The Making Of King Kong by Jenny Wake (book review).

A couple of years back, I picked up a couple of books about the ‘King Kong’ film. At least I thought they were for only one film. I was partially right; one was for the original 1933 release, and then there was this one by Jenny Wake, ‘The Making Of King Kong’, from 2005. Realising it was for one of the latter versions, I put it on one side and only just found it.

I haven’t seen all the remakes, and definitely not this one, the Peter Jackson one. I like making of movie books, so will this one persuade me to watch the film, if only to see the efforts made by the WETA crew in New Zealand? Jenny Wake wrote her book during the film’s production, giving her access to all the key players.

This film version of ‘King Kong’ was supposed to be made in 1996, but the market had crashed, and director Peter Jackson moved on to something else with rings. While on the last of the trilogy, they were planning with a lot of clout to bring their version of ‘King Kong’ to the screen. The film was once again produced in New Zealand, where WETA handled the special effects, and busy crews meticulously recreated the streets of New York to resemble those of 1933.

This was a combination of physical and digital effects. As I was reading this book, I could see the, presumably New Zealand, dollars rising as they aimed for perfection to please their director. Bearing in mind this is a 2005 film, they were also breaking new ground. Unlike the Rings Trilogy, this has to be a mix of the near fantasy of Skull Island and the reality of 1930s New York along with time spent on their ship.

For a book about ‘King Kong’, we don’t really see a full-length photo of him until page 210. A lot of it is following Andy Serkis in his motion-capture suit. Presumably, at the time this book was on the shelves, they wanted to ensure people saw the film. Wake doesn’t note the film length, but she doesn’t follow through to the editing stage. Looking at the film’s 3-hour-plus length, it does look a bit daunting but does explain why it doesn’t appear on TV very often.

Without acceptance of what we see on the screen, I suspect without this book I would take for granted a lot of what was shown on the screen. Whether the viewer at the cinema or at home would see or want to see every detail is irrelevant.

I have to confess I’m not entirely sure about remakes. They can be taking it in different directions, like the ‘Invasion Of The Body Snatchers’ films. With ‘King Kong’, even this one, it looks like they wanted to plot using modern effects and pacing. What this book shows is the amount of problem-solving throughout the film, which no doubt contributed to the work WETA has done in films afterwards. As such, this is an important part of their history.

GF Willmetts

March 2025

(pub: Pocket Books, 2005. 245 page illustrated large softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-4165-0518-1).