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1933’s original King Kong movie was Leonardo DiCaprioHis initial experience with blockbuster entertainment. At the age of four, the future Oscar-winning actor was reportedly “crying uncontrollably” as the giant ape was taken from his home Skull Island to cause chaos in the streets of New York City. This is where one of cinema’s most unforgettable scenes occurred: Kong standing at the top of the Empire State Building, captured in stunning black and white.
DiCaprio, whose latest role was portraying the revolutionary Bob Ferguson inPaul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, entertained the National Board of Review Awards audience yesterday (January 13) with this recollection while honoring the enchantment of the art form. He had just received the Best Actor award for 2025.
As I continued to watch, a change occurred within me. It was an escape from my neighborhood. A place where something greater than my own life felt achievable. At some point, each of us found ourselves in a movie theater, the lights dimmed, and something on that screen reshaped how we viewed the world and ourselves. As I grew older, I came to realize that cinema is our most powerful art form. It captures what it means to be human.
King Kong Remains Strong and Popular
Over 90 years since the great ape made his permanent mark on pop culture — and 35 years after the Library of Congress recognized the film as “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” and added it to the National Film Registry — theKing Kong The franchise is thriving. Peter Jackson ofThe Lord of the RingsFame remade Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s legendary adventure for a new audience in 2005, featuring Jack Black and Naomi Watts, and this year,Kong continues forward through the Apple TV showMonarch: Legacy of Monsters. This MonsterVerse version of the character will also return to theaters next year, as well.Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.
A recurring criticism that has persisted throughout the MonsterVerse is the franchise’s emphasis on large-scale urban destruction battles between Godzilla and his fur-covered rival. Fortunately for enthusiasts,Supernova actor Delroy Lindo told Oakland news station KTVU that the next big hitinvests significant effort into the development and significance of the different human characters. These include Dan Stevens as Trapper Beasley, a general portrayed byStranger ThingsMatthew Modine, Lindo’s supervisor at Monarch, and others portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever, Jack O’Connell, Sam Neill, and Alycia Jasmin Debnam-Carey.
I valued the fact that these producers are equally aware that the human aspect in these stories needs to be as powerful as possible. From that perspective, they collaborated with me to develop the character I was supposed to portray… we focused on expanding the character and making it as relatable as possible, because they wisely recognize that for these CGI-driven films to succeed, the human element must also be engaging for viewers.