with Hayes and all the others.
[They see Jack climbing out to the other side of the pit, still determined to find Ann]
Jack Driscoll: I'll be seeing you.
Captain Englehorn: Driscoll! Don't be a fool! Give it up. It's useless! She's dead.
Jack Driscoll: No, she's not.
Carl Denham: She's not dead. Jack's gonna bring her back... and the ape will be hard on his heals. That's where we come in. We can still come out of this thing okay. More than okay. Think about it. We came here to make a picture, only to discover something worth more than all the movies in the world. That's what this is about! Don't you see? You've got a boat full of chloroform we could put to good use.
Captain Englehorn: You wanna trap the ape? Is that what you're telling me? [laughing] I don't think so. Besides that, he's on top of a cliff where a whole army couldn't get at him.
Carl Denham: If he stays there... but we can use this to our advantage. Isn't that what you do? Live animal capture? I heard you were the best.
Captain Englehorn: We'll see, Denham. We'll see.
Carl Denham: Jack! Look after yourself. And be careful!
Jack Driscoll: Don't worry about me, Carl. I'll be all right. I'm gonna try to fish Ann out of Kong's grasp. And if I don't, I'll figure out some way to signal you where he's taken her. But until then, keep that gate open for me.
Carl Denham: Sure thing, buddy. Good luck! You're gonna need it. [after Jack leaves to find Ann Darrow] I'm sorry.
Preston: He was right... about there still being some mystery left in this world. And we can all have a piece of it... for the price of an admission ticket.
Jack Driscoll: That's the thing you come to learn about Carl. His unfailing ability to destroy the things he loves.
[During Kong's broadway presentation and performance]
Carl Denham: Please remain calm, ladies and gentlemen! We now come to the climax of this savage ritual. The sacrifice of a beautiful young girl. Behold her terror as she is offered to the mighty Kong! Give a big hand, folks, for the bravest girl I have ever met; Ms. Ann Darrow!
[The audience applauds wildly for Ann. As the reenactment of the sacrifice begins, a prop altar rises from a trapdoor in the stage carrying a blonde girl]
Actress: [screams, pretending to be scared] Save me from the beast! [Kong roars in rage. Everyone in the auditorium gasps in shock.] No! no!! Help me! No!!
Jack: [realizing this is not Ann] Where is she?? Where's Ann?
Preston: I have no idea. I heard he offered her all kinds of money and she turned him down flat.
[Scene switches, revealing that the real Ann is in another theater nearby, practicing a dance number]
Carl Denham: Here's your story, boys! "Beauty... and the man who saved her from the beast!" Take the pictures.
[The reporters begin to take pictures. Kong roars as the flashbulbs blind his eyes, frightening and enraging the mighty ape]
Jack: [Seeing Kong's mounting anger] Oh no... [Kong begins to roar louder and thrashes around on the stage, still chained up.] We have to get these people out of here. [to the audience] Everyone needs to leave! Okay? He thinks that girl is a fake! Come on!
Bruce Baxter: Denham, for once in your life, could you please tell that great big ape to be quiet?
Carl Denham: Let him roar! It makes a swell picture. [Laughs]
Jack: Head for the exits!
Theater Patron: Get your own seat, buddy! You're not having mine.
[Kong's roars grow louder, and he begins to tug on his chains. The audience begins to grow nervous and worried.]
Bruce Baxter: Excuse me, fellas. Coming through! Coming through, fellas!
[Kong tugs on his chains and one of his giant wrist cuffs breaks. The audience screams. Patrons react in terror, heading for the doors]
Actress: Somebody!! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!
Preston: [holds one of the doors open for the panicking patrons] GO! GO! GET OUT!!!
[As the actors on stage flee for their lives, Kong violently grabs the actress from the prop altar with his free arm]
Jack: Go! Go now!
[Last lines]
[All of the news photographers and nearby peoples gather to see the fallen King Kong in front of the Empire State Building]
Photographer #1: Why'd he do that? Climb up there and get himself cornered? The ape must have known what was coming.
