Skull Island's Original Opening Took a Jab at Jackson's King Kong

CBR

By CBR Staff

Published Mar 20, 2017

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts reveals the hit film nearly included a cameo by a creature that resembled the monster from 2005's "King Kong."

In Legendary Pictures' hit "Kong: Skull Island," the iconic monster faced off against both soldiers and the predatory Skullcrawlers, but the film very nearly took on its big-screen predecessor.

Speaking with Empire magazine's podcast, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts revealed "Skull Island" originally was supposed to open with a snarky jab at Peter Jackson's 2005 film "King Kong":

“The alternate opening that I pitched to them, the studio said: ‘No. You’re crazy. You can’t do that!’ So it’s World War II. A full squad comes to this beach. They’re killing each other – and then suddenly, this giant monkey (that looks a lot like the monkey from the last ‘King Kong’ movie) comes out of the jungle. And they just kill it. It’s dead. And you’re sitting there going, ‘Wait, did they just kill King Kong? Did they kill the hero of this film?’ And then you’d hear a roar and see a much bigger creature – the real King Kong. That was the crazy version of me wanting to send a message that this isn’t like other King Kong movies that you’ve seen. The studio were like: ‘You can’t do that.’”

A follow-up to Legendary’s 2014 film “Godzilla,” “Kong: Skull Island” centers on a 1970s expedition to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean, where the team encounters the monstrous Skullcrawlers and the giant ape known as Kong. Legendary’s MonsterVerse is set to continue in 2019 with “Godzilla: King of the Monsters," which leads up to 2020's “Godzilla vs. Kong.”

In theaters now, “Kong: Skull Island” stars Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Terry Notary and John C. Reilly.

(via Empire)