The making of King Kong
September 27, 2006 – 11:38 pm | by Benjamin WattSo, I’ve just got back from being down in London for the last couple of days. Most of my trips to London have been because of some kind of CG-related attraction, and this one was no different.
On Monday evening I had the pleasure of attending a lecture at the Tate Modern by Joe Letteri, VFX Supervisor at Weta Digital in New Zealand. He’s been with Weta since they started work on ‘Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’, and his talk was about the making of the recent remake of ‘King Kong’. Supernatural Studios that organised this lecture and indeed, the other two lectures that form part of this series (there was one last Monday, and the last is next Monday – wish I could have attended them all) seem to have really hit upon something. The Tate Modern is a great venue for these lectures, and it seemed to really attract a good crowd of all ages and interests, not just the usual people who are either already in the CG industry, or trying to get into it (that’d be me then).
The talk certainly got the crowd excited, the way in which Weta recreated 1930s New York was impressive indeed, quite a mammoth task. When it came to King Kong himself though, there was a surprise guest who joined the lecture to give things from an actor’s point of view – Andy Serkis, none other than the actor behind Gollum from the Lord of the Rings, and King Kong. Andy’s a fascinating guy, he has a lot to say about the whole process, something that’s still relatively alien to a lot of actors, but which Andy is clearly excited about being involved with.
A great night, the last lecture next Monday is being given by staff at Glassworks and The Mill, wish I could make it!
