4 Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow
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 KING KONG
PRODUCTION NOTES
4Casting Kong:
Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow
4Filming Kong:
4Other Stuff:
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 This world of 1933 New York is also of significance to the central female character of the story, Ann Darrow. As an actress in vaudeville, Ann earns a living by entertaining, by making people laugh-in songs, skits and with physical humor. Though her onstage persona is a happy one, her life away from the theater is hardly lighthearted.
The inherent sadness in her character is palpable-in some ways, her outlook is mirrored by the Great Depression around her. (When she later meets Carl Denham, she offers a particularly character-defining line: “Good things never last, Mr. Denham.”)
And now, Ann finds that her particular theatrical dedication has become a dying art form. She turns up to work one day and finds the theater shuttered, her job ended. It is this desperate situation that sends her out into the streets where she meets Denham, who convinces her to board the Venture…she just has to take the first step down a path towards her destiny.
When trying to find an actress who could play the multilayered levels of Ann's character-the survival instinct, the grit, the underlying melancholy-the filmmakers had long wanted to work with Oscar® nominee Naomi Watts. Jackson had seen her revelatory performance in Mulholland Drive (and in other films) and had kept her in mind for the possibility of a future collaboration.
He says, “I thought, `Wow, I'd love to work with her one day.' You know, she's such a great actress-she's so true, so honest. I mean every moment that she is playing she's playing it from a place of complete emotional honesty. You can see it in her eyes. And so we'd really admired her work; we were fans of hers. But I'd never met her. And when the notion of doing King Kong came up, we knew that we had to cast somebody in the role that had been immortalized by Fay Wray. And we thought, `Well, this could be our opportunity to work with Naomi.'”
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Jackson and his team were in London, completing post-production for The Return of the King, when Watts came to a meeting over dinner…and left agreeing to assay the role that had made Wray a star.
The draw for Watts was immediate. She explains, “When you choose a film, there are so many elements that you have to think of. But for me, generally speaking, the first thing is the director. Having seen most of Peter's work, I was hugely excited when I got the call to come and meet. There was no script at that point, but I did know the original film and it seemed like a great idea. And with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and the great scripts they've produced before, it seemed like a very full package. So I actually agreed to do the movie before having read it!”
Much further down the road, when the script was drafted, Watts' expectations were more than met. She continues, “When I finally got the script, I just thought, `Wow, there's so much in it.' It was different than anything I'd done. Although it's an event-spectacle film, the characters have a huge amount of depth. The story is incredibly human.”
Watts adds, “The other thing I look for in a project is the dynamics, usually in the relationships. And the ones here are rich-I love trying to work out the human behavior that goes into everything. On top of that, there is a wealth of great stuff-action, chases, humor, song and dance even-so much more than I ever thought would be in it.”
It was later that Jackson arranged another meeting for Watts, Walsh, Boyens and himself-this time with the actress whose career became forever linked to the role of the beauty that bewitched the beast called Kong: Fay Wray. Not only were the filmmakers hoping that Wray would agree to complete a cameo in the film, they were also interested in simply spending time with the legendary screen beauty-the only surviving principle cast member from the original film.The mid-winter meeting took place in the New York apartment of a friend of Wray's. During the evening, talk turned to what it was like to be an actress working in the film industry in the 1930s, which was of particular interest to Watts. Wray had completed around a dozen pictures the same year she made King Kong-there was not the luxury of a long rehearsal process or leisurely breaks between projects. Work was work, churning out entertainment to divert the nation's attention from the dire economic conditions during the Depression. The filmmakers and Watts peppered the conversation with dozens of questions, which Watts confesses she thought might overwhelm the elderly woman, but that Wray answered with clarity and vigor-“It felt like old-fashioned movie dialogue,” supplies Watts.
When Jackson introduced Naomi as the woman playing Ann Darrow, Wray responded jokingly, “I'm Ann Darrow!”-Wray was still possessive of the role that brought her fame, despite the nearly 100 motion pictures she completed during her career. She later quizzed Watts about her weight, and remarked that she herself weighed “100, but 99 in the morning”-once an actress, always an actress.
Watts remembers, “One of the key things for me signing on was that Peter had lived with this film in his head since he was nine years old. I watched him that night, and how he was with Fay. She really moved him, I think. Can you imagine as a nine-year-old boy, falling in love with this actress? And then, being in her presence? I think he was so touched by her-it was really lovely.”
At the close of the evening, when Wray whispered to Watts, “Ann Darrow is in good hands,” the actress felt that she had been blessed and entrusted to honor both the character and the woman who originated the role.
Wray's failing health and passing in August 2004, ultimately prevented her from performing the cameo role in Jackson's film. When her death was announced, Jackson responded: “Fay's iconic beauty has been immortalized forever on film, but for those lucky enough to meet her, it was her wit, energy, style and charm that stayed with you.”
4Next Page: Jack Black as Carl Denham
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