4 Captain, Assistant, Orphan, and Others...
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 KING KONG
PRODUCTION NOTES
4Casting Kong:
Captain, Assistant, Orphan
4Filming Kong:
4Other Stuff:
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 4Thomas Kretschmann as Captain Englehorn
As the captain of the Venture-which takes the leading lady, the director, the playwright and the crew to the lost world of Skull Island-the filmmakers chose accomplished German actor Thomas Kretschmann, who had also starred with Brody in The Pianist. Captain Englehorn has made a living piloting the rusting vessel around the globe, capturing exotic wildlife and peddling the caged animals to zoos and other not-quite-above-board business enterprises.
Kretschmann was fascinated by his new work environment. “When I saw The Lord of the Rings, I imagined that it came from this big studio down in New Zealand, it was so beautifully made and an amazing accomplishment. Then when I got here, I was surprised to find that it's more of a big playground, with some scenes being shot in a parking lot, of all places. But what matters is what is done with those shots-clearly magic is being created, to transform a scene shot in a parking lot into something as amazing as King Kong,” he comments.
4Colin Hanks as Preston
Cast in the role of Preston, Denham's tireless assistant and quasi-conscience, was Colin Hanks (interestingly, Black's co-star in the film Orange County). Preston begins the film as a hardworking, but long-suffering, right-hand man to his boss. As the journey becomes more arduous (and the cost of the film begins to be measured in lives lost), the young idealist is slowly transformed into a realist with his own conscience-a man who can no longer keep step with Denham as he begins his slide down a slippery moral slope.
Hanks, like Kretschmann, was awed by the arsenal of film wizardry being aimed at the story of Kong-but perhaps even more by the amount of feedback the filmmakers solicited from the cast about their characters and then folded into the evolving screenplay.
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He relates, “It is a huge movie and yet, at the same time, it feels like the most personal story that I've ever been involved in telling. It's been really interesting for me, because never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that one of the biggest movies that I'll probably ever be in would have allowed me so much input about my character. One of the most interesting aspects of working on this film was that Peter's very much like a kid playing with toys, except the toys are very big and expensive. But even in the midst of all of the fantastic elements, you still understand the human story at the center. You understand it, and that's because Peter likes telling personal, dramatic stories…but he likes telling them on a really big canvas.”
4Jamie Bell as Jimmy
The character input that helped to define Preston was also very much at work in the character of Jimmy, the youngest member of the Venture crew, played by 19-year-old Jamie Bell. The street-smart orphan sees his chance for adventure and becomes a stowaway on the Venture. While maritime law dictates that he be left at the next port of call, his toughness and willingness to learn impresses the World War I veteran and first mate Hayes, who allows him to remain onboard. He encourages Jimmy to further his education, to become more than just a sailor on a tramp steamer. Jimmy takes this encouragement one step too far when he steals a copy of Joseph Conrad's 1902 classic, Heart of Darkness, from the New York Public Library, believing it to be a light-hearted adventure story.
Bell sees direct parallels between Marlow, the narrator of Conrad's novel, and the character of Carl Denham. He relates, “Carl Denham is taking all of these people on a dangerous journey into the unknown for no real reason. He knows something's out there, but he's not quite sure what it is. Why doesn't he just turn back? Hayes wraps it up very well in the film when he says, `There's a part of him (Marlow) that wants to, Jimmy… but there's another part, that needs to know, that needs to defeat the thing that makes him afraid.'”4Evan Parke as Hayes
Evan Parke's character, Hayes, is a seasoned veteran of the 369th division of the 24th infantry in the American army-one of the first all-black, American units to serve in World War I. While the character's history prepared him for the unexpected, Parke notes that the journey the entire crew and passengers of the S.S. Venture take will be unlike anything they've known… from the beginning of the trip. He offers, “The sea represents adventure, an opportunity to learn. It's funny, even now, people say we've discovered everything that we need on earth.” Just as his character soon discovers, Parke quips, “Of course…we know now that's not fully true.”
4Kyle Chandler as Bruce Baxter
Not all on the vessel had the training to weather the storm. Kyle Chandler's “B”-movie-level leading man Bruce Baxter is a character who was created in homage to actor Bruce Cabot, the actor who played Jack Driscoll in the original 1933 film. Arrogant and brash, Baxter presents another wild card on the ship.
For Chandler, the idea of a Kong remake is a compelling proposition. He remarks, “Tell me a kid down the street that doesn't want to see a 25-foot gorilla fight with some dinosaurs and then get taken back on a boat to New York City, only to escape and start ripping through the city to find his girlfriend… and he climbs up on top of the highest peak, where airplanes are coming to shoot him down. It's a great story. That's why, I think, Peter made it-it captured him like it's going to capture people all over again.”
4Next Page: Building a Shrewder Ape
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