King Kong - 2005

Peter Jackson's King Kong is computer generated so this doesn't actually count as costuming.  However it's Andy Serkis who though motion capture who gives is the motions, the emotions, and even voices everyone's favorite the big ape.

'Kong would be expressing his emotions through the facial structure of a gorilla. So a straightforward motion capture of Serkis' face during the eventual mo-cap stage of filming would not produce realistic gorilla expressions by simple transference to the CGI Kong.

'This was an undertaking that perplexed the animators, but it was vital to Kong appearing lifelike. To resolve the situation, Weta craftsmen built Kong with the correct musculature and skeletal structure of a gorilla and developed software that would translate human expressions into corresponding (though not always similarly appearing) gorilla expressions. With this solution, the mo-cap markers on Serkis' face could communicate most emotions that Kong would feel. For example, when Jackson wanted the ape to express rage, Serkis' angry expressions would be transmitted and transferred into the gorilla facial expression that indicates rage. ...

== from official production notes for King Kong

'Weta Digital's senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri explains, "The motion capture we did with Kong was a new way of using technology. It's a combination of things that have been done in the past, but we've brought them together in a unique way. We have created a system that's based on emotional states. It depends on us figuring out all the muscles of the face and understanding the correspondence between a human facial system and a gorilla facial system. What that allows us to do is to look at how muscles work together to create believable expressions. We then extract this muscle-by-muscle technique into something that's much more emotional. The facial animation system for Kong is the next generation of the facial system we built for Gollum." ...

'Once principal photography began, Andy Serkis was called to be Kong for his fellow actors, providing on-set reference and functioning as an emotionally present participant in the scenes. During these instances, the actor performed in a custom-made Kong suit - fitted with musculature, arm extensions and a hood that extended the shoulders and created a no-neck look - that allowed Serkis to mimic the physicality of a gorilla, such as walking on all fours. To supply Kong's roaring, the sound department developed a "Kongalizer," a system that took Serkis' wordless vocal responses (picked up by a headset mic), ran them through a computer (which dropped the range and increased the size), and then broadcast them through a wall of speakers in real time. For key, intimate moments with Watts, the suited and Kongalized Serkis not only partnered in the scene, but also provided sight lines for the actress, often from the correct vantage point of 25 feet off the ground - accomplished by raising the actor in a cherry picker. 

'Peter Jackson elaborates, "Andy was able to be on-set every day, and he was able to stand in for Kong. He's obviously not 25 feet tall, but we were able to put him on ladders, up in cherry pickers, do whatever we needed to do to make him the right height. Most critically he was there for Naomi, who would be delivering this incredible performance as Ann relating to Kong…and she had Andy to look at and talk to. She had Andy's eyes to look into when she wanted to make these moments as real as possible. I think it would be virtually impossible for an actor to get that level of performance if they were just acting to a yellow tennis ball on a stick. It just would never happen that way. So it was critical to have somebody there."

'Serkis adds, "You know, these were absolutely significant moment-to-moment emotions that were traded between us. And so really, I could have been wearing anything. It was very much through the eyes, but once we locked into each other…that was it. You have to give as truthful a performance as in any other kind of film. I mean, Pete makes fantasy films, but he does it through a dramatic keyhole so that there is a sense of total reality." 

'Watts comments, "I had no idea what to expect. I had been told that a good two-thirds of the movie was opposite Kong, so how would that translate into the performance? I thought, 'Okay, I'm going to be looking at a mark on a stick and pretending there's a connection…ooh, this is going to be hard.' But with Andy doing it, I had a pair of eyes to look into, a soul to connect with - what a relief! And what a privilege. I could not have done anything without him. I don't know that there's another actor out there who could have done what he did with the amount of preparation and work he put into it. It was mind-blowing on a daily basis." 

== from official production notes for King Kong

'In addition to enacting Kong during principal photography, Serkis was called upon to re-create all of his scenes on a motion-capture stage, covered in sensors, during the lengthy post-production phase - in essence, filming his entire performance twice. Letteri summarizes, "Kong's facial animation has been created by keyframe animation from the Weta Digital animation team and by facial motion capture performed by Andy Serkis. Our animation team have studied gorilla behavior and Andy's gorilla performance and have blended the two to create the unique character of Kong." Serkis' valuable motion-capture reference helped to drive the character of Kong and ultimately resulted in the ferocious, physical and amazing creature that rules both the jungles of his home and the manmade ones in New York City (at least, for a time).'

== from official production notes for King Kong
 

More pictures on making King Kong

v ----- Advertisement -----v

^ -----Advertisement ----- ^

[Up] [Ann] [Jack] [Carl] [Sailors] [Film Crew] [New York] [Natives] [King Kong] [Publicity Bits]
[Kong Home] [News] [2005 Movie] [1976 Movie] [1933 Movie] [Making 'Em] [Resources] [Contact Us] [Search Us]

v ----- Advertisement -----v

^ -----Advertisement ----- ^