Prior to Kong, Vogt-Roberts had been primarily known for the playful and eccentric The Kings of Summer. But when we sat down last month to chat with him, he was faintly wistful about saying goodbye to his first blockbuster. He describes the experience of making it—from pre-production all the way to the media tour of releasing it—as both the most exciting and anxious time of his life. It’s something that even before their work on the standalone Han Solo Star Wars movie that Lord and Miller could relate to. After all, they went from working in television and their first animated movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, to the 21 Jump Street Movies and then Star Wars. Lord and Miller were of course infamously fired from the Han Solo movie midway through production by Lucasfilm after an apparently striking difference of vision for the material between the duo and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. The pair has since been replaced by Ron Howard. I remember talking to Phil and Chris, and granted what’s going on with them is a totally different story, but I called them early on and I’m like, ‘I’m freaking out. I feel like I’m fucking up this movie.’ And they just said to me, ‘Dude, if you don’t feel that way, then you are fucking up this movie. You should everyday feel like you’re fucking up, because that means you care.’ I promise you Phil and Chris cared every fucking day that they were on Han Solo.” As for Vogt-Roberts, he acknowledges this ambitious spirit he shares with Lord and Miller is what contributed to him making a movie that he can hold his head up high about. Kong: Skull Island is on Blu-ray now. Read and download the full Den of Geek Special Edition magazine here!
