The Creatures in KONG: SKULL ISLAND Were Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE
I've enjoyed the creature designs that we've seen so far in the trailers and promos for Kong: Skull Island, all of which you can catch up on here if you want. I have a feeling were going to see a lot more creatures when we actually go see the movie.
If you're a fan of the films of Hayao Miyazaki, you'll be happy to learn that the creatures we will see in Skull Island were inspired by his designs, specifically from Princess Mononoke. This bit of trivia was revealed during a recent interview from JoBlo with producer Alex Garcia, who said:
"The creatures are a big thing. Jurassic World obviously owns the dinosaur thing right now. If Kong is the God of this island, we wanted each of the creatures to feel like they're individual gods of their own domain. Miyazaki and Princess Mononoke was actually a big reference in the way that the spirit creatures sort of have their own domains and fit within that. A big thing was trying to design creatures that felt realistic and could exist in an ecosystem that feels sort of wild and out there, and then also design things that simultaneously felt beautiful and horrifying at the same time. Where if you look at this giant spider or water buffalo, you stare at, a part of you says, 'that's the most amazing thing I've ever seen' and 'oh my god, that's going to kill me right now, I need to run for my life!
I think it's awesome that the creative design team looked to Miyazaki for inspiration. I also love that they wanted to create different, unique creatures to fill this new world of Skull Island.
Kong: Skull Island is set to be released on March 10th.