American Cinematographer - October 1986 - 65

in the business. After

rectors

at approximately 75 reels,
narrowed our choice down to
four directors who we felt would
do an outstanding job. Vilmos

looking
we

of them, and
experience in
lighting large stages on major fea¬
Zsigmond
we

was one

knew from his

and working with special ef¬
fects in films like The Deer Hunter
and Close Encounters that he
would be perfect for the job. His
tures

company,

Cinematic Directions

Inc.,

through with

came

a

favor¬

able bid and we awarded the con¬
tract to them five weeks ahead of
the shooting date."
It was a hectic five weeks,
as

Dwiggins later relates: "We
presented with a storyboard

were

that had

it, and

some

wonderful ideas

we were

shown

scale model of the

traction, but when

on

i/23rd
proposed at¬
a

we were

taken

Peter

Alexander, director

of shows and

special effects for
MCA, and the man responsible for
Universal Tour's "Conan," "ATeam" and "2010 Spacewalk" at¬
tractions, tells

me

that the idea of

doing

a King Kong spectacle had
been in the works for several

years.

The studio had hesitated be¬

one

view from the

bridge

the visitors won't

forget. Below: The

visit the stage

where it would all
take place, we realized that even
though we were only weeks away
from shooting, they were still put¬
ting a roof on the building. None
of the inside prop work was done;
Kong wasn't there; you couldn't
really tell where the road was
going to be laid out. We had to do
our planning on empty space."
This is to be a four-day
operation: Two days of prepara¬
tion followed by two days of
shooting. Carpenters are hammer¬
ing things together, painters are
painting, electricians are stringing
cable. Zsigmond, with his key
grip, Dickie Deats, is choosing the
most favorable spot to build a high
camera platform.
Looming near the
Brooklyn Bridge terminus is a
huge black blob. Presumably this
is King Kong, covered with tarps
to protect him from the chaos
going on around him. I'm told that
he and the helicopter crash are op¬
erational, but none of the other
permanent special effects are.
to

Above: Here's

star

attraction says

"cheese" for two
cameras

effects
the

they weren't sure that it was
possible to create a gorilla that
could move realistically enough.
cause

as
we

"We built a head of Kong
experiment," he says, "and
found that by duplicating in

an

foam and latex the exact muscle
of a real gorilla we could

structure

get a realistic effect. We then re¬
tained a famous movie production

designer, Henry Bumstead, to
create the total design for the at¬
traction
including the building
-

that would house it. That

was

like

-

undue wear. Also, the materials
had to be the best and most dura¬
ble. For example, Kong has air¬
craft roller bearings inside him and

top-of-the-line industrial air
valves. Even the smoke used in the

in which the film

type that was developed for plays
like "Cats." We adapted systems
from the live theater, from Las

was to

be shot.

engineering of the
to be much more

fog.

day, 365 days a year, for five to ten
years. All of the moving parts had
to be calculated out so that they
would operate that long without

show is of

"The

an

provides

intensive than if it were being built
for a film, because an attraction
like this has to run about every
three minutes that's 175 times a

preparing

to shoot a film while si¬
multaneously building the studio

while

man

a

non-toxic theatrical

Kong figure had

Vegas, from industry

October 1986

American

Cinematographer

or

from the
63
American Cinematographer - October 1986

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