More fun for monster fans

In Kong: Skull Island, which hits Chinese mainland theaters on Friday, the creature is the biggest it has been in the franchise's 84-year-long history. Xu Fan reports.

It took Tom Hiddleston nearly an hour to walk across a few meters of red carpet to get to a Beijing hall. Screaming fans scrambled for autographs and photos, and became more excited after hearing the star greet them in Mandarin.

Hiddleston, who has a huge fan base in China thanks to his role as Loki, a villain from Marvel's Thor franchise, recently returned to China to promote his latest movie.

This Friday, Kong: Skull Island will hit Chinese mainland theaters, two weeks after its US release on March 10.

Kong: Skull Island, starring Tom Hiddleston and Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson, will hit Chinese mainland theaters on Friday. Photos Provided to China Daily

In the film, the British actor plays a former British Special Air Service tracker who escorts a team to an island with giant prehistoric animals.

Hiddleston was in town with Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson, Samuel Jackson and Chinese mainland actress Jing Tian to promote the upcoming fantasy adventure directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, on March 16 and 17.

In the latest movie - unlike previous King Kong films, which would bring the iconic beast from the wild to New York city - all the monsters and the conflicts are restricted to the uncharted Skull Island.

"Well, no Empire State Building (the iconic structure in the first 1933 movie King Kong directed by Merian Cooper). The Kong in this movie is about half the size of the building," says Hiddleston.

Kong, standing more than 30 meters tall in the new remake, is the biggest the monster has been in the franchise's 84-year-long history.

The timeline moves beyond Peter Jackson's King Kong, which managed a romantic yet tragic twist in the tale involving a blond beauty and Kong in the early 1930s.

The current remake is set in 1973, near the end of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.

"I think it's a period of huge social and political change. The world saw some revolutions, which made people suddenly begin to understand political power in a different way," says Hiddleston.

The difference between the Jackson film and the latest one is that while in the Jackson film the US helicopter squadron leader sees killing Kong as a must-do, Hiddleston - as the survival expert - realizes the significance of Kong's existence and teams up with Larson, who plays the war photographer, to protect it.

For Hiddleston, the forest adventure is an evergreen theme for the big screen.

"The story of an uncharted island and the mystery of the unknown is timeless. I think human beings are compelled to tell stories about who they become and the environments which they cannot control," the 36-year-old says.

Speaking about how reading helped him become a better actor, Hiddleston says that from the age of 10 he was bewitched by Shakespeare's classics.

To better prepare for his role, the Cambridge-educated actor read Michael Herr's Dispatches, a memoir of the US war journalist's time in the Vietnam War, and the survival story depicted in The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr, a renowned American animal tracker and outdoorsman.

He says The Tracker is one of his favorite books because it teaches you "how to live in harmony with nature".

The actor, who's also known for his in-depth art-house films, says: "For as long as we tell stories as a race, we need myths to explore our own humanity. I think the myth of Kong represents that relationship between man and nature.

"The achievements of humanity are remarkable. We have taken ourselves out of the food chain, and we have monopolized this planet in a way that no other species or animals have managed to do."

But he says the negative aspects of human activities, which disrupt the natural balance, are symbolized by Kong as a wild, destructive force.

Larson, who won an Oscar for best actress for Room in 2016, echoes the same point at the event. She says the movie renews the "man-vs-nature" theme in an entertaining, action-packed way.

The 27-year-old talks about acting while imagining the creatures who were not there.

Kong and the other monsters - such as the giant spider, several dinosaur-sized lizards and a huge octopus - were all computer-generated.

Hiddleston, however, did not seem so bothered.

"My acting teacher in London used to say 'acting is to be faithful to imaginary circumstances'. My job (on the set) is, when the camera turns over, you pretend you're face to face with the giant animals.

"So I tried to remember the times in my life when I saw majestic, powerful animals," he says, citing his encounters with wild tigers in India and sperm whales in the Pacific Ocean.

"Those experiences made me feel that I was in the presence of creatures whose intelligence I did fully understand."

Kong: Skull Island topped the US box office in its first weekend, beating the Wolverine finale Rogan.

The success of the film has encouraged Warner Bros and Legendary Entertainment to bring forward their plan to make a Godzilla movie to 2018 and to make another Kong-vs-Godzilla movie in 2020.

Dai Degang, an assistant professor of literature at the Beijing Film Academy, says the commercial success of monster movies depends not only on their scary scenes, but also on their examination of social and historical conflicts and humanity beyond the tales.

"Kong movies always provide a surprise and freshness when they portray the ugly, colossal beasts," Dai says.

"They also reflect social issues, which resonate with audiences."

Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn