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The
Kong Screenplays
By Ray
Morton
King Kong
(1933)
The first draft of King Kong
was not written, but painted. After RKO had given Merian C. Cooper the
green light to develop his Giant Terror Gorilla project, he and Willis
O’Brien began brainstorming and came up with a list of scenes they wanted
to see in the final film -- including the log scene, the T-rex fight and
the Empire State Building climax – that O’Brien and his staff then turned
into a series of concept paintings. To transform these concept paintings
into a screenplay, Cooper engaged the best-selling British mystery and
thriller writer Edgar Wallace, who was under contract to RKO. Cooper
requested Wallace because he was a good writer and because he was a “name”
that Cooper hoped with be a draw with moviegoers. As part of his deal,
Wallace was also contracted to turn the finished story into a book that
Cooper planned to have published several months in advance of the film’s
release so that it could be advertised as being “based on the novel by
Edgar Wallace.” Unfortunately, Wallace died just a few days after turning
in his first draft. Cooper then turned to RKO contract writers James A.
Creelman and Horace McCoy (who would later write the novel They Shoot
Horses, Don’t They?) to finish developing the screenplay. Although
pleased with the resulting story, Cooper was unhappy with the slow pace
and overly expository dialogue of the Creelman/McCoy drafts, so he hired
Ruth Rose, the wife of Kong co-director and producer Ernest B.
Schoedsack, to write the shooting script. Rose fleshed out the main
characters, added the opening sequence in which Denham discovers Ann
stealing apples in the streets of New York, and revised both the scenes
and the dialogue to make them snappier and more succinct. The final script
was credited to Creelman and Rose, based on an idea “conceived by Edgar
Wallace and Merian Cooper.”
The Son of Kong (1933)
After the
tremendous success of King Kong, RKO and Cooper rushed a sequel
into production. Cooper immediately got together with Ruth Rose, Ernest
Schoedsack, and Willis O’Brien and began brainstorming ideas for a new
story. Borrowing heavily from Ernest Schoedsack’s natural drama Rango
(which chronicles the relationship between a boy and an orangutan who
become friends and share a series of adventures before the orangutan
eventually sacrifices its life to save the boy) and O’Brien’s aborted
Creation project (which focused on a group of travelers shipwrecked on
an island inhabited by prehistoric creatures who discover an ancient
temple containing a fortune in precious jewels and finally have to escape
when a volcanic eruption destroys the island), they came up with a plot in
which Denham, now broke and on the run, returns to Kong’s island in search
of a legendary lost treasure and discovers Kong’s twelve-foot-tall albino
son Kiko. The two forge a bond and, in the end, when an earthquake
destroys the island, Kiko sacrifices himself to save Denham’s life. Rose
wrote the script by herself in a matter of weeks and the film was in
theaters by December 1933.
King Kong
Versus Godzilla (1963)
In the late 1950s, while experiencing a career
slump, Willis O’Brien began looking for a way to bring Kong back to the
screen and came up with a story called King Kong Versus Frankenstein,
which pitted Kong against a giant monster created by Dr.
Frankenstein’s great grandson. O’Brien pitched the idea to producer John
Beck (Harvey), who hired screenwriter George Worthing Yates (Earth
Versus the Flying Saucers [1956], The Amazing Colossal Man
[1957]) to turn O’Brien’s story into a screenplay called King Kong
Versus Prometheus. Beck pitched the project to a number of studios,
but couldn’t find a buyer. He eventually pitched it to Japan’s Toho
Studios, who bought the script and assigned screenwriter
Shinichi Sekizawa to adapt the project for Toho’s house
monster -- the giant radioactive lizard Gojira (Godzilla). After
the film was finished, Beck made a deal with Universal Pictures to release
it in the United States and prepared a new version of the film for
American audiences featuring English-language dialogue written by American
television writers Bruce Howard (My Favorite Martian)
and Paul Mason (Ben Casey). Unfortunately, Beck neglected to tell
O’Brien about any of this. In fact, O’Brien only learned about the
project a few months before his death in November 1962. When he did, he
was, by all accounts, heartbroken. Toho later used the Frankenstein
portion of O’Brien’s story as the basis for its film Frankenstein
Conquers The World (1966).
