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Jim Danforth and Kong '76

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killer meteor	Jim Danforth and Kong '76	Lead	[-]
Dec 5 06 12:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Can anyone fill me in on more details as to why Jim resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after they gave an Honorary Oscar for the effect in Dino's Kong?
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BijouBob8mm	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#1	[-]
Dec 5 06 12:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Danforth had several issues with the Academy, as I recall, and I think he got to the point where he said "Enough is enough." There was an interview with him some time back where he talked about this. (Maybe even dating back to the Seventies.) I believe he mentioned some of the Academy members watching a screening of GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, in which some of them talked about the monsters being mechanical and/or a man in a suit. Yet, as Danforth pointed out, these people are given information on the film and how the effects were done. I think it was a series of events along those lines, not just one incident, that led him to hang it up.
Count Gamula	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#2	[-]
Dec 5 06 2:06 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I heard that it was pretty well known in the industry that Dino more or less "bought" the Oscar for KONG. The producers tried to downplay Rick Baker in the suit and threw all the publicity behind the huge mechanical Kong built by Rambaldi. After the Academy interviewed various people about the effects on Kong it was tossed out of the running for a Best Special Effects Oscar. Later it was announced that the movie would receive an award for "special achievements" or something. That's when Danforth decided to return his nomination plaque for DR. LAO.
BijouBob8mm	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#3	[-]
Dec 5 06 2:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Didn't realize Danforth returned his DR. LAO plaque. Had to smile, as I watched the extras on the extended cut of PJ's KING KONG. We see Jackson with Rick Baker (Baker plays one of the fighter pilots in the new film) in some behind the scenes footage. Jackson said it was ironic that Baker would be killing Kong here, since he played him in '76. Baker looks at him with a grim smile and says, "I wanted to kill him back then, too." (Did he mean Kong, or Dino D?)
killer meteor	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#4	[-]
Dec 5 06 4:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I read somewhere that once it was revealed Kong was an actor, Dino tried to get a Best Actor Oscar for Baker, but was turned down because Baker wasn't credited as an actor. You gotta hand it to Dino; he may not be able to produce a decent film but he's full of laughs
Count Gamula	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#5	[-]
Dec 5 06 5:01 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I serious doubt that story. Dino wanted all the credit to go to his buddy Carlo and his robotic Kong which got 10 seconds of screen time. He never wanted Rick's contibutions publicized.
Dr Tongue	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#6	[-]
Dec 5 06 5:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	He didn't try to nominate Baker, he tried to nominate "Kong" for best actor. Amazingly, the cold-hearted academy denied this nomination.
BijouBob8mm	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#7	[-]
Dec 5 06 6:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* he tried to nominate "Kong" for best actor. Amazingly, the cold-hearted academy denied this nomination. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the REAL reason Jim Danforth resigned!
Dr Spyclops	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#8	[-]
Dec 8 06 4:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	For Danforth, the Academy's recognition of Kong '76's effects was a case of adding insult to injury. My understanding is that Jim had been in early discussions with DeLaurentiis about providing stop-motion work for Kong. Those plans fell through when Dino decided to use a man in a suit instead, ultimately choosing Rick Baker. After the film's release, it was that horrendous Carlo Rambaldi robot which got all of the misleading publicity.
BijouBob8mm	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#9	[-]
Dec 8 06 4:37 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Didn't know about Danforth ever being involved with Dino D's film, only that he was a contender over at Universal when they were simultaneously considering KONG. (I think their project was going to be called THE LEGEND OF KING KONG, would have had dinosaurs, kept the period setting, and been closer to the original film, overall.) Hammer had also talked about the possibility doing a remake of KONG that, if I recall correctly, was what prompted David Allen to do his stop-motion Kong atop the Empire State Building reel. (Which would eventually be used as part of the famous Volkswagon commercial.) Don't know if the British studio ever actually approached RKO regarding the rights, or if the idea was dropped before it became necessary to start dealing with the red tape. Out of curiosity, does anyone know what Danforth's reaction to Jackson's KONG was?
Rakshasa	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#10	[-]
Dec 8 06 11:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ya know, this thread is why we need a deluxe edition of the '76 Kong with extras and commentary.
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Dr Spyclops	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#11	[-]
Dec 9 06 12:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yeah, complete with Giada DeLaurentiis' recipe for banana bread.
BijouBob8mm	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#12	[-]
Dec 11 06 1:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	There were rumors of a 30th anniversary DVD and, supposedly, extras had been prepared for just such a release. Anyone else know about this?
