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King Jacko and Co. 

Out of all the filmmakers in the world today, Peter Jackson and Co have to be the point of reference when it comes to gives fans want they want. All of you who have sat through all those fantastic special features on the Extended Edition DVDs (the Return of the King Extended Edition is out in December) of the Lord of the Rings films will know that they are arguably more exciting and interesting than the films themselves (okay that’s a lie but they beat every other set of special features on any other DVDs that I have seen). The enthusiasm for the collective process of making movies is so evident throughout that you feel like you’ve almost been there with the cast and crew and shared their experiences first hand.

And it’s pretty obvious that Jacko and Co consider their audiences, in particular those on the Internet, ever since that very first teaser of the Lord of the Rings trilogy made its way online on April 7th, 2000 with a then record-breaking 1.7 million downloads in just over 24 hours (which you can still download right here).

So it comes as no surprise that Jacko and his amazing production team are at it again, this time working closely in conjunction with a new website Kong is King (the team behind the fabulous TheOneRing.net) to keep us up-to-date on production of his new film King Kong. So far, the site has posted four video production diaries that give those interested a taste of the movie-making process and what we might expect come Christmas time next year. I’m guessing that site will be the definitive fan location for all things Kong over the next year and it again illustrates how great Jacko and Co are in terms of giving fans a better insight into the production process.

The initial thing I noticed when I downloaded the Day 01 video was that Jacko looked about 10kg lighter. He’s obviously lost a fair amount of weight but that’s not the only thing missing. He’s also shed his trademark big-ass round glasses and gone for the contacts (or possibly some laser eye surgery. I haven’t asked him yet ;) ). Either way the man looks ready and prepared for another lengthy production and seems totally comfortable with how things are progressing. And judging by the scale of blue screens and sets on the production so far, his team over at Weta Digital and Weta Workshop have a lot of work to do.

I guess why I keep singing praises for Jacko and Co is because they don’t come across as appearing above their audiences. They essentially embody what great filmmaking is all about (or perhaps what it should be like) \endash working effectively together to complete a common goal. Some do it for the money, others do it for the passion and thrill of filmmaking and I never get the feeling that anyone working on their productions do it simply for the almighty dollar.

So keep posting those production videos Jacko and keep up the good work Kong is King. We’ll be watching and waiting for the countless instalments to come!

Late Update: Hooverdust.com forums! (REMOVED)

If the comments section on Hooverdust.com aren’t enough to discuss all things pop-culture related, why not head over to the brand new Hooverdust forums section. Sign up (it’s free!), make yourself an avatar (those little 80 x 80 pixel pictures that represent you or your interests) and post away. I’ve already started a few discussions ready to be debated. So what are you waiting for? Click here to register! It only takes a couple of seconds!