Empire has revealed this fiery concept art from Kong: Skull Island! Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts tells the magazine the movie is set at the height of the Vietnam War, when napalm was the weapon of choice.
“The script I first read took place in 1917,” he said. “But when I started talking to the Legendary guys, I was thinking, ‘What weird King Kong movie would I want to see?’ So I pitched them the Vietnam War connection, literally thinking they were gonna laugh me out of the room. And to Legendary’s credit, they said, ‘Cool. Let’s figure it out.’ The aesthetics of that time mixed with King Kong makes for an incredible genre mash-up.”
A trip back to the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes, the new film will follow a team of explorers who venture deep inside the treacherous, primordial island to find the leader’s brother and a mythical serum, confronting extraordinary creatures along the way.
Tom Hiddleson will lead the group in the film, joined by Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Shea Whigham and Toby Kebbell.
Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong: Skull Island is scripted by John Gatins and Max Borenstein. Legendary’s John Jashni and Thomas Tull are producing alongside Mary Parent. Legendary has promised that the story will honor the foundations of existing King Kong lore, but will place Skull Island in an entirely new, distinct timeline.
Kong: Skull Island is set to open on March 10, 2017.