Photographer #2: He was just a dumb animal. Didn't know nothing. [Carl Denham comes barging through the crowd to see what has become of his beast] What does it matter? The airplanes got him.
Carl Denham: It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty that killed the Beast.

About King Kong (2005 film)

[edit]
  • Bates: All three "King Kongs"--the classic 1933 version starring Fay Wray, the campy 1976 version starring Jessica Lange and the current epic by "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson--feature a big, black ape who falls in love with a willowy white woman. The unspoken fear about black-white sexual relations has been remarked on by film historians and cultural critics ever since. The 1933 original stoked anxieties about black male hypersexuality. Kong snatches Ann Darrow up and makes off with her as she screams in horror.
    And the film's supposedly African natives--who offer the heroine up to the giant ape--came from what some critics called the ooga-booga(ph) school of thespian arts. Newsday columnist Jim Pinkerton says the 2005 "Kong", starring a dewy, blond Naomi Watts, shows the story line hasn't evolved all that much.
  • Mr. Jim Pinkerton (Newsday): And for this movie to have been made in 1933 about white people going over to the Third World to capture a large, black being with a flat nose and bring him back in chains was sort of powerful then. And I was sort of surprised to see it getting remade, if anything, more politically incorrectly, in 2005.
Bates: Pinkerton is referring to the current film's depiction of the residents of Skull Island, the creepy place where the on-screen director Carl Denham, played by "School of Rock's" Jack Black, goes to shoot his movie. But filming plans are disrupted by multipierced, dark-skinned aboriginal people who are depicted as violent, eyeball-rolling, foaming-at-the-mouth attackers.
  • Bates: Moving the film's location from Africa to the south sea islands doesn't remove the stigma visited upon the native people depicted in it, says Newsday's Jim Pinkerton. He says even subliminal messages in movies are important.
  • There are astonishments to behold in Peter Jackson's new "King Kong", but one sequence, relatively subdued, holds the key to the movie's success. Kong has captured Ann Darrow and carried her to his perch high on the mountain. He puts her down, not roughly, and then begins to roar, bare his teeth and pound his chest. Ann, an unemployed vaudeville acrobat, somehow instinctively knows that the gorilla is not threatening her but trying to impress her by behaving as an alpha male -- the King of the Jungle. She doesn't know how Queen Kong would respond, but she does what she can: She goes into her stage routine, doing backflips, dancing like Chaplin, juggling three stones.
    Her instincts and empathy serve her well. Kong's eyes widen in curiosity, wonder and finally what may pass for delight. From then on, he thinks of himself as the girl's possessor and protector. She is like a tiny beautiful toy that he has been given for his very own, and before long, they are regarding the sunset together, both of them silenced by its majesty.
    The scene is crucial because it removes the element of creepiness in the gorilla/girl relationship in the two earlier "Kongs" (1933 and 1976), creating a wordless bond that allows her to trust him. When Jack Driscoll climbs the mountain to rescue her, he finds her comfortably nestled in Kong's big palm.
  • Although Naomi Watts makes a splendid heroine, there have been complaints that Jack Black and Adrien Brody are not precisely hero material. Nor should they be, in my opinion. They are a director and a writer. They do not require big muscles and square jaws. What they require are strong personalities that can be transformed under stress. Denham the director clings desperately to his camera, no matter what happens to him, and Driscoll the writer beats a strategic retreat before essentially rewriting his personal role in his own mind. Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler) is an actor who plays the movie's hero, and now has to decide if he can play his role for real. And Preston (Colin Hanks) is a production assistant who, as is often the case, would be a hero if anybody would give him a chance.
    The result is a surprisingly involving and rather beautiful movie -- one that will appeal strongly to the primary action audience, and also cross over to people who have no plans to see "King Kong" but will change their minds the more they hear. I think the film even has a message, and it isn't that beauty killed the beast. It's that we feel threatened by beauty, especially when it overwhelms us, and we pay a terrible price when we try to deny its essential nature and turn it into a product, or a target. This is one of the year's best films.