King Kong
Escapes (1967)
The success of King Kong Versus Godzilla
inspired Toho to develop a script for a sequel called
King Kong Versus Ebirah, in which Kong battles a giant shrimp.
However, when the studio approached RKO to obtain the sequel rights, RKO
turned Toho down because it didn’t like the script. Instead, RKO insisted
Toho partner with an American company called Rankin/Bass Productions. R/B
had produced a very successful animated Kong series for Saturday morning
television and its agreement with RKO included an option for a feature
film. Rankin commissioned a script from television writer William
J. Keenan that pitted Kong against Dr. Who, the villain from the series,
and Who’s creation, a robotic version of Kong named Mechani-Kong. Keenan’s
script was translated into Japanese by Toho staff writer Takeshi Kimura
and Keenan returned to do the English-language dialogue for the American
release of the film.
King Kong
(1976)
The script
for Dino De Laurentiis’s spectacular remake of the original King Kong
was written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.,
the creator of the Batman
television series and the screenwriter of films such as Papillon
(1973), The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975). Realizing that they
were playing with fire by attempting to remake a classic, both De
Laurentiis and Semple sought to diffuse the controversy by making their
version as different from the original as possible, so the two could not
be directly compared. As a result, Semple updated the story and characters
to the 1970s, changed the purpose of the expedition to Kong’s island from
a movie shoot to a petroleum company’s search for an untapped oil
reserves, and set the climax of the film atop not the
Empire State Building, but the twin
towers of the newly completed World Trade Center. Unfortunately, none of
these changes kept certain critics from taking potshots at the film – an
unfair fate for a film that shows great affection for both the original
film and for Kong himself, whom it portrays as being a noble and
sympathetic figure.
King Kong
Lives (1986)
This sequel to De Laurentiis’s remake was
written by Ronald Shusett and Steven Pressfield (Above The Law).
Faced with the challenge of bringing Kong back to life after he had been
shot off the top of the World Trade Center, Shusett came up with the novel
idea of giving Kong an artificial heart the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Realizing that such an absurd idea couldn’t be taken seriously, Shusett
and Pressfield decided to take a tongue-in-cheek approach to the story
that, for a variety of reasons, fell totally flat when it reached the
screen.
King Kong (2005)
To write the script for his dream
remake, Peter Jackson teamed up with his life/creative partner Fran Walsh
and their Lord of the Rings co-writer Philippa Boyens. Because
Jackson felt that Kong facing down a squadron of bi-planes as he stands
atop the Empire State Building, he wanted the film set in the 1930s.
Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens were keen to preserve all of the iconic moments
and set pieces from the original Kong, but, like Dino De Laurentiis and
Lorenzo Semple, Jr. before them, they also wanted to flesh out the
characters and focus on the relationship between Kong and the girl. The
trio also wanted to make each moment as real as they possibly could within
the overall fantasy context.
WHO DID WHAT FOR THE ORIGINAL KING
KONG
A
guide to the artists who created a classic.
Merian C. Cooper
Created the character of
Kong and the basic story concept for the film. He convinced RKO to make
the film and co-produced it with Ernest B. Schoedsack. Cooper directed the
live action portions of the jungle sequence and of most of the New York
scenes following Kong’s breakout from the Broadway theater with the
exception of the final scene atop the Empire State Building. Directed all
of the special effects and animation sequences. Appeared in the final
sequence as the pilot of the bi-plane that kills Kong and supervised the
film’s release as RKO’s new Vice President in Charge of Production.
