Adrien Brody was a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday (March 18th). He was there to promote his new film 'The Jacket' and sadly didn't mention King Kong. He did discuss his passion for auto-racing (as seen in Production Diary: Day 97). You can download the clip from the show in Windows Media File format. It is small and not the best video quality due to it it being 8 minutes long. MAC and other non PCers users can download DivX to watch it. [Brody on 'Ellen' 7.5 MB]

Bad weather in Auckland almost prevented Australian actress Naomi Watts from attending the Sydney premiere of her latest movie. Looking every bit the Hollywood star in a jade Zac Posen gown and fuchsia high heels, Watts walked the red carpet in Sydney for the Australian premiere of The Ring Two. But she almost didn't make it to Sydney after she became stranded at Wellington Airport for several hours because of fog. [More]

You can also check out images of Naomi at the premiere in Sydney. [More]

PD 113 focuses on the 2nd unit direction of Randy Cook, Randy and his team have been all over the Kong map filming everything from Vaudeville-esque scenes to shanty town slums and SKIIP ritual dancing (show us more SKIIPS!!!). His team is the one that board the real Venture and film on the open water, be sure to check out Andy Serkis getting nailed on what looks like an exercise machine from hell. There are some great stunt shots, green-screen action and more..plus who knew Jack Black could fly? Take a look! [QT6 240x132px 6Mb] [QT4 320x176px 12Mb] [QT6 480x264px 15Mb] [Bit Torrents!]

Email us your questions and PJ may answer them in a future Production Diary!

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theonionavclub.com recently spoke with George Feltenstein, the Senior Vice President in charge of Warner Home Video's classic catalog. In the interview he mentions the 1933 King Kong restoration: 'it took us literally until just a couple of months ago to get a proper element on King Kong, which is like one of the ultimate, perfect DVD releases. Everybody thinks we held off because Peter Jackson is remaking the movie, but that's just a coincidence. There was an element in Europe that we wanted to get our hands on, and it took a lot of negotiation with the archive that had it. We finally got it, and the restoration is under way. People always think there's some kind of conspiracy. [Laughs.]' Read the whole interview here. [More]

Adrien Brody is set to be a guest on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' today, he is most likely there to promote 'The Jacket' but he may talk King Kong! Be sure to check local listings for the airtime.

Naomi Watts' latest film 'The Ring Two' opens today in North America. This spooky thriller is a follow-up to 'The Ring'. [Showtimes USA] [Showtimes CAN]

It is time to come together and talk Kong! The chatroom has been a great success, however some people have been popping in at odd hours when there is no one to chat with. To that end I've devised a KONG Chat time, a set time and day of the week for all Kong chatters to meet and have fun! The weekly Kong Chat will be Thursday nights at 8:30PM Eastern Standard Time. World times are below, if you need more help click here. [Kong Java Chat Room] [irc chat settings: SERVER www.theonering.net ROOM: #kongisking.net]

8:30PM (Thursday) EST in New York, Montreal
5:30PM (Thursday) PST in Los Angeles, Seattle
1:30AM (Friday) in Greenwich
2:30AM (Friday) (Central European Time)
9:30AM (Friday) in Hong Kong
12:30PM (Friday) in Sydney
2:30PM (Friday) in Auckland, Wellington

Right before she left to begin an arduous, six-month shoot in New Zealand for Peter Jackson’s high-profile remake of King Kong, Naomi Watts bought her first house. Her friends thought she was crazy. Why make a monthly mortgage payment on a pricey Westside property when you’re going to be gone for half a year? “I just need somewhere to dream about,” Watts says. “I’m sick of not having a nest.” [More]

SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- Peter Jackson, the New Zealand director of the Hollywood movie trilogy "Lord of the Rings," will establish a film studio jointly with a South Korean film investment company, a local business group said Wednesday. Daesung Group said Jackson's Park Road Post will launch a joint venture firm in South Korea with the group's venture capital investment subsidiary Binext. [More] (Subscription Needed)

Adrien Brody is slated to be a guest on the 'Ellen DeGeneres Show' this Friday (March 18th). Lets hope he mentions King Kong!