  • Q. I heard you actually referred back to the original's storyboards?
A. Well there's actually a story to that. Warner Bros have just released a beautifully restored version of King Kong on DVD in the US. While we were making our King Kong, we also got our visual effects technicians to build stop-motion animation spiders and crabs and octopus creatures, copying photos that we had from the original film.
We re-created the spider scene using stop-motion animation, black and white film, travelling mattes, rear projection – all the old techniques – so that we provided a speculation on what that original spider scene could be like.
So when they released this DVD about three weeks ago we had this separate little chapter that we were involved in where we recreated the 1933 spider scene which we almost did concurrently when we were filming our own one. It was a little bit insane for a while!
Q. You play up the 'Beauty & Beast' relationship in the film. Was that deliberate?
A. It was not so much deliberate going in, but the relationships between Ann Darrow in the original movie and Jessica Lange in the second film and what Naomi does now – they're actually three different relationships. It's the same story, but three different types of things going on.
Certainly with Fay and her character it was a case of an unwilling kidnap victim. She never really felt comfortable being with Kong, was always terrified of him and always screaming. There was never really a sense, in the original movie, that she really connected or understood Kong.
The Jessica Lange one was kind of a weird 70s sexual innuendo. They camped up the sexuality of it more than anything, which we didn't want to do. So we created our one with a foot in neither camp, really. To me, the most interesting thing about a story like King Kong when you're thinking about it at the beginning, writing it before anything has really happened, the most interesting doorway to go through is the reality door.
It's to say 'okay, if you were on this island and you got kidnapped by this gorilla who is intent on killing you, how would you actually respond?'. There's not a lot you can do. You're in his hand, you can't get out, your options are very few. How would you feel, and what would you do if a little window of opportunity came up where you may be able to survive – it's not even surviving, it's staying in his hand.
If you can keep him curious, if you can engage him on some level, that stops you getting squashed then you've got a little, minute opportunity of staying alive that you can work on and develop that.
Then you can flip that around, because the other interesting thing is if you're a gorilla who has lived his entire life on this island, lonely, he has no parents, they've probably been killed by the dinosaurs, his siblings have been killed, he's the last one of his species, he's never empathised with a living creature, ever. His entire instincts are to kill and survive – to be the king of this jungle and to be the dominant species, which is what gorillas naturally want to be anyway.
Then suddenly Ann Darrow comes into his life, who he's expecting to kill but doesn't, he starts to become curious. To me, the relationship develops from Kong's point of view to one where he wants to protect her. It's a dangerous relationship for anybody else – for Adrien's character or anyone else. It's like an animal protecting its child. In a way, Kong's relationship with Ann is like that.
I love the complexity of the story of Kong. We obviously come to learn a little bit about Kong's heart. He's pure, unspoilt – he doesn't operate on the same moral values as humans do. It's instinctive. He does what his heart tells him to do and he feels this empathy and this curiosity towards Ann. But if anybody comes anywhere close to taking Ann away from him he will kill them. He will kill them very quickly.
And that includes our guys that we've met and learnt are trying to save her. I love the complexity of that story. There's no villains, there's no monsters. It's actually just this quite interestingly complex story of people doing what they need to do to survive and Kong behaving in a way which is perfectly natural and normal. You can't judge him for it.
  • Perhaps as a consequence of the writers coming to this after three movies with their large Middle Earth ensemble (which included nine principal characters and plenty of supporting roles), the characters in King Kong are almost gratuitously well developed all around. The crew of the SS Venture is essentially made up of pulp archetypes, but unusually, they're all given enough screen time that they're not just Star Trek-style red shirts by the time they disembark on Skull Island.
  • Every movement in that film was about a human connecting with this huge beast who was one hundred per cent 'other'. Kong basically looks at Ann Darrow three times in that movie. It's all about the disconnect and him being this lonely, psychotic hobo who can't connect with other people.

Cast

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