Ernest B. Schoedsack
Co produced the film with
Cooper and directed all of the live action scenes except for the chase
through the jungle and the scenes of panic in New York after Kong’s
escape. Also directed the original version of Carl Denham delivering the
“It was beauty killed the beast” line, which was set atop the Empire State
Building. Cooper directed the final version, set in the street in front of
the fallen Kong. Schoedsack was married to the film’s co-writer, Ruth Rose
and played the gunner who fires the kill shot at Kong in the final scene.
David O. Selznick
Vice President in Charge of
Production for RKO, Selznick bought Cooper’s pitch for the film, convinced
the RKO board to back it, and approved it for production. Was replaced by
Cooper in February 1933.
Archie F. Marshek
The film’s associate
producer, Marshek served as a liaison between Cooper and the production
and between the production and the optical effects company that produced
the film’s composites.
Walter Daniels
The film’s production
manager, Daniels worked with Schoedsack to organize and schedule the
production.
Edgar Wallace
A famous British mystery
writer hired by RKO to write screenplays, Wallace wrote the original
script for Kong based on Cooper’s story. Wallace’s screenplay contained
most of the set pieces that appear in the final film, although much of the
actual story and the characters were quite different (for example, Denham
is a big game hunter, Jack the leader of a group of escaped convicts, and
Ann -- called Shirley -- was a young shipwreck survivor captured by the
convicts). Wallace died in January 1933, soon after completing his draft.
James A. Creelman
RKO contract writer who
replaced Wallace as the film’s writer. Working with Cooper, Creelman
revised both the story and characters until they more closely resembled
those in the final film.
Horace McCoy
Another RKO contract writer
who worked on several drafts of the script when Creelman had to leave to
finish work on the script for The Most Dangerous Game. During McCoy’s
tenure, the concepts of the native tribe, the Great Wall, and the human
sacrifice were first created and inserted into the script.
Ruth Rose
Wrote the final draft of the
script. Revised the characters to more closely resemble their real-life
counterparts (Denham = Cooper, Jack = Schoedsack, Ann = Rose) and wrote
most of the dialogue that appears in the final film. Rose also created the
opening sequences of the film, in which Denham discovers a starving Ann in
the streets of Depression-era New York City.
Willis H. O'Brien
A stop motion pioneer,
O’Brien designed all of the special effects shots and sequences in the
film, supervised their execution, and did most of the animation.
Mario Larrinaga & Byron L.
Crabbe
With O’Brien, did the
concept paintings and continuity sketches (storyboards) for all of the
special effects sequences. Also painted the glass backings used in the
miniature sets.
Marcel Delgado
Constructed all of the
animation models used in the film, including four different versions of
Kong. Detailed the film’s large props – the big Kong head, the big hand,
and the lower portions of the Pteranodon.
Carroll L. Shepphird
Devised all of the technical
specs and plans (set dimensions, camera placement, lenses, film speeds,
light placement, etc) for each shot.
E. B. Gibson
O’Brien’s assistant, “Buzz”
Gibson helped O’Brien animate most of the major sequences and animated
some sequences on his own – most noteably Kong’s climb up the Empire State
Building
W. G. White
Constructed the frameworks
for the miniature sets.
Orville Goldner
Painted and detailed the
miniature sets. Occasionally assisted the animators and animated many of
the birds himself.
Fred Reefe
Created the mechanical
devices and support systems used in the miniature sequences. Occasionally
assisted with the animation.
John Cerisoli
Studio sculptor, Cerisoli
carved the wooded human figures used in the animation sequences. He also
carved wooden stand-ins for the animation models (which were used to do
lighting tests to prevent the rubber skin of the actual models from drying
out under the hot lights) and wooden skulls for some of the dinosaur
models.
Juan Larrinaga, Victor
Delgado, Zachary Hoag
Technical artists who
assisted in the creation of the miniature sets and oversized props.
Max Steiner
Famous composer who created
the film’s groundbreaking score, considered by many to be the first
official film score of the sound film era and one of the most influential
film scores in history.
Eddie Linden
The film’s main director of
photography, Linden photographed most of the live action and animated
sequences.
Kenneth Peach
Uncredited alternate
director of photography, Peach filled in for Linden when Linden was needed
elsewhere.
