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Kong: Skull Island – An Interview with Tom Hiddleston
A strict set of rules must be followed when talking about Kong: Skull Island.
1. Please don’t reveal the fate of any of the characters, including Kong – especially Kong.
2. Please avoid specifics about the other creatures in the film, particularly the Skullcrawlers. However, please feel free to allude to villain creatures that exist on Skull Island, particularly Kong’s nemesis – the terrifying, rapacious beast that killed his ancestors and made him the last of his kind.
3. Please avoid taking on the politics or grim realities of the Vietnam War (napalm, mass human losses). If pressed, please treat the subject with sensitivity but deflect to the film itself, i.e. look and feel, thematic resonance, period military mindset and techniques, etc.
4. Please avoid comparisons to Apocalypse Now. If asked directly, please underscore that Kong: Skull Island is a big, epic monster movie while noting that Coppola and ‘70s cinema are a huge influence on today’s filmmakers.
5. Please avoid discussing the film’s budget or any financial details of the production. If pressed to comment on reported numbers or speculation, please deflect, i.e. “I honestly don’t have any information on that; that would be a question for the studio.”
6. Please avoid specifics on how Kong is being created, e.g. motion capture techniques and Andy Serkis’s involvement/lack of involvement in the film. It’s fine to note that he will be a digital character but please focus on bringing Kong to life at such an epic scale and level of ferocity.
7. Please do not position the film as an “origin story.” Instead, please emphasize that this film will reveal one of Kong’s most important battles—for his rightful place as the king of Skull Island (“how Kong became King”).
8. In general, please avoid criticizing other films or directors in relation to Kong: Skull Island or referencing previous films, such as the ‘70s King Kong or Peter Jackson’s 2005 film. The legacy we are connecting to is the 1933 original, so please feel free to discuss that film and the cultural phenomenon it birthed. Peter Jackson’s version was a wonderful telling, but Kong: Skull Island is a vastly different take on the character and mythos.
9. Please avoid specifics about the music or specific tracks that will be on the soundtrack. It’s okay to talk about the incredible opportunity for an amazing soundtrack offered by this landmark era in music.
10. Please avoid mentioning specific films as either a prequel or a sequel to Kong: Skull Island and any speculation on where the story goes next. If asked about the wider “MonsterVerse,” please feel free to acknowledge that this film continues to explore a new era of this shared universe.
11. If questioned about how Kong and Godzilla would match up in a fight – given that Kong is 100 ft-tall and Godzilla is closer to 350 ft-tall – okay to tease the exciting possibilities of such a battle.
12. Also please reference that the Kong we meet on Skull Island is an adolescent and “still has some growing to do.”
Set in 1973, Kong: Skull Island follows a team of explorers that is brought together to venture onto an uncharted island in the Pacific. Obviously, the team is completely unaware that they’re entering the domain of the mythic Kong.
Kong: Skull Island’s human star, Tom Hiddleston, plays Captain James Conrad, the leader of the fateful expedition. In November, I had the chance to talk to Hiddleston about the beauty and the horror of Skull Island and the relationship between man and monster.
DG: How difficult was it for you, as an actor, to have to continually imagine the existence of a digitally-created character like Kong throughout the filming process?
TH: It’s like playing tennis on half a court. You hit the ball back, and it doesn’t come back to you, in terms of trying to imagine the visual effects that will appear in the finished film. It requires a lot of emotional and physical stamina. When we made the film, I would stare at different points-at hills, at the tallest trees, up in the sky-and pretend that I was looking at Kong and the other creatures in the film.
DG: How did you first become involved with Kong: Skull Island?
TH: I was filming Crimson Peak in Canada in 2014, when producer Thomas Tull, one of the partners in the production company Legendary Pictures, took me aside and told me that they were going to do another Kong film. Thomas told me that they wanted to make the kind of Kong film we all grew up on, referring to the classic 1933 original. He told me that the Kong in this film would exist in the real world. He said there would be other creatures in the film, and explorers, and villains, and he said he wanted me to be the hero. Then he asked me, ‘Are you interested?’
