The special effects department made a big robot for King Kong.

1976, the remake of King Kong appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

The Evolution History of "King Kong"

As we all know, King Kong is a remake. There have been three works officially named "King Kong" in the history of movies. In addition to the latest one, there are two versions: 1933 and 1976. In addition, there are a large number of movies with the theme of "King Kong", but they are basically based on misinformation. In the King Kong orthodox family, two old films also caused a great sensation. They are not only the predecessors of the hit film King Kong, but also the important historical coordinates of the development of the film industry.

The birth of the film miracle ★ 1933 edition

Three legendary creators

The birth of "King Kong" should start with its three creators with legendary experiences.

1920, merian Cooper from Florida joined the US Air Force and was sent to Europe to fight in the war. In Poland, he met Ernest Chaissac, a comrade-in-arms of his age, and they became lifelong friends and partners. 1922, the Eskimo documentary Nanuk in the North was a great success. After retirement, Cooper and Shasack were inspired to shoot an adventure documentary in Asia.

1925, they cooperated to complete Ranch, which recorded the migration of Iranian nomads across the snow-capped mountains. Two years later, they went deep into the jungle of Thailand and filmed the documentary Elephant, which showed a struggle between local aborigines and elephants. In the future, Carl Han Dan, the producer who specializes in the adventure film "King Kong", is the epitome of this experience of Cooper and Shasack.

Later, Cooper and Shasack turned to feature film creation. Before King Kong, they had made many works such as Four Feathers and The Most Dangerous Game. Cooper once explored Africa and became interested in gorillas very early. 1926 The news that Komodo monitor lizard was captured in Indonesia and transported back to the United States for exhibition inspired him to write the script of King Kong.

However, this idea could not be realized immediately, and it was not until he met Wills O'Brien, a film special effects expert, that he had the technical basis for implementing the shooting plan. O 'Brien can be regarded as the originator of special effects in Hollywood movies. As early as 19 15, he filmed the short film "Dinosaur and Lost". In practice, he constantly improved miniature models and freeze-frame photography techniques, such as 1925' s classic sci-fi film Lost in the World, which is his masterpiece as a technical director.

Wrong cooperation

193 1 year, at that time, Lei Dianhua, one of the eight Hollywood companies, first invited O 'Brien to shoot Creation, which told the story of a group of shipwrecked sailors boarding an island full of dinosaurs. Due to the problems of funds and scripts, the newly published Creation was forced to run aground, which led to the cooperation between O 'Brien, Cooper and Chaissac. 193 1 year, 10, the movie King Kong invested by Lei was officially launched, with Cooper and Chaissac as directors and producers, O 'Brien in charge of visual effects, and Canadian actress Fei Rui as the heroine. This amazing work was thus put into shooting.

Although the gorilla "King Kong" presented on the screen is nearly 20 feet (about 6 meters) tall, the miniature actually used for shooting is only 18 inch (about 45 cm) high. In "King Kong", the main shots of King Kong and dinosaurs are all made of miniature models, while O 'Brien uses the method of freeze-frame photography to shoot special effects scenes-every time the camera shoots a frame (the film is usually 24 frames per second), it is necessary to fine-tune the models of King Kong and dinosaurs to make the final film smooth and complete. King Kong's model is made of rubber stuck to a metal skeleton structure, and his fur is rabbit skin. In addition to miniatures, O 'Brien also designed and made models of proportional heads and hands for close-ups, so the scene of King Kong Rapani holding the heroine to eat people is more realistic. In order to save money, the cast of King Kong adopted the jungle scenery of The Most Dangerous Game and some props of Creation. Cooper and Shasack also went into battle in person, playing the pilot who shot King Kong in the film. In addition to many difficulties, there was good news during the filming. Cooper and Shasack's previous adventure thriller The Most Dangerous Game was a hit at the box office, which also increased the confidence of several masters.

The myth of the great depression

Because of the huge workload of special effects photography and post-synthesis, King Kong was not finished until February 1933, and the movie * * * cost 670,000 US dollars. On March 2nd, 1933, King Kong was shown in two cinemas in new york. In four days, the box office was close to 90 thousand dollars (the movie ticket price at that time was 15 cents), which set a new box office record in one fell swoop. 1In April, 933, the huge box office of King Kong completely saved China, a radio and television company on the verge of bankruptcy, and became a much-told story in Hollywood for a while. "King Kong" won the box office of $654.38+$7,000 in the United States for the first time, which was a miracle during the Great Depression.

Today, the 1933 version of King Kong is obviously backward in technology, but its creative plot and powerful imagination are still admirable.

Ungrateful innovation ★ 1976 edition

In the early 1970s, there were rumors of remake holes in Hollywood. Before the preparation of Universal Pictures, which first put forward this idea, the famous Italian producer dino de laurentiis announced that he would cooperate with Paramount to shoot a new version of King Kong, and the plan of Universal Pictures was forced to run aground until last year.

Compared with the old version 1933, the new version of "King Kong" produced by Laurentis has many changes in the script. The time background is set to be modern, and the film crew is changed to an oil exploration team.

The identities of the main characters have also changed. Donne, the heroine, is a neurotic woman who was shipwrecked. Jack becomes a paleontologist and Carl, the filmmaker, becomes Fred, a mercenary oil businessman. King Kong didn't shoot dinosaurs on Skull Island, and it is no longer the Empire State Building in new york, but the "Twin Towers" of the World Trade Center (a famous building destroyed in the "9. 1 1" incident).

Roman polanski and Sam Perkinberg were considered as directors of the new version of King Kong, but John Gillemine, the British director who just finished the blockbuster Burning Skyscraper, was finally decided. The hero Jack was played by Jeff bridges, an up-and-coming young student, while the heroine was played by Jessica Lange, a model who had no performance experience at that time.

The new version of King Kong started shooting in 1976 65438+ 10 and was completed in August of that year. The working intensity of 12 hours per day was maintained during shooting. The film was produced by Italian Carlo Ramberti, who later won two Oscars for Alien and E.T.. According to his idea, the special effects department made a 40-foot robot to play King Kong.

As it turns out, this expensive robot was not successful and was put on hold after only a few shots. King Kong changed into a "gorilla costume" made of silicone and horsehair by special effects makeup artist Rick Barker, and he acted it himself. In order to show the details of King Kong's movements and demeanor, the special effects department also made large robotic arms and legs for gorillas, and Buck also prepared seven King Kong masks with different expressions for different scenes.

"King Kong" premiered in the United States in February. 1976. Although the box office performed well, it received rave reviews and was considered to have lost its free spirit and imagination. 1986, Laurentis formed the original crew to shoot the sequel "King Kong is still alive", but it didn't cause much response at all.

Reprint from-Sina.com