King Kong (2005 film) Quotations

King Kong is a 2005 film and a remake of the 1933 classic of the same name. It concerns an amoral filmmaker and orphaned teen who, along with a beautiful vaudeville actress and the crew of a tramp steamer, seeks out a deserted, mythical island to shoot his next picture. The island proves to be far from a lush vacation in the tropics. Instead, Carl and his team are manhandled by savage natives, monstrous bugs and bats, dinosaurs, and a giant ape called Kong, who develops an attachment to the leading lady. This leads to tragedy when Kong is captured and brought to New York City, where he wreaks havoc in an effort to find her.

Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens.

Ann Darrow

That's all there is. There isn't any more.

Good things never last, Mr. Denham.

It's me he wants!

Carl Denham

I'm not gonna let 'em kill my film!

What are they going to do, sue me? They can get in line!

There's still some mystery left in this world, and we can all have a piece of it. For the price of an admission ticket.

[after escaping angry studio executives] Don't worry, Preston, I've had a lot of practice at this. I'm real good at crappin' the crappers.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Kong, THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD!

"And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty, and beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead."

Goddammit, Preston, all you had to do was look her in the eye and lie!

Sorry, fellas, you're gonna have to do better than that. Monsters belong in B movies.

Defeat is always momentary.

Just as you go down for the third and final time, as your head disappears beneath the waves, and your lungs fill with water, do you know what happens in those last precious seconds before you drown? Your whole life passes before your eyes...and if you've lived as a true American...you get to watch it all in color.

It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.

Jack Driscoll

Isn't it obvious?

Stop, please! Stop! We have to turn back! They've taken Ann!

[noticing the disturbing effigy of Kong on Carl's map] What is that?

That's the thing you come to learn about Carl. His unfailing ability to destroy the things he loves.

Actors. They travel the world, but all they ever see is a mirror.

Captain Englehorn

[Jack has to sleep in a cage where animals have been kept] So what are you, Mr. Driscoll? A lion... or a chimpanzee?

We're leaving, and I want you off my ship.

[after saving Carl and the others from the vicious Skull Islanders] Seen enough?

[to Carl, who he has just saved from a slimy demise in the insect pit] That's the thing about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet, they always crawl back up the bowl.

Jimmy

[to Hayes, after being told to run if they encounter any danger] I'm not a coward. I ain't gonna run.

[referring to Heart of Darkness] It's not an adventure story. Is it, Mr Hayes?

Adventures on a tramp steamer, just like us!

Lumpy

[at the killing ground, where the hundreds of Kong's victims have been left to rot] It's a bleedin' boneyard! They've been ripped limb from limb!

There's only one creature capable of leaving a footprint that size... the Abominable Snowman.

[Hayes does a headcount for how many sailors are injured] Injured? Four of us are DEAD!

Dialogue

Investor 1: [upon receiving word that Carl Denham has hired a ship to get to a location for his picture] What location, Carl?! You're supposed to be shooting on the back lot!

Carl Denham: Yes, I understand that. But fellas, we're not making that film anymore. Things have changed. The script has been rewritten. Life... intervened. I've come into possession of a map. The sole surviving record of an uncharted island-- thought to exist only in myth! Until now...

Investor 1: Whoa. Carl. Slow down.

Investor 3: Is he asking for more money?

Investor 2: He's asking us to fund a wild goose chase.

Carl Denham: I'm talking about a primitive world... never before seen by man. That's where I'll shoot my picture.

Investor 3: Will there be boobies?

Carl Denham: Boobies?

Investor 3: Jigglies. Jiblonkas. Bazooms. In my experience, people only go to these films to observe the undraped form of the native girls.

Carl Denham: What are you, an idiot? You think they asked DeMille if he would waste his time on nudie shots? NO! They respected the filmmaker! They showed some class! Not that you'd know what that means, you cheap lowlife! God...

Investor 1: Would you step out for a moment, Carl?

[Carl leaves the room and points to a glass of water] Gimme that!

Preston: You won't like it. It's non-alcoholic.

Carl Denham: [emptying the water into a plant pot] Preston, you have a lot to learn about the motion picture business. [he presses the glass against the door and listens intently]

Investor 1: Don't get me wrong. Carl Denham's made some interesting pictures. He's had a lot of... near success.

Investor 2: He's a preening self promoter. Washed up, no talent. The guy's got 'loser' written all over him.

Investor 1: Look, I know his project isn't working out as well as we planned, but--

Investor 2: This jumped up little turd's gonna bankrupt us!

Investor 1: The animal footage has value.

Investor 3: Sure. Universal are desperate for stock footage.

Investor 2: Then sell it! Scrap the picture!

Investor 1: (sighs) Get him back in.

Receptionist: Mr... Denham? [Carl and Preston have disappeared from the waiting room]

Carl Denham: Vaudeville, huh? I worked Vaudeville once. That is a tough audience. If you don't kill 'em fast, they kill you--

Ann Darrow: Mr. Denham. I want you to know that I'm not in the habit of accepting charity from strangers, or for that matter... taking things that don't belong to me.

Carl Denham: It was obviously a terrible misunderstanding.

Ann Darrow: It's just that I haven't been paid in a while--

Carl Denham: That's awful. Anyway, Ann. You wouldn't happen to be a size 4 by any chance? [Ann stands to leave] No, no. Oh God, no! You've got me all wrong. Ann, please! I'm not that type of person at all.

Ann Darrow: What type of person are you?

Carl Denham: I'm someone you can trust, Ann. I'm a movie producer. Believe me, I am on the level. No funny business. Please, sit down. Please, sit down. Please. [Ann reluctantly sits] I want you to imagine a handsome explorer bound for the Far East.

