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| King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 226 |
| Public Rating: 8.43 (7 votes) |
Director: Peter Jackson, Michael Pellerin |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Documentary |
Year: 2005 |
| Writer(s): Peter Jackson, Michael Pellerin |
| Distributor: Universal Studios |
| Reviewed by: Mel Valentin |
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During the extended production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, filmmaker Peter Jackson collaborated on a series of web-based production diaries. The diaries covered all aspects of production, from set building and costuming to special effects. In order to account for users with low bandwidth capabilities, the diaries were kept to a relatively brief three to seven minutes long. The diaries allowed fans of the Ring trilogy (and Tolkien's novels, of course) insight to the complexities of filmmaking on a scale rarely attempted. When Jackson announced his next project, a remake of King Kong, his collaborator on the web diaries for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Michael Pellerin, suggested that another set of production diaries would serve a similar function, keeping Jackson in contact with his loyal fanbase (not to mention excellent pre-release publicity for King Kong, but that was apparently a secondary concern).
The end result of Jackson's collaboration with Pellerin, 54 production diaries spanning the 131 days of principal photography that began in September 2005 and ended in April 2005 (exclusive of pick-ups, which involved flying the central cast and some supporting actors back to New Zealand for insert shots or new scenes), have been removed from Pellerin's website, kongisking.net and repackaged on a two-DVD box set as King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries, complete with a 52-page scrapbook, production art prints, and even a letter of authenticity. Since the producers of King Kong, Universal Studios, owned the rights to the production diaries, the diaries were pulled from Pellerin's website, kongisking.net, before the release of the DVD set on December 13, 2005. Pellerin's website, however, still hosts more than 30 post-production diaries that are potentially as insightful (if not more so) than the production diaries. The post-production diaries are probably best downloaded now, while they're still available (presumably they'll be pulled from the website sometime soon and repackaged into an extras-heavy extended or special edition of King Kong).
The production diaries open with a slightly harried, but still plump Peter Jackson (he lost over 70 pounds over the last year and a half) announcing the first day (actually night) of shooting aboard the full-scale mock-up of the S.S. Venture (Jackson suffers from seasickness, so he couldn't shoot on the actual ship). As the diaries evolve, Jackson, often wearing his favorite shirt (either that or he owns multiple copies of the same yellow shirt) introduces his fans to key members of the behind-the-scenes production crew, including his cinematographer, production designer, miniatures and model makers, and special effects staff at Weta Digital (Weta Workshop provides physical effects and props). The diaries essentially work their way down the production hierarchy, stopping to interview production managers, carpenters, and even transport drivers.
The first disc focuses primarily on the creation of Skull Island, from concept art, to the building of full-scale sets and scaled miniatures (on the order of 1/10 or 1/20) to add depth and breadth to the vistas of an impossibly primeval world. Several production diaries cover the creation of the ship that takes the central characters to Skull Island, the S.S. Venture, which exists as a seaworthy ship, a full-scale replica built on a backlot, interior cabins and storage on a soundstage, and a highly detailed miniature. Although the first disc briefly covers the New York set building, most of the second disc covers the filming of the New York City scenes which bookend King Kong middle hour (King Kong has roughly three major locations, New York City, the S.S. Venture, and Skull Island, with the central characters returning to New York City in the third hour). The second disc roughly follows the scenes filmed on the set of a recreated New York City (a combination of physical structures, some only partially built, miniatures, and digital effects), circa 1933.
The cast, of course, is on hand to lend their support, with Jack Black joking his way through the diaries. Naomi Watts shows more reticence in front of the video camera, but viewers do get the opportunity to hear Naomi speak with her native, Australian accent (she moved to Australia from England when she was 14). We also get the chance to see Jackson take his cast and production team to New York City and, of course, the Empire State Building (Naomi looks distinctly uncomfortable, huddled as far away from the edge as possible). We also get a surprise visit from another A-list director currently working on a 2006 summer release (Jackson decision to hand over directing chores to this director is a well-timed gag). One diary humorously covers the search for a production spy who's taken and posted photos of the sets and soundstages online. Not surprisingly, he posts under a username or handle (hint: he borrows the name of a major character from Jackson's Ring trilogy).
The preceding description only scratches the surface of what the production diaries cover, but even then they're best supplemented by watching the 30-odd post-production diaries available on kongisking.net (they can be downloaded and saved as high or low resolution video files). King Kong fans might want to hold off on purchasing the current version of the production diaries until they are combined with post-production diaries on the special or extended DVD edition. If the multiple release strategy for Lord of the Rings trilogy is any indication, Peter Jackson will first release the theatrical edition on DVD during the summer and an extended edition containing all the diaries (as well as other unspecified extras) sometime next fall. The current two-disc DVD of the production diaries does have an additional diary unavailable on the website, a 16-minute featurette that covers the over-the-top fight sequence between Kong and three T-Rexes on Skull Island, from conception through realization. Overall, the two-disc DVD set contains insightful, exhaustive (in both senses of the word) look at the logistics of filming an effects-heavy period film.
© Mel Valentin, 18th December, 2005
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 Printable Version
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* Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
* Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
* Limited Edition Gift Box
* Two Disc Set
* 52-Page Scrapbook of Drawings, Photographs, Images and Notes from Peter Jackson
* 4 Exclusive Production Art Prints
* Letter of Authenticity
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