Im very proud of it.

Its been two-and-a-half years of my life, so watching people react to it now is incredible.

I was talking to one of your producers, Alex Garcia, yesterday.

He was saying that what sealed the deal with Legendary was your pitch.

Could you talk me through how you convinced them?

Well, they came to me and said, Hey, were making a newKing Kongmovie.

And I said, Okay, awesome.

And then my second response was, Why?

Why do we need to make a newKing Kongmovie?

So the cool thing about Alex and Legendary was, they said, Okay.

Go away for the weekend.

Think about what you want.

I honestly went away and I was, like, not thinking about it.

There is no version of this movie that I can make.

And so I was, like, Cool.

Id make the fuck out of that movie!

[Laughs] Like, Ive never seen a monster movie with Hendrix playing.

So if you dont want to make this movie, we can both go our separate ways.

Lets figure out how to do that.

And I was left with this moment of saying, Oh.

How am I going to figure this out?

So they were originally thinking of making a prequel toKing Kong.

And it was designed to be somewhat of a prequel to that film.

It was a cool script, but it just wasnt for me.

I really liked the pace of the opening third; it has a real urgency.

Its partly the style of shooting, partly the editing, partly the music.

It reminds me a bit ofPredator.

The sense that were rushing headlong into the unknown.

Well, I really appreciate brevity in films.

Its like, woah, what the hell!

I mean, look atFargo.

Do you know how longFargois?

So I appreciate that.

Why do you think that is, in your opinion?

Why are blockbusters getting so long?

How does a 10-year-old sit through a three-hourTransformersmovie?

I dont know either.

I think part of it is a lack of cinematic storytelling.

When was the last time you watchedSorcerer?

Not for a long time.

FriedkinsSorcererstarts with, like, these three independent little vignettes.

Youre just thrust into it.

I think people have forgotten the craft of learning to love characters along the way.Die Hardis a perfect example.

Really clean, perfect set-up where you have small character details that let you know who this guy is.

But theyre not spending an hour before things go crazy.

I dont know, I think people just feel the need to over-explain everything.

I think a lot of movies have become very TV-driven in their narratives.

Theyve forgotten how movies can work, and do work.

And I think people are following the traditional three-act structure, and how structure works.

That save the cat idea.

Now people are so obsessed with, like, How does this character change?

An inciting incident, and blah-de-blah-de-blah.

I just think thats all bullshit!

I was watching the film, and I hadnt read much about it beforehand.

But I saw certain things and I thought, This reminds me ofPrincess Mononoke.

Then afterwards I read something where you cited it as one of your influences.

Im glad you picked up on that.

Miyazaki was an enormous influence.

Thats what I was going to say, yeah.

You know what I mean?

I wanted them to have that mythical, beautiful, legend quality to them.

Those two triangles are the same as the two triangles that are on her blade inPrincess Mononoke.

I got the environmental angle, where the Americans are riding in roughshod and destroying this beautiful place.

Not having respect for the environment.

I thought it was interesting to have a blockbuster thats critical of the humans actions.

That was the goal.

Like, that imagery is too charged in my mind to just make something thats Fun!

[Laughs and gives your humble writer a high-five] My man!

Yeah, that creature was the funniest thing.

I was like, If Im putting a monster on screen, this has to be my movie monster.

In the log scene, when theyre hiding, this creature starts climbing up the side of a wall.

You never really see it, so you have no way of truly knowing what it does.

I liked the way that creature had an inelegance, as though it had somehow evolved poorly.

Because it was a mistake.

So we used the creature from the 1933 film as a jumping-off point, just for pure anatomy.

Then I want to have it feel like an evolved version of the creature in The Host.

And move with inelegance.

And were looking at this creature, and were like, What does this remind us of?

We realised that wed created this unintentional fusion of all of our nerdy childhood influences.

Because I love Cubone.

Cubone has the saddest story of him wearing his dead mothers skull on his face.

Oh god, yeah!

Thats so incredible to me.

So I loved that idea.

I actually think Josh Trank got unnecessarily tarred and feathered onFantastic Four,because hes a great director.

But, you know, people would be remiss to not understand how heavilyChroniclewas influenced byAkira.

The lead characters very Tetsuo, isnt he?

But look, I love that that influence is seeping in.

The wayKongmoves has way more to do with some videogame kinetics and anime kinetics than a traditional monster.

And its very influenced byEvangelion.

But we were really careful.

I think theres a big difference.

And I think that sucks.

Shadow Of The Colossus.Theres a hint of that in Skull Island.

Shadow Of The Colossuswas a huge influence on me on this movie.

Its such a beautiful thing to have a boss fight where you feel sad after youve killed the boss.

And the sense of scale.

Honestly,Shadow Of The Colossuswas one of the biggest influences on this film.

Just the vibe the creatures have.

I think and I hope that Kong has a similar vibe in the film.

Well, Ive got to go now.

I want to make all types of films.

I do want to go and make an experimental indie, and get that out of my system.

Just abscond off and half improvise a film.

To make it different.

Im a giant nerd, and I want my nerd friends to be proud of it, you know?

So yes, it was rewarding.

It was the hardest thing I ever did, by far, for sure.

Physically, mentally, emotionally.

I went through every possible emotion through the course of making this movie.

But Im so proud of it.

Im so proud of the crazy stuff.

So Ill never take one of these jobs as a job.

Because I dont think that people are being given new experiences at the theatre anymore.

Jordan Vogt-Roberts, thanks very much.

Kong: Skull Islandis out in UK cinemas on the 10th March.