Weblogsky: Harryhausen on King Kong

Harryhausen on King Kong

When I was a mere tad, I went through a phase where I wanted to make films. At times I wanted to be a director, but at other times I wanted to do special effects, inspired by Ray Harryhausen, whose art was stop motion animation, which has pretty much been replaced by CGI. Harryhausen learned his art from Willis O'Brien, who had animated King Kong, Son of Kong, and Mighty Joe Young (Harryhausen assisted with the latter). King Kong was the one to beat... O'Brien had put himself into the animation; Kong seemed almost human. Harryhausen made at least one film based on an O'Brien concept, Valley of the Gwangi, but he never attempted a remake of Kong. Now Peter Jackson's created a faithful remake (unlike the 70s version, which was - yawn - okay), and the Guardian's running a piece about Kong that includes an interview with Harryhausen, now retired (and just beginning to get the recognition he deserves).

jon posted this at 11:39 PM
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