J. O. Taylor
Alternate director of
photography, Taylor filmed most of the live action scenes shot by Cooper,
including scenes of Kong stomping on natives and chewing on natives and
Manhattanites, the hotel room scenes in which Kong terrorizes the sleeping
woman and recapturing Ann, and the scenes of panic aboard the elevated
train.
Vernon Walker
Photographed most of the
film’s optical process work, including the rear screen shots and the
Dunning blue screen material.
Linwood G. Dunn
Assisted by Cecil Love and
William Ulm, Dunn created most of the film’s optical effects, including
most of the matte shots, double exposures, dissolves, etc.
Sidney Saunders
Created the innovative rear
screen used to combine full scale and miniature footage into a single
composite. Used heavily throughout the film and showcased in the T-Rex
scene.
C. Dodge Dunning
Created the in camera blue
screen matting process used to combine miniature and full-scale footage
into a single composite. This process was used primarily in the log
sequence.
Frank Williams
Created the optical
printer-based blue screen matting process used to combine miniature and
full-scale footage. Supplanted the Dunning process for most of the
filming. Seen to great advantage in the sequence in which Kong pushes open
the gates of the Great Wall.
Ted Cheesman
The film’s editor.
Murray Spivack
Assisted by Walter Elliot,
created the film’s pioneering and innovative sound effects.
Van Nest Polglase
The head of RKO’s art
department, Polglase supervised the creation of the films sets by Art
Directors Carroll Clark and Art Herman.
Carroll Clark
Art director for The Most
Dangerous Game, Clark designed the swamp set that he then reconfigured for
use in Kong, where it appeared as the jungle on Skull Island.
Al Herman
Art director who created the
rest of the sets on King Kong, including the reproduction of the
Empire State Building, which he created from the blueprints of the actual
building.
Walter Plunkett
Head of RKO’s costume
department supervised the creation of the film’s costumes.
Harry Redmond Jr.
Redmond was in charge of all
of the physical and mechanical special effects used in the film, including
the fog that envelops the Venture and the jungle.
Duke Krantz and George Weiss
Pilots who flew the camera
planes that filmed the live action scenes of the bi-planes attacking Kong.
Who Did What On the 1976 Kong
An overview of key production
personnel.
By Ray Morton
   
Dino De
Laurentiis (Producer):
De Laurentiis conceived the idea of remaking Kong, sold the idea to
Paramount Pictures and a group of European investors, supervised the
entire production, supervised the publicity campaign, and promoted the
film tirelessly.
John Guillermin
(Director):
Guillermin, who also directed The Towering Inferno, worked with the
actors, visualized the shots, and creatively supervised all of the
technical crews.
Lorenzo Semple,
Jr. (Screenwriter):
Semple updated and adapted the original story and wrote the film’s
screenplay.
Federico De
Laurentiis (Executive Producer):
De Laurentiis was Dino De Laurentiis’s 21-year-old son and point man on
the production. He was on the set every day, representing his father,
helping out, and filming documentary footage that chronicled the making of
the film. He also took a photo of a gorilla in the San Diego Zoo named Bum
that Carlo Rambaldi used as the basis for his design for Kong’s face.
Christian Ferry
(Executive Producer):
Ferry was Guillermin’s point man on the production (Ferry produced
Guillermin’s film The Blue Max). His primary roles were to act as a
go-between between Guillermin and De Laurentiis and to negotiate for the
production when necessary. He is credited with the negotiations that
allowed the film to shoot at the World Trade Center.
Frederic M.
Sidewater (Assistant to the Producer):
Sidewater was the vice president of De Laurentiis’s production company. He
helped De Laurentiis negotiate with RKO to acquire the rights to remake
Kong. He also handled most of the film’s financial and contractual
negotiations and, after the film’s release, negotiated the deal with an
Argentinean amusement park to feature the 40-foot-tall Kong robot as an
attraction in the summer of 1977.
Richard H.
