For the true thespian, the admiration and esteem of the audience and one’s peers means far more than box office draw. There can be no higher honor, no greater accolade than being asked to fight giant, ass-stomping monsters. And so after Michael Keaton’s acclaim for Birdman has returned him to acting’s elite circles, he is now in talks to join the cast of Kong: Skull Island.
Should Keaton’s deal be finalized, he would join the already-cast J.K. Simmons, coming off a powerful performance in Whiplash, and Tom Hiddleston, recent recipient of raves for Only Lovers Left Alive. Together they will create an acting tour de force about an enormous ape who fights dinosaurs.
The presence of dinosaurs is implied by the 2010 federal law requiring every movie with a budget of over $75 million to be an origin story (thanks, Obama), and mandating that every 18 months, Hollywood re-explain how either Bruce Wayne’s parents or Peter Parker’s uncle were murdered. Skull Island will find intrepid explorers braving the “treacherous, primordial island” home to big apes, dinosaurs, and who knows what else.
King Kong’s origin once again established, we can anxiously await future installments like Kong: The Desolation Of Kong, which covers his boat trip back to the mainland; Kong: Empire State Of Mind Part 1, in which he climbs the Empire State Building; Kong: Empire State Of Mind Part 2, in which he falls from the Empire State Building; and Kong: Origins, in which intrepid explorers brave a treacherous, primordial island and discover a giant ape, whose parents were murdered by a nameless criminal.