At Comic-Con, Legendary confused attendees quite a bit by unexpectedly unveiling Skull Island at the end of its Hall H panel, which also included Guillermo del Toro speaking about his upcoming film Crimson Peak. Due to the short nature of the tease and its proximity to del Toro speaking on stage about his Gothic horror project, many assumed that Legendary was telling us del Toro would direct the King Kong origin story.
That doesn’t appear to have actually been the case, seeing as Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) has reportedly been offered the movie, but we’re not the only ones who think del Toro would be a terrific choice. Peter Jackson, the director of 2005’s King Kong, recently gave his two cents on Skull Island, voicing enthusiasm for a del Toro-directed version:
“I don’t know anything about it. I’m hearing it from you, for the first time. I would look forward to it. If Guillermo did King Kong, that would be great. That would be fantastic. I’ll be there on the first day, and will help him with anything he needs. I’ve always wondered, if in my lifetime, whether we’re going to see The Lord of the Rings film remade, or The Hobbit remade. How long will it actually last or survive until someone remakes it? It will be interesting to see. But with Kong, we were the ones who remade it for the third time.”
Andy Serkis, who played King Kong and recently portrayed another emotive ape in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, also chimed in, though he seemed to be under the impression that del Toro was signed to helm Skull Island:
“I didn’t even realize there was another version being made. Guillermo is a great director, so I’m sure he’ll make an extraordinary film.”
It’s not hard to see why del Toro is being favorited to direct by so many individuals. He has a proven love of big monsters (just check out the wonderful things he did with the kaiju in Pacific Rim), his knack for gorgeous visuals would make for a splendid interpretation of Skull Island, and his relationship with Legendary is very solid.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem likely that del Toro will take the gig. He’s still working away on Crimson Peak and Pacific Rim 2, and other dream projects high on his to-do list include Hellboy 3 and At the Mountains of Madness (which Legendary’s Thomas Tull promised the studio would get serious about after Pacific Rim 2). Another massive undertaking might be too much for del Toro – plus, if he did want the gig, there’s no way in hell he’d be able to get Skull Island out by Legendary’s already-set date of November 4th, 2016.