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April 2006
LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Ray Morton will be signing King Kong: The History of a
Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson at the Los
Angeles Times Festival of Books, which is being held on the
UCLA campus in Los Angeles on April 29 -- April 30, 2006.
Ray will be appearing at the Dutton's Books booth (Booth 321
-- in front of the Powell Library) on Sunday, April 30, 2006
from 2 - 3 p.m.
For information about the Festival (including schedules and
directions), go to:
http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/

Rick Baker –
Interview
his 1970s gorilla suits
By Scott
Essman
In one memorable week
in the spring of 1968, an aspiring 17-year-old makeup artist
saw the films 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and PLANET OF THE APES
in a suburban California movie theater. Who was to know
that those screenings would change film history over 30
years later? Of course, the boy was future six-time Academy
Award-winning makeup legend Rick Baker, and the makeups he
witnessed formed the foundation for the special makeup
effects revolution of the 1980s and 1990s. Throughout his
entire career, from Schlock to Planet of the Apes, Rick
Baker is known for his amazing gorilla creations. In this
rare interview, he reflects on three 1970s gorilla projects
– the 1976 version of King Kong, the Dino suit for 1977’s
Kentucky Fried Movie, and the suit he build in 1979 for The
Incredible Shrinking Woman. (more)

“THE SCI-FI BOYS”
Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg,
John Landis, Dennis Muren, Ray Bradbury, Rick Baker, Roger
Corman, Ray Harryhausen and other legendary all-stars of
cinema bring to life the evolution of science-fiction and
special effects films from the wild and funny days of
B-movies to blockbusters that have captured the world’s
imagination. This is the story of the Sci-Fi Boys who
started out as kids making amateur movies inspired by
Forrest J Ackerman’s FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine
and grew up to take Hollywood by storm, inventing the art
and technology for filming anything the mind can dream.
Dennis Muren, 8-time Academy
Award® winner, shares his childhood space and monster
movies for the first time, as do others in “THE SCI-FI
BOYS.” There’s also over an hour of rare bonus material
sci-fi treasures. (more)
Box-Office Blockbuster King Kong
Roars on DVD
Mega Hit Amasses a King-Sized $100 Million in Consumer
Spending. The Largest First Six-Day Sell-Through on DVD in
Universal Studios History!
(more)
Peter Jackson Interview by
Scott Essman
One cannot imagine a more
meteoric rise for a major motion-picture director than that
of Peter Jackson, director of the new Universal Studios Home
Entertainment DVD release of King Kong. Starting on
low-budget horror films in his native New Zealand, including
Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1989),
and Dead Alive (1992), Jackson scored an artistic
success with Heavenly Creatures (1994) and moved to a
larger canvas with The Frighteners (1996) before
gaining international superstardom with his Lord of the
Rings trilogy (2001-2003). Now, with Kong, he
faced new technical and aesthetic challenges in both the
execution of the classic story and in updating the timeless
1933 original film. In this exclusive interview, he
discusses those challenges and being Kong’s guiding
light. (more)
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