Kline, A.S.C. (Director of Photography):
Kline lit the sets and photographed the film. Together with Guillermin,
Kline determined that the film should have a softly lit and softly
filtered look to enhance its fairy tale quality.
Jack Grossberg
(In Charge of Production):
Veteran production manager Grossberg hired the crews, negotiated all of
the location and equipment deals, and drew up and supervised the film’s
budget.
Terry Carr
(Production Manager):
Carr scheduled the day-to-day filming and coordinated the activities of
the full-scale and miniature units so that the work of each unit would
complement the other. He also assembled the photographic formulas required
to match the full-scale footage and the miniature work.
Brian Frankish
(Unit Production Manager -- Hawaii:
Frankish was hired as the film’s research assistant and located the two
ships – the oceanographic research vessel U.S.S. Melville (the
Petrox Explorer) and the Susanne Onstadd (the supertanker) –
used in the film. Frankish then coordinated the Hawaiian shoot. His duties
included coordinating the helicopters that were used to fly the cast and
crew to the various island locations and opening and running an abandoned
hotel for the cast and crew to stay in. Once the unit returned to the
mainland, Frankish worked in a variety of capacities on the production for
the duration of the shoot.
George Goodman
(Unit Production Manager -- New York):
Goodman scheduled and coordinated all of the New York filming.
Jeffrey Chernov,
Michael Winter, Scott Thaler:
These three young men were the film’s production assistants at MGM
Studios.
Joyce Selznick:
the niece of the original Kong’s executive producer David O. Selznick,
Joyce helped Guillermin find and audition the actors used in the film.
John Barry
(Music Composer and Conductor):
Barry wrote and conducted the film’s musical score.
Ralph E.
Winters, A.C.E.(Film Editor):
Academy Award winning editor assembled and fine-tuned the footage.
Phil Tucker
(Postproduction Supervisor):
Director of the cult classic Robot Monster, Tucker ran and scheduled the
editing department.
Robert Pergament
(Assistant Film Editor):
Pergament assisted Winters in the editing room.
Margo Anderson
(Assistant Film Editors):
Anderson served as the liaison between the editing department and the
optical effects lab. She also coordinated the various elements used to
create the special effects shots.
James J. Klinger
(Sound Effects Editor):
Klinger created and edited the various sound effects used in the film,
including Kong’s distinctive roar.
Mario Chiari
(Production Designer):
Veteran Italian production designer Chiari was hired to choose the film’s
locations and design its sets by his friend Dino De Laurentiis.
Unfortunately, Chiari and John Guillermin didn’t see eye to eye. Also,
Chiari had difficulty adapting to U.S. production methods, so he was
eventually reassigned. His primary duties were then to help Carlo Rambaldi
design the various versions of Kong used in the film.
Dale Hennesy
(Production Designer):
Oscar winning art director Hennesy replaced Chiari and designed most of
the sets used in the film.
Mentor Huebner,
David Negron (Production Illustrators):
Huebner drew the film’s storyboards. Huebner and Negron drew the concept
drawings for each set and for key scenes in the film.
Gary Martin
(Construction Coordinator):
Martin supervised the construction of the film’s sets, including the Great
Wall.
Aldo Puccini
(Miniature Coordinator):
Grandson of the famous composer, Puccini supervised the construction of
the miniature sets.
Rick Baker:
Make-up whiz Baker sculpted the miniature Kong’s body and face,
collaborated on building the Kong suit with Carlo Rambaldi, and fabricated
the Kong masks. He also played Kong in the film.
Carlo Rambaldi:
Special effects creator Rambaldi did the original design for the
mechanical Kong and the mechanical hands, collaborated with Rick Baker on
the Kong suit, and created the cable controlled mechanisms used to animate
the Kong face masks.
Glen Robinson:
Mechanical effects expert and theme park ride designer Robinson created
the final design for the Big Kong and the Big Hands, supervised their
construction, and headed up the team that operated the mechanisms. Along
with fellow mechanical effects man Joe Day, he also designed many of the
film’s mechanical effects, including the log, the elevated subway train,
and the giant snake.
