Line #18 Trivia/KingKong1976


1	* AdoredByTheNetwork: This was one of many films Creator/{{AMC}} aired endlessly from 2005 to 2009, in contrast to the original being popularly aired by Creator/{{TCM}}.
2	* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/JeffBridges signed because he was a huge fan of the original movie, at times skipping school to watch it on TV.
3	* BreakingNewsInterruption: A happier example than most, but part of the 1978 television debut on Creator/{{NBC}} - spread over two nights in September 1978 - was interrupted by an NBC News special report announcing the completion of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHs2aThb1zg Camp David Accords]]; setting the stage for the following March's peace treaty between UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} and UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}.
4	* BudgetBustingElement: Nearly $2 million of the film's $24 million budget (ballooned from an initial $16 million) was spent on a full-body, forty-foot tall King Kong animatronic. It was intended to be used for the majority of the movie, but it proved inoperable (even breaking down once during filming) and looked unconvincing, so it only appears for about ten seconds total in the final film, while most of the rest was Creator/RickBaker in an ape suit.
5	* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/CharlesGrodin knew he would be in the film, but wasn't sure which role was his.
6	* CreatorBacklash: Creator/RickBaker has nothing good to say about working on this film. When he made a gorilla suit for the newscast scene in ''Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie'', he nicknamed it "Dino" as a swipe at De Laurentiis.
7	* DarkhorseCasting: Creator/JessicaLange was a model with no previous acting experience, sans mime work, when she was cast to play Dwan. She would later recount that accepting this role nearly derailed her acting career.
8	* FocusGroupEnding: Creator/CharlesGrodin said in at least one interview that originally his character [[KarmaHoudini survived]], but following negative test-audience viewings, the producers went back and added in the scene of him getting stepped on. The extended cut that aired on TV in the '80s implied that the Grodin character survives, as it turned out that Kong only squashed his hat.
9	* FollowTheLeader: As with ''Film/OrcaTheKillerWhale'', Dino De Laurentiis was determined to out-do ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', boasting that nobody cried when the shark died, but they will when the monkey dies.
10	* TechnologyMarchesOn: The biplanes are replaced by specialized attack helicopters with [[MoreDakka gatling guns]].
11	* TroubledProduction: Detailed [[https://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/king-kong/250594/the-struggles-of-king-kong-76 here]].
12	* UncreditedRole:
13	** Kong's vocal sounds were recorded by an uncredited Creator/PeterCullen, straining his throat so badly that he coughed up blood in the recording studio.
14	** Creator/RickBaker didn't get a proper credit for his onscreen performance as Kong for most of the film because the producers were trying to push [[StarringSpecialEffects the high-tech animatronic as the film's "star"]]. He's only mentioned as having made "special contributions" to the work of Creator/CarloRambaldi and Glen Robinson.
15	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
16	** Potential directors included Creator/SamPeckinpah, Creator/RomanPolanski, Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/MichaelWinner.
17	** Dino De Laurentiis asked Creator/RayHarryhausen to animate Kong in stop motion for the film, but he declined since he would only be given a 12 month window to work, which was far too short for the complicated animation needed for stop motion.
18	** Originally, Skull Island was going to have more fauna than Kong and the lone scene with the giant python. Jim Danforth was approached to create a stop-motion dinosaur to menace the sailors, but this was cut early on. In a potential adaptation of the infamous lost "Spider-Pit" sequence from the original movie, a sequence involving the sailors being menaced by the same species of python which later battles Kong was also in the script. ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' covered the film prior to its release and a section of this lost "Snake Pit" sequence survives in the article, but it evidently was never filmed.
19	** Kong's original design was a complete departure from being a giant ape as the director felt the audience couldn't sympathize with an animal, calling for the titular character to instead look more like a giant, hairy human. Gradually he was talked out of it, but one can still see the effect in that this movie's King Kong is entirely a biped. Early concept art and stills of the robotic Kong show the earlier iterations' look.
20	** In the original story outline, Petrox would discover Kong's island from a map hidden in the secret archives at the Vatican Library. [=De Laurentiis=] disliked this subplot, so it was replaced with Petrox discovering the island through obtained classified photos taken by a United States spy satellite.
21	** The then-unknown Creator/MerylStreep auditioned for the role of Dwan, but producer Dino De Laurentiis turned her down because he thought she wasn't beautiful enough. Creator/BoDerek was also offered the role (and ultimately got a part in De Laurentiis' [[Film/OrcaTheKillerWhale next beast flick]]). Creator/KimBasinger, Music/{{Cher}}, Creator/BrittEkland, Creator/FarrahFawcett, Creator/MelanieGriffith, Creator/SylviaKristel, Creator/BetteMidler, Creator/ValeriePerrine and Music/BarbraStreisand were also considered.
22	** Creator/FayWray was offered a RemakeCameo role, but turned it down, because she didn't like the script.
23	** Universal was preparing a ''Kong'' remake at the same time that De Laurentiis was preparing his, which led to a big lawsuit because both parties claimed to have obtained remake rights from RKO. A court case determined that the story lapsed into the public domain, but Universal ultimately negotiated with De Laurentiis and cancelled their planned remake. Universal's version was intended to be titled ''The Legend of King Kong'' and was going to be set in TheThirties like the original film. Later, it was determined that the story ''wasn't'' in the public domain, and the owner of the property sold the film rights to Universal, leading up to the studio producing Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/{{King Kong\|2005}}''.
24	** There were a number of sequels planned such as ''King Kong in Africa'', ''The Bionic Kong'' (to cash in on ''Series/TheBionicWoman''), ''King Kong vs. Orca'' (a cross over with Jaws knock-off ''Film/OrcaTheKillerWhale'') and ''King Kong in Moscow.'' The only sequel the film got was ''Film/KingKongLives.'' Oddly, every one of these ideas involved Kong being rebuilt as a cyborg. Yes, even the Orca crossover.

Context Trivia / KingKong1976