Eli Cross tells Cameron the actual height of the stop-motion puppet from the original King Kong. He then asks Cameron throughout the film "How tall was King Kong?".
What does that have to do with this movie? I completely don't understand why he'd bring it up at all. I do find it funny and very quotable all the same.
Eli's point about King Kong is that perception can be manipulated and many times perception is reality. Eli's next line after telling Cameron that King Kong the First was only 3'6" is "if God could do the tricks that we can do He'd be a happy man."
When Cameron questions how something can happen, Eli responds by asking "How tall was King Kong?" Eli is reminding Cameron that he manipulates reality and can do anything.
Makes perfect sense. Thanks. I was disappointed nobody said anything about the line on the DVD special features. At least not on edition I watched.
shareThe size of the 'Kong' puppet was a well-known, almost hackneyed, trivia subject of the time, always mentioned in documentaries about filmmaking and visual effects.
shareAs long as this particular trivia subject is being kicked around, I can't help adding something for the record.
I've no idea from where co-writers Rush and Marcus got the 3'6" number - possibly from thin air - and any question of its accuracy changes nothing about the point of the lines involving it. But I've seen the original Kong* up close (one of them, anyway; there were multiple ones created for the film), as part of an exhibit about 30 years ago of famous film props. I didn't bring a tape measure, but I'd have estimated his height at about 18 inches. Some reports mention that number; another at the time of its sale at an auction 5 years ago said 22 inches.
Admittedly, of little import. As I said, just for the record: he was nowhere near 3'6".
*All that was left at the time was the metal armature, with the odd bit of rubber and fur clinging to it here or there.
Poe! You are...avenged!