Don Chandler
(Sculptor of Kong):
Studio sculptor Chandler sculpted the initial model and the various body
pieces for the Big Kong.
Michael Dino
(Hair Design for Kong):
Wigmaker Dino assembled thousands of pounds of horsehair and attached them
to rubber panels. Those panels were then used to cover the Big Kong, the
Styrofoam Kong used at the World Trade Center, and the Big Hands.
Eddie Surkian
(Mechanical Coordinator for Kong):
Surkian installed the various mechanical and hydraulic systems used to
operate the Big Kong and the Big Hands. He also traveled with the Big Kong
on its journey to Argentina.
Frank Van Der
Veer, A.S.C. (Supervisor of Photographic Effects):
Van Der Veer supervised the blue screen filming and optical work for the
film.
Barry Nolan
(Photographic Effects Assistant):
Nolan assisted Van Der Veer and devised the revolutionary video alignment
and playback system used to match the foreground action filmed in front of
the blue screen with the action on the background plates.
Lou Lichtenfield
(Matte Artist):
Veteran Hollywood matte painted Lictenfield -- who also did many of the
matte paintings for the original Mighty Joe Young – designed and painted
the matte paintings used in the film, including the long shots of the
Great Wall, the chasm beneath the log, and some of the interiors of the
supertanker sets.
William Kronick
(Second Unit Director):
Kronick directed several sequences featuring the miniature Kong, including
Kong’s smash through the Great Wall. He also directed the long shots of
the various ships, as well as much of the background plates and insert
shots for the New York sequences.
Harold Wellman,
A.S.C.:
A veteran cameraman who worked on the original King Kong, Wellman was
credited with Additional Photographic Effects in the film’s closing
credits. This is a somewhat misleading credit. In actuality, Wellman, who
was an expert in miniature photography, consulted with Richard Kline on
the photography of the miniature sequences. He also served as the director
of photography for the Second Unit.
Will Shephard:
Shephard was an actor who played Kong in certain key action sequences in
the film. He worked mostly with the Second Unit.
Moss Mabry
(Costume Designer):
Mabry designed the primary costumes seen in the film.
Anthea Sylbert
(Costume Designer).
Sylbert – who would later become a producer – designed the native gowns
and costumes, including Jessica Lange’s sacrificial dress,
Claude
Thompson:
Thompson choreographed the native’s sacrificial dance.
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK
My book is called
King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon. It covers the making of the
seven King Kong films made to date, including The Son of Kong
(1933), King Kong Versus Godzilla (1963), King Kong Escapes
(1967), King Kong Lives (1986), and King Kong (2005). It
also includes a chapter on the many Kong spin-offs, rip-offs, and spoofs,
a chapter on the Kong films that were planned but never made, and a
chapter on Kong merchandise and memorabilia. The centerpiece of the book,
however, are two extensive chapters – one on the making of the original
1933 King Kong and one on the making of Dino De Laurentiis’s 1976
remake. The making of the original film has been well documented over the
years, but there have always been a few gaps in the story. In the course
of my research, I came across some fascinating bits of information that
filled in a lot of those gaps, especially those concerning the development
of the initial concept and the original screenplay. The making of the 1976
King Kong has been less well documented and, as many fans know,
much has been written about the film has been at best inaccurate and at
worst just plain wrong. To correct these mistakes, I interviewed many of
the people involved in the making of the film, including: Jeff Bridges,
Rene Auberjonois, Jack O'Halloran, Ed Lauter, Lorenzo Semple, Jr. Richard
H. Kline, Rick Baker, Carlo Rambaldi, Will Shephard, Barry Nolan, Terry
Carr, and Brian Frankish. I am confident that this chapter is going to be
the most detailed and accurate account of the film's making yet written.
