King Kong (2005 film)/Trivia


 * Fan Nickname: "Too Long" for the 2005 movie.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: In the 2005 remake, besides Jack Black and Naomi Watts, there's Adrien Brody (Jack Driscoll), Jamie Bell (Little Jimmy), and Kyle Chandler as Bruce Baxter.
 * Also, the 1976 rubber-suited King Kong, Rick Baker, is the pilot in the 2005 remake, and Howard Shore is the orchestra pit conductor.
 * Talking to Himself: Andy Serkis plays both King Kong and Lumpy (the ship's cook, barber, and surgeon) in the 2005 remake.
 * What Could Have Been:
 * The 2005 remake was originally scored by Howard Shore, but it was later removed from the film when Shore and Jackson agreed it didn't quite fit (hence James Newton Howard having to do a rescore at a very late stage - that's why three conductors and a small army of orchestrators are credited). Shore had already filmed his cameo as the orchestra conductor, however, and it remained in the movie.
 * Fay Wray was going to be the one to deliver the "It was beauty killed the beast" line at the end of the 2005 remake. She refused, at first, but then considered the possibility. However, after her meeting with Peter Jackson, she suddenly became ill and died a year before the remake was released. As a result, the line ultimately went to Jack Black's Carl Denham character as an homage to the original, while a brief mention of her (and Merian C. Cooper) was featured at the beginning as a Shout-Out.
 * There was a draft of the script that came out in 1996, described as a "tongue-in-cheek comedic film with elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark and other films". However, Jackson didn't like that draft a bit, and he was glad that Universal Films pulled the plug on that film version, as he was able to write something better.