Tom Hiddleston Set to Star in King Kong “Prequel” Skull Island

At San Diego Comic-Con this year, Legendary announced plans to give King Kong’s place of origin its own movie. Now the Max Borenstein-penned project has some promising talent attached to it: Kings of Summer director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and Tom Hiddleston himself.

I’ll admit that I’m a little biased towards Vogt-Roberts since I’ve loved his previous films so much; Kings of Summer was one of my favorite coming-of-age movies in years. As a director, Vogt-Roberts has already demonstrated that he can help actors walk an incredibly rewarding line between drama and comedy, which should be useful considering the movie’s potentially goofy set up (I’m aware Skull Island is a staple of cinematic history, but it sounds like a rejected proposal for a Disney Parks ride).

My main concern is that, as was the case with Max Borenstein’s Godzilla, female characters in Vogt-Roberts’ work have historically just been compliant foils for the male protagonist’s journey. Pray to Gojira that the creative team doesn’t continue that trend with Skull Island—I do not want my feelings for Hiddles to be sullied by him playing the Aaron Taylor-Johnson character to another agency-less lady.

Coming Soon says that, unlike previous cinematic depictions of the Island, the new film will be set solely in its titular location and will showcase “a style and scope that parallels other Legendary productions.” (Sooo, Pacific Rim?) Skull Island will be distributed by Universal Pictures on November 4th, 2016.

Previously in Giant Monsters

• Inevitable Godzilla Sequel Confirmed, Will Feature Rodan, Mothra, and Ghidorah
• The Honest Trailer for Godzilla Might Be the Most Accurate One I’ve Ever Seen
• Jimmy Kimmel Convinced People Godzilla Is Based on a Real Giant Lizard Attack

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