More than 150 speakers drawn from the business, creative, retail, and funding ranks are slated to appear during the annual event in Los Angeles. Each year, the top luminaries of the game industry have been featured in the conference program at the E3 game expo in Los Angeles. In years past, attendees have seen Gabe Newell present Half-Life 2, Pete Parsons helm a Halo 2 presentation, and Ray Muzyka present Jade Empire. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Doom 3 have also made the scene. The 2005 program--slated to run May 17 to 19--will be no exception. Of special note is the Sneak Peeks session this year, which will give those present a ringside seat as Ubisoft creative director Michel Ancel presents King Kong, based on the forthcoming Peter Jackson film... [More]

Horror writer Matt Costello knows how to keep himself busy. In addition to writing the backstory for the DOOM III videogame (see item here), working on a new series of books—the first of which, IN DREAMS, will soon be published by Berkley—and adapting his 2004 novel MISSING MONDAY as a TV series for the USA Network, Costello has also been chosen to pen a book inspired by the upcoming remake of KING KONG directed by Peter Jackson. "There will be two books," Costello tells Fango, "a prequel and the novelization. My friend, the writer Christopher Golden, was contacted to do the novelization, and he and an editor recommended me for the prequel." [More]

Naomi Watts dreams of starring in a comedy with Sean Penn - to shatter the Oscar-winning actor's overly serious image. The Hollywood icons have co-starred in 21 Grams and The Assassination Of Richard Nixon - and the I (Heart) Huckabees beauty wants the public to witness Penn's infectious humour. [More]

Naomi Watts was sitting in a booth in a sound studio in Wellington, while outside a storm was giving the New Zealand capital's streets a solid dousing. About 10,800km away, in a similar studio in sunny Hollywood, Japanese director Hideo Nakata was listening intently. Watts and Nakata were connected by a digital phone line. It was, as they call it in Hollywood-speak, ADR time - automatic dialogue replacement. [More]

Day 110 showcases the recent 'Global Partner Summit' held in New Zealand to showcase King Kong for exhibitors, distributors and other bigwigs in the movie business. Peter and his team have been working hard to get ready for the summit. Those lucky folks got to see a full 18 minutes of the film! Only a precious few seconds are shown on this PD (c'mon PJ...show us more!!!!). Melissa Booth, Richard Taylor and others detail what the guests did and the general feel of the summit...lucky lucky people!! [QT6 240x132px 7Mb] [QT4 320x176px 13Mb] [QT6 480x264px 17Mb] [Bit Torrents!]

Email us your questions and PJ may answer them in a future Production Diary!

Like what you see? Discuss it in our Chat Room! [Click Here] Or the Message Boards? [Click Here]

Andreas writes: Naomi Watts talks very briefly about Kong whilst talking about The Ring 2 at the website Dark Horizons. [More]

Today is Jamie Bell's Birthday! Jamie was born on March 14th, 1986 in Billingham, England. That makes him 19 today! Happy Birthday Jamie!

Oscar winner Adrien Brody battles amnesia in The Jacket, fights a giant ape in King Kong, and takes down bacon-and-banana pancakes in New Zealand. This month, Adrien Brody stars in The Jacket, a George Clooney-produced drama about an amnesiac Gulf War veteran who returns home to Vermont. But when Brody phones me from a time zone 19 hours ahead of my own, he’s not calling from Vermont, but rather New Zealand, the faraway land the New York-born and Broadway-bred actor dreamed of as a child. He was there to film the December release King Kong, also starring Naomi Watts and Jack Black and directed by Lord of the Rings wizard and native New Zealander Peter Jackson. [More]

March 13, 2005 -- Naomi Watts couldn't get back to Hollywood this month to promote her new horror film, "The Ring Two," but she has a good excuse. For the past 113 days, she's been held captive on Skull Island by a giant monkey. We're talking about "King Kong," that $150 million gorilla of a blockbuster that "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson has been shooting in New Zealand since last fall. Jackson's remake of the 1933 classic won't hit theaters until Dec. 14, but it's already the most anticipated movie of the year for many film geeks, including Watts herself. [More]

Busy actress reflects on 'The Ring' sequel, 'King Kong' and her wish to be, well, funny. Right before she left to begin an arduous, six-month shoot in New Zealand for Peter Jackson's high-profile remake of "King Kong," Naomi Watts bought her first house. Her friends thought she was crazy. Why make a monthly mortgage payment on a pricey Westside property when you're going to be gone for half a year? "I just need somewhere to dream about," Watts says. "I'm sick of not having a nest." [More]