Date: August 31, 2004
Source: NZH
Author: Robert Sanchez
The big three Hollywood stars of Peter Jackson's $200 million King Kong are already in awe of the project before the cameras roll next month.
Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, Australian actress Naomi Watts and comic actor Jack Black, now in Wellington rehearsing and having camera tests for costumes and make-up, have toured Jackson's studios as he prepares to shoot his ambitious remake of the 1933 classic.
They have for the first time also seen detailed drawings and computer-animated story boards that depict what Jackson and co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have envisaged.
"It's like the Ming Dynasty over here," said Black, best known for Shallow Hal with Gwyneth Paltrow and The School of Rock, who will play film-maker Carl Denham.
"I think it's going to be gorgeous. I've seen the story board and if the movie is half as good as what the pictures I've seen look like - it could be the greatest film of all time," Black said.
He described the tour, which included special effects houses Weta Workshop and Weta Digital as "unbelievable".
Brody, who won the best actor Oscar for The Pianist, said Jackson had already brought to life his "tremendous vision" by showing him several computer-animated moving story boards.
"They are not only incredibly helpful to see what he's going to bring to it, they are remarkably full of emotion. The film will obviously have more depth than those, but they are pretty powerful already. It's amazing."
Brody, whose latest film The Village opens this week, said he was also impressed by Jackson's Miramar studios.
"The facilities here are incredible. I didn't expect it. I didn't know what I expected, but he's created a studio and post-production house that rivals anything elsewhere.
"He's managed to incorporate this incredible creative force with this business sense of keeping the work here and employing all these people.
"He has got an army of people behind him that really support him. That's nice to be a part of."
Watts, who will play Ann Darrow, the role played by Fay Wray in the original, said she knew Jackson would keep a few of his ideas for King Kong up his sleeve until the stars arrived in Wellington.
"Slowly, one by one, they are becoming more clear and it's very impressive. There's so much going on. When you walk around the studios and Weta Workshop you see the detail and the immense sizes of what is about to happen.
"It's like nothing I've experienced before, that's for sure. There's a lot of genius at work," she said.
The three, here for six months, have houses near each other in Miramar with views out to Wellington Harbour.
"I've got a stunning view of Karaka Bay. I definitely have the best view in all of Wellington, but then I drove along the shoreline and the bay looks even nicer from sea level," Black said.
Suddenly conscious that it may have sounded like a pat reply for any visitor, he quickly added: "And every time I look out the window I weep uncontrollably at the beauty ..."
Watts, nominated for the best actress Oscar this year for 21 Grams, had not visited New Zealand before.
"It's really beautiful. I too share the same incredible view that Jack does, but I think mine's slightly better than his."
Brody, who plays adventurer Jack Driscoll, said: "I don't know Wellington well enough and it's early. But I'm really happy to be here."
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