The Passion of the Kong
How to Turn a Classic into a Masterpiece
An Appreciation by Barry M. Lamont
Naomi Watts
Like Jack Black, Naomi Watts is the perfect choice to play her character. Ann Darrow is the emotional heart of the film - a role not required in 1933, when Fay Wray simply had to look good and scream. Ann's character arc is perhaps the most conventional in the film: she starts off hurt, afraid to reach out; then she does connect emotionally - with two different individuals in different ways, creating a platonic love triangle; she separates from both of them, for different reasons; and finally she reunites with them, losing one and ending up with the other. This is the basic plot of many films - Casablanca comes to mind - and the familiarity of this story balances its fantastic setting in King Kong and allows the emotional impact to come through.
There are many good-looking actresses, and many of them have given emotionally rich performances opposite other human actors; but what this film needed was someone who could create genuine feeling while playing opposite an actor concealed in a fantastic outfit, on a green-screen background. Naomi Watts is as beautiful as any classic star of the silver screen - absolutely luminous as Denham films her standing on the deck of the Venture at sunset - but instead of depending on her good looks to build a "glamor" career, Watts has frequently chosen challenging, offbeat films: David Lynch's surrealistic puzzle Mulholland Dr., Iñárritu's intense and non-linear 21 Grams, even the American remake (The Ring) of a Japanese horror film. An actress who was less comfortable with unconventional stories probably could not have given a performance of such emotional conviction. (And if you don't think there is a place for subtlety in a film like King Kong, watch that scene on the deck of the Venture again, and notice how her slightly unconvincing "movie acting" for Denham turns into genuine warmth when she sees Driscoll.)
One sly touch deserves mention. When Ann and Carl Denham are in a diner, and he is pitching his movie idea to her, she suddenly goes off into a reverie imagining how the story might go, leaving Denham somewhat bewildered. We in the audience immediately recognize that she is foreshadowing the plot of King Kong itself, although Watts and Black stay in character and never spoil the effect by winking at us. What we don't realize, unless we watch the film a second time, is that Ann is still foreshadowing the plot after she drops out of her reverie, and says, "See, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Denham. I make people laugh."
There are many good-looking actresses, and many of them have given emotionally rich performances opposite other human actors; but what this film needed was someone who could create genuine feeling while playing opposite an actor concealed in a fantastic outfit, on a green-screen background. Naomi Watts is as beautiful as any classic star of the silver screen - absolutely luminous as Denham films her standing on the deck of the Venture at sunset - but instead of depending on her good looks to build a "glamor" career, Watts has frequently chosen challenging, offbeat films: David Lynch's surrealistic puzzle Mulholland Dr., Iñárritu's intense and non-linear 21 Grams, even the American remake (The Ring) of a Japanese horror film. An actress who was less comfortable with unconventional stories probably could not have given a performance of such emotional conviction. (And if you don't think there is a place for subtlety in a film like King Kong, watch that scene on the deck of the Venture again, and notice how her slightly unconvincing "movie acting" for Denham turns into genuine warmth when she sees Driscoll.)
One sly touch deserves mention. When Ann and Carl Denham are in a diner, and he is pitching his movie idea to her, she suddenly goes off into a reverie imagining how the story might go, leaving Denham somewhat bewildered. We in the audience immediately recognize that she is foreshadowing the plot of King Kong itself, although Watts and Black stay in character and never spoil the effect by winking at us. What we don't realize, unless we watch the film a second time, is that Ann is still foreshadowing the plot after she drops out of her reverie, and says, "See, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Denham. I make people laugh."