It is my hope that it will provide Kong fans with new insight into this
under appreciated film and cause those that bash Kong ’76 to re-evaluate
it and recognize it for the ground-breaking and entertaining blockbuster
that it is. The book will be published by Applause Books in November 2005
and is currently available for pre-order at the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1557836698/qid=1121989639/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-7343422-5539351?v=glance&s=books
A MYSTERY SOLVED: THE
FATE OF THE BIG KONG REVEALEd
photo taken from
Kingdom Kong
One of the great mysteries surrounding
the 1976 Dino De Laurentiis version of King Kong is the fate of the
full-scale King Kong robot built for the film. The creation and operation
of the mechanical monster was the focus of most of the film’s pre-release
publicity and the cause of much controversy (due to its awkward
performance and limited on-screen appearance) once the film had premiered.
Despite all of this attention, once the film had completed its run, the
Big Kong appeared to vanish. In an interview in the January 1977 issue of
American Cinematographer, producer Dino De Laurentiis reported that
he had been approached by both the Walt Disney Company and Universal
Studios with an offer to display Kong in their respective amusement parks,
offers De Laurentiis claimed to have spurned, his reasoning being that he
didn’t want the Big Kong to be overexposed because he was planning to use
it again in a soon-to-begin-production sequel. Of course, that immediate
sequel never materialized, at which point all discussion of De
Laurentiis’s hydraulically controlled ape ceased. The creature was never
used or seen again.
So, what happened to the Big Kong? When
production on King Kong wrapped in October 1976, the Big Kong was
broken down into pieces and placed in storage. (Actually, the Big Kong
spent most of its life in pieces. Most of the scenes that featured the
creature were filmed using bits of the creature – i.e. its legs, chest,
shoulder, and head. The fully assembled ape was only used for one scene –
the Shea Stadium Presentation Sequence – and also for a publicity photo
shoot with Jessica Lange.) After it was disassembled, the Big Kong was
initially stored in a work shed at MGM Studios, and then later moved to a
warehouse in El Segundo, California (near the Los Angeles International
Airport). It remained there until the spring of 1977, after which it was
shipped to Argentina. Once he realized that he wasn’t going to be making a
sequel anytime soon, De Laurentiis made a deal to loan the Big Kong to an
amusement park in Buenos Aires. The price was $100,000 for a one-year
lease. Eddie Surkian, who supervised the installation and operation of the
creature’s hydraulic and mechanical systems during construction and
shooting (tasks he also performed for the mechanical shark on Jaws
and Jaws 2) accompanied the Big Kong in order to supervise the
reconstruction of the creature and remained in Argentina for the entire
year in order to keep the mechanical monster in tip top working condition.
After the amusement park’s lease expired, the Big Kong returned to storage
in El Segundo, where it remained for the better part of a decade, during
which time the monster’s fiberglass shell, rubber skin, and horsehair fur
began to deteriorate.
In 1985, De Laurentiis dissolved his
private production company -- The Dino De Laurentiis Corporation – and
started a new, publicly held company called The De Laurentiis
Entertainment Group. As part of the deal, De Laurentiis sold the assets of
his old company to his new one. One of those assets was the Big Kong. As
part of his new venture, De Laurentiis built a new motion picture studio
in Wilmington, North Carolina and had all of his assets shipped there.
The Big Kong, now missing most of its hide, was brought to the studio and
rather unceremoniously dumped on the backlot along with a lot of other
unused and unwanted props and materials. There, what was left of its
exterior covering disintegrated completely until all that was left was the
creature’s duraluminum skeleton. When the time came for De Laurentiis to
produce King Kong Lives, the production team briefly considered
using the Big Kong, but it was decided that the cost and effort required
to refurbish the creature were too exorbitant and (given the creature’s
poor performance in KK ’76) not worth it (although the molds used
to fabricated the Big Kong’s exterior were used to create the big Kong
mannequin used in Lives). The collapsing skeleton of Big Kong
remained on the lot until De Laurentiis sold the facility in the late
1980s, at which point the new owners sent it to the junk yard. All in all,
an ignoble end to a noble piece of movie magic.
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