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The Legend of King Kong

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The Giant Pacific Octopus	The Legend of King Kong	Lead	[-]
Oct 15 10 9:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't know if anyone is interested but this fellow posted the script for The Legend of King Kong here http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=25&topic_id=8685&mesg_id=8685&page= This was the first script for Universal's planned "remake" of King Kong back in 1976. I put remake in quotes because it was actually based on the King Kong story rather then being a remake of the original film (which Universal didn't have the rights to). Universal was racing Paramount and Dino De Laurentis to the big screen to see who's King Kong film would get made first. Universal would cut a deal with De Laurentiis and Paramount and scrap their Kong plans for at least 6 months. The project was revived in 1996 and offered to Peter Jackson. He was offered this script, but declined to use it opting to write a new script. When that project was scrapped and revived again in 2005, Jackson then wrote another new script that was ultimately filmed. Almost 30 years and three scripts later, Universal's King Kong movie saw the light of day. The Catch of the Day!
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bobzilla		#1	[-]
Oct 17 10 9:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks! Never knew one existed. Should make for an interesting read.
BijouBob8mm		#2	[-]
Oct 18 10 1:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I knew there was a script, but never thought we'd ever see it. (And that Loch Ness script listed on the site looks interesting, too.) Somewhere around here I've got a copy of that first Jackson KONG script, done prior to LORD OF THE RINGS. Thanks for that link!
wilbursbrain		#3	[-]
Oct 18 10 3:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Interesting read...gotta say that I really did enjoy it! Of all the remakes and suggested scripts, this one is by far the closest to the original. This version is straight and to the point, so much that I was easily able to visualize the characters from the original movie in this story. Not a lot of excessive filler. I don't know if it would have garnered the over-the-top hype that Dino's version did, but it still would have been a fun film to see.
M F Berry		#4	[-]
Oct 18 10 3:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	For free? Hey, what gives here? I paid SIX DOLLARS for a printed copy of the Bo Goldman script a few years ago!!!
The Giant Pacific Octopus		#5	[-]
Oct 18 10 8:58 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That was the final version of the script. I would love to read his first draft because there were some differences. Fer'instance In the final version the men simply walk by the remains of a dead Bactherium. But in the first draft they are attacked, battle and kill a Arsinoitherium. In the final draft Kong throws the men off of a log bridge into a pit where they die on impact. In the first draft they are attacked by a swarm of giant scorpions in the pit. In the final draft Kong fights a Pterosaur. In the first draft he fights a giant bird. In the first draft Kong fights a giant centipede (and I even saw some pre-production sketches of it). But in the final draft it became an Elasmosaurus. In the first draft Kong attacks a trolley after destroying the steam shovel. In the final draft the trolley attack was removed. My guess is these changes were done for budgetary reasons. The Catch of the Day! Last Edited By: The Giant Pacific Octopus Oct 19 10 12:21 AM. Edited 1 times.
shran		#6	[-]
Oct 19 10 5:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Here are a couple of pre-production drawings:
bobzilla		#7	[-]
Oct 19 10 1:12 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Neat drawings. Never saw those before.
The Giant Pacific Octopus		#8	[-]
Oct 19 10 1:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yeah that's the drawing of the giant centipede I was referring to in my earlier post. And that is the Triceratops that Kong fights (as opposed to the T-Rex). I wonder why Goldman replaced the centipede with the Elasmasaurus in the final draft? Maybe it was because it would have been too hard to animate the centipede with stop motion (all those legs and all). The Catch of the Day!
wilbursbrain		#9	[-]
Oct 19 10 1:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Was this planned to be a stop-motion project?
Jameson281		#10	[-]
Oct 19 10 2:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	wilbursbrain wrote: Was this planned to be a stop-motion project? Yes--Jim Danforth was to do the animation.
