“I was 6 years old when I saw him”: for Morgan Freeman, this 1933 film is his favorite of all time

Morgan Freeman, 88, played everything during his long and prolific career. Shawshank prisoner in the Evadés, Nelson Mandela in Invictus, traveling companion of Clint Eastwood in Impitiable, Tenace cop in Seven or Miss Daisy driver, the actor has an extensive list of fabulous performance.

If he is an exceptional actor, Morgan Freeman is also an informed film buff. In 2011, Rotten Tomatoes asked him to list his 5 favorite films of all time and the artist kindly lent herself to the game.

We learn for example that he loves the train will whistle three times, Moulin Rouge, Josey Wales and Moby Dick. But there is a work that he particularly carries in his heart and that he places largely in mind.

Denis Guignebourg / Bestimage

Morgan Freeman's favorite film

This feature film is the King Kong of 1933, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper. “My favorite film is the first I saw in the cinema; I was 6 years old and it is the original King Kong. It's always, I think, the best King Kong”he said.

My favorite film is the first I saw in the cinema; I was 6 years old and it was the original King Kong. It's always, I think, the best King Kong.

A great classic of adventure cinema, this work is still as striking, 92 years after its release. It gave rise to several remakes, like that of 1976 with Jeff Bridges or the version of Peter Jackson in 2005.

The story presents a certain Ann Darrow, interpreted by Fay Wray. As a work without work, she is engaged by director Carl Denham to be the show of her next film. The venture, the ship commanded by Captain Englehorn and which includes the whole team, reaches Skull Island, a mysterious island where a legendary creature venerated by the natives and called King Kong would live.

During the trip, Ann fell in love with John Driscoll, the second of the boat. Once landed, the explorers are immediately spotted by the natives and backtrack. But the latter remove Ann, the “golden hair woman”, and attach it to offer it in sacrifice to King Kong.

As her companions arrive to deliver her, a gigantic monkey grabs the girl and disappears in the forest. Denham and his men then launched into the pursuit of King Kong.

Pioneer special effects

At the time, the visual effects of the work were unanimously praised. For the creature of the “King Kong”, the directors called on the specialist in special effects Willis O'Brien, whose work on the lost world in 1925 had caused a sensation.

Unlike some rumors, King Kong has never been embodied by a disguised actor; Each time, it is an animation of image models by image, a technique developed by Willis O'Brien himself, and later popularized by Ray Harryhausen.

The shooting, which lasted a year, took place at night on set 11 of the RKO studios, in Culver City (California), in parallel with that of the hunts of Count Zaroff which, for its part, took place during the day. Ernest B. Schoedsack and Fay Wray, respectively co-director and performer of the two films, were to run continuously.