Kong: Skull Island director, lead actors talk about myth and enduring appeal of the giant ape, and new direction film takes

King Kong is a creature who refuses to die. Literally. Ever since the giant ape was first unleashed in the iconic 1933 film, he’s popped up countless times in books, comics, theme park rides, cartoons, and three other big-screen remakes – the latest of which was Peter Jackson’s version in 2005.

But clearly, Kong isn’t done yet: he’s back on the scene in Kong: Skull Island, a big-budget production with marquee leads such as Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson, the lavishness of the piece countered by the sensibility of a director, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, best known for small, indie films.

That said, there is nothing “small” about this most recent iteration of Kong. The creature himself is a behemoth, big enough to swipe helicopters out of the sky, which he does frequently. But that’s not the least of it. Skull Island, his home (in this film as it was in the original 1933 version), also holds a number of other terrifying monsters. None of them take kindly to the appearance of a random group of humans trudging through their turf. Chaos, predictably, ensues.

Vogt-Roberts understands the ennui that inevitably accompanies news of yet another reboot of an existing franchise – and says his reaction was no different.

On a recent morning in Beverly Hills, he recalls that when he was approached to make this film, his first response was, “awesome, I love King Kong. And my second response was ‘why would we ever make this? Why do we need another Kong movie? What purpose does this movie have for me, and why is it fresh? So I was, ‘thanks, but no thanks.’”