Brie Larson had a pretty good Saturday at Comic-Con, I think it”s safe to say.
She's had to do a fair amount of juggling around this film so far. When she won her Oscar this spring, she had to fly in from where she was shooting Kong: Skull Island to do so, and Saturday, they had to pull her away from her press duties for Kong: Skull Island to take the stage in Hall H to announce that she is officially signed to play Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, in what will easily be one of the most eagerly awaited films Marvel has ever made.
But before we get all crazy about a movie that doesn”t even have an announced director yet, let”s look at the other film she came to San Diego to discuss today, because that is a seriously awesome trailer. Jordan Vogt-Roberts and screenwriters Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly, John Gatins, and Dan Gilroy all deserve credit for avoiding the problems inherent to simply remaking King Kong one more time. Instead, they”re using the general iconography and building a new film that kind of looks like Apocalypse Now starring a 100-foot gorilla instead of Marlon Brando. And if that doesn”t get you interested, then nothing will, I suppose.
First and foremost, Larry Fong”s photography is absolutely amazing here. Fong is not only one of the best of the big blockbuster cinematographers working these days, he”s also a really active Twitter user, one of the few DP”s to be so open and accessible to fans. He”s one of the stars of this trailer, and I love the way the trailer hints at what we”ll see in the actual film without revealing much of anything. Instead, they spend their time building tension and suspense and introducing what looks like a pretty great overall ensemble.
In addition to Larson, we”ve got Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Toby Kebbell, Jason Mitchell (Eazy-E in Straight Outta Compton), and the one and only Terry Notary as Kong himself. Notary, who I”ve spoken to for the site before, is a movement coach and an actor who has worked with Andy Serkis extensively, and I”m curious to see what he brings to Kong. I didn”t realize until now that Kong was being created using performance-capture, and I”m excited to see what other monsters there are on that island that they”re not showing us yet. Those giant boneyards certainly drop some tantalizing hints.
Overall, this is a knockout first look at something and combined with that great new one-sheet…
… I”m feeling like we may be in for something special.
Kong: Skull Island is in theater March 10, 2017.