DG: How would you describe Skull Island?
TH: The most dangerous places are the most beautiful. Skull Island is a beautiful but mysterious place that’s full of terror and wonder. Man has never been there before, and there’s a sense that man doesn’t belong there. The film is about awe and wonder and unknown terror.
DG: How would you describe Conrad, and is there a relationship between the character’s name and Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness?
TH: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness explored the mind of man, and the themes in the book-man’s hubris and the extremes that exist in nature-are present in the film. Conrad is a former SAS officer who brings a tremendous amount of cynicism to this mission. Conrad specializes in jungle survival, and he’s experienced the most extreme forms of nature. He thinks they’re all going to die, and he actually starts listing the ways in which they’re all going to die on this mission. What happens in the film is that Kong reawakens his sense of awe and wonder.
DG: Kong: Skull Island takes place in 1973. Why is that specific point in time relevant to the story?
TH: It’s a perfect time because it’s a time period in which it would be possible to discover an uncharted island in the Pacific. It’s believable that Skull Island could have gone undiscovered until 1973, when NASA’s satellite program, Landsat, began to map the world from space, which is how the island is discovered in the film. This is a time that was defined by corruption and cynicism and the misuse of power. Richard Nixon ended the Vietnam War. The Watergate scandal was still unfolding. It’s a relatable point in time.
DG: What did director Jordan Vogt-Roberts bring to this film that was unique from other directors who might’ve attempted this?
TH: Jordan brought an unshakable belief to the film, which meant a return to an old school type of filmmaking. Jordan wanted to go to the ends of the earth, like David Attenborough did on the television series Planet Earth. We filmed in real environments, real jungles. There were no air conditioned, bug-free tents on this film. When we were in Australia, on the Gold Coast, a health safety officer warned us that the black snakes, the spiders, and even some of the plants could kill us. We filmed in the rainforest in Queensland, and we filmed around the lakes and swamps in Vietnam, where the mountains rise up out of the ground like skyscrapers. In Oahu, we were in the valleys, surrounded by breathtaking mountain vistas and Huey helicopters. The look of the film is very colorful and projects a sense of beauty and majesty. There are lots of fluorescent colors on the island-lots of blues and bright greens and oranges. Kong is the god of this natural world.
DG: How would you describe the relationship between Conrad and Mason Weaver, the character played by Brie Larson?
TH: Conrad and Weaver are outsiders who are united by their skepticism. They’re both very skeptical of the stated reasons for them being there. They don’t trust the character played by John Goodman, who says he only wants to map the planet but clearly has ulterior motives. The human characters are all, to varying degrees, broken, lonely people. Some of them see Kong as just a threat, while others, like Conrad, come around to the idea that Kong is more of a savior.
DG: How would you describe the dynamic that exists between Conrad and Preston Packard, the character played by Samuel L. Jackson, the leader of the Sky Devils helicopter squadron?
TH: Packard is the commander in the sky, and Conrad is the commander on the ground. This is a disparate group of explorers and soldiers that have arrived on this island. Packard’s first priority is to protect the lives of his men, and when his men are threatened, he becomes vengeful. The different priorities that develop in our characters throughout the film put us in conflict with each other.
DG: When you were pretending to be looking at Kong for all of those months, what did you feel and imagine?
TH: What I imagined, based on the script and the conceptual artwork, was that Kong was an emblem of the power of nature. This is definitely what I’ve seen in the film. Kong’s the defender of the island and nature. You can see the native intelligence when you look into his eyes, and you can also see how lonely he is. He’s lonely at the top of the food chain. His ancestors have all been killed, and he’s the last of his kind. His eyes reflect tragedy. When I looked up at him, when I was staring up toward a hill or a tree during the filming, I was terrified at first, and then I felt an overwhelming sense of humility and awe. Then I thought, ‘I’m looking at a god.’
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‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt
Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.
In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.
This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.
Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.
“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”
The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”
The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.
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Movies
‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time
It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?
It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.
Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.
Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.
The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.
It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.
The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.
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Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween
Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.
The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.
This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.
This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.
“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”
But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.
This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.
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