The Giant Pacific Octopus wrote:
Tim Smyth wrote:
I don't believe for one second, that Cooper ever had a conversation with Selznick, about his gorilla picture, at RKO, before seeing the Creation footage. He was not brought to RKO to make movies, just help pick out the rotten apples. Creation was the new spark of inspiration which made Kong possible. Cooper stated that the first time he told Selznick about the Giant Terror Gorilla, was when he told Selznick to dump Creation, and then showed him the Kong painting by OB and Crabbe, and told him that this is the picture we ought to make. Not that I believe everything that Cooper ever said either, but I do think that Creation played a far bigger role in Kong than Cooper admits. O'Brien's ideas run rampant though Kong as well.

Tim


I believe it. In that book I mentioned (Living Dangerously) it states that Cooper pitched his "terror gorilla" idea to Selznick in the Summer of 1931 at Long Island (pages 201 and 202). Cooper had originally discussed the idea with David Bruce and they "pitched" the story to Selznick that summer. Selznick had just left Paramount in June and was hoping to found his own independent studio. Thanks to MGM head Louis B Mayer, (who saw Selznicks attempt at an independent studio an assault on the hierarchy of the studio system) his attempt was met with powerful resistance. He eventually took a job with RKO. Cooper joined RKO in September of 1931 (page 203) and saw the Creation footage in December of 1931 (page 207).

O'Brien heard about Cooper's interest in a "terror gorilla" picture and along with Byron Crabbe illustrated that famous picture of a giant gorilla menacing a hunter and a jungle girl. When Cooper saw the painting and was assured that O'Brien could bring it to life with stop motion, Cooper realized that he had a way of bringing his "terror gorilla' picture to life without having to "journey to wild locations or snare real gorillas" (page 207). He formally proposed his gorilla picture to replace Creation on December 18 1931 to David Selznick.

So the fact is he had wanted to do a "terror gorilla" picture before he got to RKO and even discussed this with David Selznick prior to joining the company. I agree that Creation was a spark of inspiration, but according to this well researched book discussion between the two men occurred earlier than that.
I believe that he wanted to make a film about gorillas, or a gorilla, and film on Komodo island, I just don't think that the gorilla was supposed to be gigantic, and later, at RKO, it turned into the Giant Terror Gorilla. There has never been one piece of paper, or outline, or even something scribbled on a napkin, referring to Cooper's original concept. Willis O'Brien made giant monster movies, and even had a Kong looking  missing link fighting fighting a dinosaur in 1916. My guess is all this gelled when Cooper saw the creation reel,  then the painting, maybe because of a misconception of the word huge, or giant, and Kong was born.  His explanation of filming on Komodo island and making the creatures appear gigantic also doesn't  make sense to me.  Cooper made natural dramas, OB made films of the fantastic, together they made the greatest fantasy movie ever, that part I am sure of.


Tim


Tim