With the Philippine release of King Kong planned for next week, I’ve been seeing a lot of trailers and promotional material on TV. I’m intrigued by the film, but it hasn’t hooked me like Kong director Peter Jackson’s three Lord of the Rings films.

I guess what I’m saying is that unlike PJ himself, whose imagination was captivated by the original Kong film, I have no prior exposure to this material other than parodies and short clips from documentaries on films. In my mind, the giant gorilla is a brutish beast perched on top of the Empire State Building while clutching a scantily-clad woman. Suffice it to say that though this incarnation of Kong supposedly brings out and emphasizes the human element within the beast, I’m not sure I want to spend 130 pesos on it at the box office. I think I’ll wait until it comes out on video.

Maybe I just don’t like gorillas. Ü Mighty Joe Young was not my cup of tea, either.

On a related note, the “making of King Kong” segment shown on Cinemax shows a remarkably slim PJ. People who had been keeping tabs on King Kong‘s production diary had observed the slimming down, but I hadn’t seen anything of Jackson since the Rings film documentaries and Oscar wins. He still has the same hair, though.

Jackson says he did it through a change in diet plus a grueling filming and post-production schedule. How’s that for being productive? You lose weight and finish a film. Ü

* Today’s entry is titled “Kang Kong” intentionally. I used to joke that King Kong’s mate is named Kang Kong and the title is a reflection of my irreverence for the film franchise. Ü