A lot of things probably changed between Kong: Skull Island's inception and its eventual production as part of Warner Bros.' Monsterverse that it shares with Godzilla. However, even after the retrofitting and rewriting that project must have undergone to make its way into that shared focus, there was a scene that director Jordan Vogt-Roberts had in mind right from the start. We know this, because Tom Hiddleston shared this fact, and you can see the storyboard to film comparison of that scene below.
Hiddleston shared this information via Twitter, and to know that out of any sequence in Kong: Skull Island, the sequence between Tom Hiddleston's Conrad and the Leafwings in a cloud of poison fog is something that really doesn't surprise us. Between the choreography of the sequence and even the level of detail that's transferred from the storyboard on top to the still frame on the bottom, the care that went into planning this moment loses nothing in its translation to the screen.
While it may sound like one scene surviving two and a half years of Kong: Skull Island's production may not sound like a big deal, it's worth mentioning the fact that the film was retooled after its acquisition by Warner Bros. With Legendary having to shift the project from its current studio partner, Universal, to their previous home, the path was paved for Godzilla to be brought into the cinematic universe equation. So not to seize on such an opportunity would have been foolish, and what was once thought to be the story of Carl Denham's son pursuing the beast that his father was obsessed with turned into the gateway to a future's worth of monster-mashing fun.
So with such a large detail/plot point being dumped in the overhauling of Jordan Vogt-Roberts' tenure on the making of Kong: Skull Island, anything could have been up for grabs. Yet despite all possible odds of that scene making it into the film, it was included in the final script and cut, and it was worth every penny. While we still wonder what didn't make it into the revised version of King Kong's latest journey, it's nice to know that the revisions were allowed to keep the film as fun and thrilling as it had always planned on being. In an industry where the slightest set of notes could derail a big ticket project, this is a triumph for the creative side of the aisle.
Kong: Skull Island is currently in theaters now, and it's highly recommended that you catch it in IMAX 3D before Beauty and The Beast takes over the format this Friday.