MJ Simpson	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#13	[-]
Dec 11 06 2:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I shot an interview last year for a documentary on a Special Edition R2 DVD but there's been no sign of it. It would have included an interesting and quite candid 1976 interview with Rick Baker and possibly the extra scenes from the TV version that are available on the French DVD. http://www.MJSimpson.co.uk - cult movies and the people who make them
BijouBob8mm	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#14	[-]
Dec 11 06 3:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks for the info, MJ. I know the film takes some hard knocks (and, in some scenes, they were earned), but overall I think the film is fun, in a Toho sort of way.
Rakshasa	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#15	[-]
Dec 11 06 3:52 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MJ, I would love to see your interview AND that '76 Baker interview. Man, I hope that comes out soon. The '76 Kong is a BIG guilty pleasure. Guilty because being objective, I think 90% of it is just awful (yet I cannot look away!).
yendor1152	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#16	[-]
Jan 20 07 8:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	QUOTE: "That's when Danforth decided to return his nomination plaque for DR. LAO." So, I assume he kept the one for WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH? Rod
Domenick Fraumeni	Re: Jim Danforth and Kong '76	#17	[-]
Jan 26 07 10:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rambaldi's a really good artist, and his work on E.T.,ALIEN, and Argento and Bava films still holds up to this day, but KING KONG and it's sequel were not highlights of his career,imo. I remember De Laurentiis making a big fuss about Rambaldi's robot Kong, talking about it like it was going to revolutionize the film industry. Of course the fact that even NASA couldn't come up with a robot that could move like a gorilla, much less a working 40 foot tall version that could do all the things that Kong should do didn't seem to sink into the public's mind, just us youthful fanboys raised on Sci-Fi and knowing a thing or two about robotics that seemed to have escaped my slightly overenthusiastic paisans. And I still recall that great shot of Rambaldi's Kong lying slumped against a building in New York, a lightbulb showing in one eye during one of it's many "technical difficulties", while an article mentioned some small contributions by Exorcist makeup guy Rick Baker. A nice article on Kong 76 at KongIsKing
chris schillig		#18	[-]
Dec 13 07 10:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	One of my December viewing goals is to watch all the KONGs and compare them. Last night, I re-watched KONG 76. You know, I really like it up through the sacrifice scene at the wall. The characters are decent updatings from the original, the changes are sensible, and the dialogue lively but not campy. Even Kong's first on-screen appearance to pluck Dwan off the altar is OK. After that, though, things start to go horribly wrong. My biggest complaint is not that Kong was just a guy in an ape suit (except for those 10.5 seconds of screen time devoted to the mechanical Kong), but that he didn't move the way an animal that large should move. I don't know how to explain it any better than that: His movements were too quick and jumpy and I could never suspend my disbelief that he wasn't just a normal-sized guy in a monkey suit. Something with the way it was shot or the quality of the miniatures -- I dunno. It didn't work, though.
DonM435		#19	[-]
Dec 13 07 11:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Watching the '33 Kong as a kid, and coming to the slow realization that the "monster" was really the sympathetic character was one of those coming-of-age things. The 1976 Kong, still mired in a 1960s mindset, had to beat the victimization of Kong into your head relentlessly. This trivialization made me unwilling to forgive the spotty effects and lousy performances.
GhostofChaneysLiver		#20	[-]
Dec 14 07 8:02 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	For Danforth, the Academy's recognition of Kong '76's effects was a case of adding insult to injury. My understanding is that Jim had been in early discussions with DeLaurentiis about providing stop-motion work for Kong. If I remember correctly, Danforth was approached by DeLaurentiis to provided some Kong VS dinos stop-motion work. It was probably decide early on the it would never match the man-in-suit footage. Those plans fell through when Dino decided to use a man in a suit instead, ultimately choosing Rick Baker. After the film's release, it was that horrendous Carlo Rambaldi robot which got all of the misleading publicity Didn't Dino take some heat for the casting call he put out for actors to wear the Kong suit? Apparently he only felt "big black men" need apply because, well, they look like gorilla gorillas anyway. Yikes! I would love to see your interview AND that '76 Baker interview. Me too! I remember reading a fascinating in-depth interview with Baker in a magazine called Close-Up back in the late 70s. The horror stories he told on how he was treated during the production of Kong made me wonder why he didn't quit the business. There were rumors of a 30th anniversary DVD and, supposedly, extras had been prepared for just such a release. Anyone else know about this? I was more than a bit surprised Paramount didn't jump on Jackson/Kong bandwagon and release a deluxe Dino/Kong dvd. There never was a better time to do so. Someone really dropped the ball. Cromwell
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Jim Danforth and Kong '76

Jim Danforth and Kong '76