Jack Black's King Kong Character Could Have Been Played By Two Very Different Actors

Jack Black is best known for his comedy roles in movies ranging from the family-friendly "Kung Fu Panda," to the outrageously adult "Tropic Thunder" and the all-time classic "School of Rock." However, in 2005, Black stepped out of his comfort zone to bring some gravitas to the blockbuster world of Peter Jackson's "King Kong." The CGI-heavy big budget reboot of the classic creature feature saw Black take on the role of Carl Denham, the filmmaker who took his cast and crew on a voyage to Skull Island in hopes of shooting a movie that would lift him out of his financial woes. It was Black's Denham who decided to capture Kong and put him on display in New York as "The Eighth Wonder of the World." Ultimately, his actions led to Kong's tragic death at the end of the movie.

The role of Carl Denham was a new direction for Jack Black, giving the traditionally comic actor a chance to show off his dramatic acting chops. While Denham was a more grounded role, at the heart of a much bigger movie, than most of Black's characters, the actor's bold personality still had a chance to shine through. Jackson's script envisioned Denham as a somewhat chaotic, desperate filmmaker, who eventually gets carried away by hopes of glory. While Black delivered a remarkable performance, Jackson almost made a very different casting choice, considering both George Clooney and Robert De Niro for the role.

A report in The Sunday Star-Times (via IGN) from 2003, when Jackson's "King Kong" was in development, claimed the director wanted "to lure George Clooney or Robert De Niro" to star in his remake of the 1933 classic. Both actors were in consideration for the role of Carl Denham, which ultimately went to Jack Black. Jackson had reportedly been considering Clooney and De Niro since he first started developing "King Kong" in the 1990s. It's possible Clooney was also originally in consideration for the role of Jack Driscoll, the movie's leading man, who was ultimately played by Adrien Brody.

It's not clear how close to landing the role of Denham either Clooney or De Niro came. Jackson later said he cast Black based on his performance in "High Fidelity," which demonstrated Black's potential as a comic relief, an aspect of Denham that might not have come as naturally to Clooney or De Niro. However, the role also let Black offer something more than comedy. Jackson's vision for "King Kong" cast Denham unambiguously as the villain of the piece, allowing Black to tap into a character with darker undertones than most roles he has played.

It's easy to see how a star like Clooney or De Niro would have fit into Jackson's "King Kong," which married the prestige of classic cinema with the spectacle of modern visual effects. Ultimately though, Black was definitely the right choice for Jackson's duplicitous Denham.