Kong: Skull Island was almost set in a very different time period

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

The issue of Empire magazine hitting stands on December 29th will contain an 18 page preview of some of 2017's biggest releases, among them director Jordan Vogt-Robert's KONG: SKULL ISLAND.

Empire interviewed Vogt-Robert for the piece, and during their conversation the director revealed that the film's 1970s setting was his idea – the producers at Legendary Entertainment were originally aiming to tell a Kong story in an even earlier time period than the original 1933 film (and the 1933 setting of Peter Jackson's remake).

The script I first read took place in 1917. But when I started talking to the Legendary guys, I was thinking, 'What weird King Kong movie would I want to see?' So I pitched them the Vietnam War connection, literally thinking they were gonna laugh me out of the room. And to Legendary's credit, they said, 'Cool. Let's figure it out.' The aesthetics of that time mixed with King Kong makes for an incredible genre mash-up."

Backing Vogt-Robert on the decade change seems like a wise choice, as a 1970s setting is much more interesting to me than 1917 would have been. Of course, we have seen Kong rampage through the '70s before, in the 1976 version of KING KONG, but it sounds like this film will do more with the setting than the rather uninspired remake that was actually made in the '70s.

Keeping with the Vietnam theme, Vogt-Robert even describes the role played by Samuel L. Jackson as being a mixture of Moby Dick's Captain Ahab with Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, Robert Duvall's napalm-loving APOCALYPSE NOW character.

Empire promises there's much more on KONG: SKULL ISLAND in the upcoming issue, which also includes the concept art that can be seen below.

Jackson's co-stars in the film include Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Tian Jing, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Toby Kebbell, and Eugene Cordero. KONG: SKULL ISLAND is set for release on March 10, 2017.