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M F Berry		#11	[-]
Oct 19 10 2:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Was this planned to be a stop-motion project? Yep, it sure was, brain! Notice the signature on those gorgeous drawings posted above: one (Jim) "Danforth." There's a great article by Jim, with lots of illustrations, about The Legend of King Kong in an old issue of SPFX magazine. I'll get my stash out when I get home later today and post the actual issue number, if nobody beats me to it! EDIT> Arrgh! Jameson beat me to the post by two minutes!!! Last Edited By: M F Berry Oct 19 10 2:44 PM. Edited 1 times.
The Giant Pacific Octopus		#12	[-]
Oct 19 10 2:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	^ Say MF. You mentioned that you had a copy of the script. Do you have the final version (that I posted the link to) or the earlier draft? In other words does your script have the Centipede fight/giant Scorpion pit etc? The Catch of the Day!
M F Berry		#13	[-]
Oct 19 10 2:47 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'll have to check, GPO. When I get home and dig out that SPFX mag I mentioned above, I'll grab the script too and take a look.
shran		#14	[-]
Oct 19 10 3:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I only remember reading that Kong was filling part of the pit with earth, but I do think that Kong fought a centipede later in the version I purchased. It's a few years since I read it though.
shran		#15	[-]
Oct 19 10 3:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	M F Berry wrote: I'll have to check, GPO. When I get home and dig out that SPFX mag I mentioned above, I'll grab the script too and take a look. I think it's issue #4.
M F Berry		#16	[-]
Oct 19 10 10:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Okay, I guess my memory ain't what it was. I got out my SPFX magazine that I mentioned above (you were right, Shran, it's #4!) and found out that my recollections of the Legend of King Kong article weren't quite perfect. First, the article -- titled "The King Kong You Never Saw" -- is not by Jim Danforth as I seemed to remember it being, but rather Doug Murray. (Danforth did pen a wonderful article on his career for a different issue of SPFX.) Second, it's not quite as long and in-depth as I remembered either, though it does have a lot of good info on the project. The two drawings shown earlier in this thread, of the ceratopsian and the centipedal monster, are reproduced, as are 20 storyboard sketches from the film. One interesting point mentioned in the article is that the ceratopsian in the drawing is actually not intended to represent a Triceratops or any actual species, but was rather a Danforth original that he called a "Triclonius." I love it! And, GPO, my comments on my copy of the Bo Goldman script are going to have to wait one more day ... this evening got too filled up for me to have time to thumb through it. So ... stay tuned!
marbpl2.ozclubforums		#17	[-]
Oct 20 10 10:45 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jameson281 wrote: wilbursbrain wrote: Was this planned to be a stop-motion project? Yes--Jim Danforth was to do the animation. At some point, Universal seemed to have abandoned the stop motion idea: http://www.fullyarticulated.com/KONGSTORY5.html
wilbursbrain		#18	[-]
Oct 20 10 2:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Reading this script has really piqued my interest in 'what could have been.' I just found this interesting article about the Paramount Vs. Universal battle that appeared in New York magazine back in February 1976. At this time, Dino was actually trying to sell the idea that the 40 foot robot would be air lifted to the top of the World Trade Center to film the climatic ending. Wow. Just....wow. It also makes me wonder - had Universal won the battle and made their movie, can you imagine how preposterous the Paramount script would seem had it surfaced years later? "So their version would have taken place in modern time? And a greedy oil company would have found him? No dinosaurs? They were actually considering to make this garbage? The 40 foot robot would have been cool though!" http://books.google.com/b...nepage&q&f=false
The Giant Pacific Octopus		#19	[-]
Oct 20 10 8:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	M F Berry wrote: as are 20 storyboard sketches from the film. Any good sketches of the other creatures as well as Kong himself? The Catch of the Day!
bobzilla		#20	[-]
Oct 20 10 9:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Dino pushed the robot Kong so much, I remember watching it in the theater and as Kong (Baker) came on screen I thought THAT was the robot. I said, bu that CAN'T be the robot. No robot moves that well. And, as much as I love Rick, I thought, "It's just a crummy guy in a suit! What a gyp!" Then, no dinoasurs. PHFFT! Unreal...
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