Movies - Carl Denham

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	Movies - Carl Denham

Carl Denham is a fictional film director in the films King Kong
and The Son of Kong
(both released in 1933), as well as in the 2005 remake of King Kong, and a 2004 illustrated-novel titled Kong: King of Skull Island. The role was played by Robert Armstrong in the 1933 films and by Jack Black in the 2005 remake. He can be seen as unscrupulous and morally bankrupt, willing to lie, cheat and steal to get his picture made. In the 2005 version, for example, he essentially steals his company's resources to move his filming location to the mysterious Skull Island. After making an inspirational eulogy to a colleague killed by Skull Island natives, Denham repeats the same eulogy for another colleague killed later on by a dinosaur; upon capturing Kong he boasts that he and his surviving crew will become wealthy.

He is comparable to Orson Welles in that he will not compromise on how he sees the end result; it is upon Welles that Black based his portrayal. Denham will face any odds to make his film, going as far as to travel to the undiscovered Skull Island just to film on location, and shows absurd bravery in getting to footage he needs in the face of extreme danger. As he explained in the 1933 version, he usually handles the camera himself because other cameramen could not film large animals as they were too frightened of being attacked. Similarly, in the 2005 version, he confidently films a herd of brontosaurs while his lead actor panicked.

A similar role, played by Charles Grodin, appears in the 1976 remake of King Kong, but there he is renamed Fred Wilson and turned into an oil tycoon.

Biography

As a film director, Denham had had some success, or as described in the 2005 version, near successes, but as he explained in the 1933 version, he had always been told his films would be even more profitable if he had a love interest present in the film. For that reason, he obsessively searched for an attractive actress to cast in his next documentary, eventually discovering Ann Darrow on the streets. She first believes Denham is searching for a prostitute (in both versions), but Denham convinces her the job will involve no "funny business."

Denham had obtained a map of Skull Island and opted to produce his next film there. In the 2005 version this meant abandoning plans to film on set, which had lost him his studio's favour and caused him to steal their resources to make it to the island. As he explained in the 1933 version, he had heard of the legend of the Kong god or spirit, and set out to make a film about it, believing the legend must have some basis in fact. In both versions, however, he is very secretive of the film's concept, keeping it from his crew until the ship is well on its way to Skull Island. In the 2005 version, he had informed his crew that they were actually heading to Singapore; he only admitted the truth to Jack Driscoll, who was working on the screenplay, and this was overheard by another crew member.

Upon reaching the island, Denham attempted to establish peaceful relations with the natives, learning the native word for "friend" in the 1933 version and attempting to give a native child a candy bar in the 2005 film. He was not particularly successful in this attempt in either film, and after the natives kidnapped Ann and delivered her to Kong, Denham accompanied Driscoll and other crew members in a rescue mission. In the 2005 version, Denham was the first of the crew, besides Ann, to see Kong. Later, while exploring the jungles, Denham and his team encountered various dinosaurs; Denham in the 1933 version was the first man to recognize the beasts for what they were. After surviving various attacks by various creatures, Denham decided to switch his plan from producing a film to capturing Kong and sailing him to New York City. Denham expected this to be a very profitable idea, although in the 1933 version one patron at the theatre was disappointed she would not see another one of Denham's documentaries.

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