Ann Darrow: You're filming in the Far East?

Carl Denham: Singapore. On board ship he meets a mysterious girl. She's beautiful, she's fragile. Taunted. But she can't escape the feeling that forces beyond her control are compelling her down a road, from which she can not draw back. It's as if her whole life has been a prelude to this moment; this fateful meeting... that changes everything. And sure enough, against her better judgement...

Ann Darrow: She falls in love.

Carl Denham: Yes!

Ann Darrow: But she doesn't trust it. She's not even sure if she believes in love.

Carl Denham: Uh... really? Why is that?

Ann Darrow: Good things never last, Mr. Denham.

Carl Denham: So you're interested? Great. Now, I don't wanna rush you, but we are under some time pressure.

Ann Darrow: Well, I really--

Carl Denham: Ann, I'm telling you. You're perfect. Look at you, you're the saddest girl I've ever met. You're gonna make 'em weep, Ann. You're gonna break their hearts.

Ann Darrow: See, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Denham. I make people laugh, that's what I do. Good luck with your picture.

Carl: Wait! Ann, Miss Darrow, Please! I'm offering you money, adventure, fame, the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage! You wanna read a script? Jack Driscoll's turning in a draft as we speak.

Ann Darrow: Jack Driscoll?

Carl Denham: Sure, why? Wait... you know him?

Choy: This room very comfortable. Plenty dim light, fresh straw.

Jack Driscoll: What do you keep down here?

Choy: Lion, tiger, hippo, you name it.

Jack Driscoll: You sell 'em to zoos?

Choy: Zoo, circus. Skipper get big money for rare animal.

[Jack steps in a steaming pile of camel dung]

Choy: Careful! Camel have bad accident on floor. Stain unremovable.

Carl Denham: [while filming a herd of Brontosaurs] Walk forward, Bruce.

Bruce Baxter: What?!

Carl Denham: You're the star of this picture, now get into character and hit toward the animals!

Bruce Baxter: Are you sure about this, Denham? Don't we have a stand-in for this type of thing?

Carl Denham: I need you in the shot or people will say they're fake.

Bruce Baxter: Oh, nobody's gonna think these are fake!

Captain Engelhorn: You wanna trap the ape?

Carl Denham: Isn't that what you do? Live animal capture? I heard you were the best.

Carl Denham: [after Englehorn turns the ship away from Denham's course] One more week. That's all I'm asking. Please. I haven't got a film yet. I've risked everything I have on this trip.

Captain Engelhorn: No, Denham. You've risked everything I have.

Carl Denham: What do you want? Tell me what you want, I'll give you anything!

Captain Engelhorn: I want you off my ship.

Carl Denham: [contemplating his arrest] I'm finished.

Jack Driscoll: How did you think this would end, Carl?

[In the cabin, the ship's compass spins wildly and points in all directions]

Captain Englehorn: Chart our position. Use the stars.

Hayes: There are no stars, captain.

Jack Driscoll: [examining the map] What is that?

Carl Denham: What?

Jack Driscoll: That, right there.

Carl Denham: (sarcastically) I don't know. What is it, a coffee stain? (looks at the map and sees the disturbing effigy of Kong)

Hayes: [recognising Jimmy, he confiscates the gun] Jesus, Jimmy!

Jimmy: Hey, I need that!

Hayes: I'm not giving you a gun!

Jimmy: You were younger than me when they gave you one!

Hayes: I was in the army. I was trained. I had a drill sergeant!

Jimmy: I have a drill sergeant. He orders me around all the time.

Bruce Baxter: Heroes don't look like me, not in the real world. In the real world they got bad teeth, a bald spot and a beer gut. I'm just an actor with a gun, who's lost his motivation. Be seein' ya.

[the boat is leaving the dock, and Carl has forced Jack to accompany him because he hasn't finished the script]

Jack Driscoll: God damn it!

Carl Denham: I keep telling you, Jack. There's no money in theatre.

Carl Denham: I'll give you another thousand if you leave right now.

Captain Englehorn: You haven't given me the first thousand yet.

Carl Denham: I'll make it worth your while...

Captain Englehorn: There's nothing out there.

Carl Denham: Then you've nothing to lose.

Captain Englehorn: [after saving Carl, Jack, Jimmy and Preston from oversized insects] That's the thing about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet, they always crawl back up the bowl.

Carl Denham: Hey buddy, I'm out of the bowl. I'm drying off my wings and trekkin' across the lid!

Carl Denham: $2000 is the deal. Will you take a check?

Captain Englehorn: Do I have a choice?

Carl Denham: Bring the tripod and all of the film stock.

Herb: You wanna go to the six-inch lens?

Carl Denham: [he considers the size of Kong, who he has just seen for the first time] Wide-angle will do just fine.

Jimmy: Why does Marlow keep going up the river? Why doesn't he turn back?

Hayes: There's a part of him that wants to Jimmy. A part deep inside himself that sounds a warning. But there's another part that needs to know. To defeat the thing which makes him afraid. We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages of those ages that are gone leaving hardly a sign, and no memories. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there, there you could look at a thing monstrous and free.

Cast

Naomi Watts - Ann Darrow
Jack Black - Carl Denham
Adrian Brody - Jack Driscoll
Thomas Kretschmann - Captain Englehorn
Colin Hanks - Preston
Evan Parke - Hayes
Jamie Bell - Jimmy
Kyle Chandler - Bruce Baxter
Andy Serkis - Kong/Lumpy
Lobo Can - Choy
John Sumner - Herb the Cameraman
Craig Hall - Mike the Sound Recordist

Quoternity