Toby Kebbell reveals who will be playing King Kong in Kong: Skull Island

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Despite my love for the Eighth Wonder of the World, I wasn't overly excited when KONG: SKULL ISLAND was first announced; however, as the cast began to round out with some wonderful actors like Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman and others, I found my enthusiasm slowly but steadily growing. The upcoming reboot of the King Kong saga, which also serves as the second installment in Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. shared Godzilla/King Kong universe, will reintroduce audiences to Kong but it's never been made clear exactly who will be playing the big ape.

For a while it was speculated that Toby Kebbell would be playing Kong, after all, he did quite the marvelous job with Koba in DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, but the actor set the record straight while speaking with Entertainment Weekly. Kebbell revealed that Terry Notary will be playing King Kong is KONG: SKULL ISLAND, but that Kebbell will be collaborating with Notary on certain sequences

I gave some facial reference — certain subtleties, certain looks. Terry and I worked on stuff together and created what Kong needed. I was just there as backup for pieces that Terry really wanted to get details on. It’s a real honor to be asked by someone who’s a great performer, to come and help support their performance. It becomes a symbiotic thing, and it’s more like buddies asking each other to help. If we were mechanics and he was having a problem with his sprocket set, it’s more like he borrowed my sprocket set than me playing King Kong.

Even if you're not sure who Terry Notary is, you've almost certainly seen his work. Notary has worked as a stunt coordinator and movement coach on films like AVATAR, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and THE HOBBIT trilogy. He appears quite frequently in behind-the-scenes documentaries related to those films and his enthusiasm for his work is quite infectious. Toby Kebbell's main role in KONG: SKULL ISLAND will be Chapman, a major in the Air Force who shares most of his scenes with Samuel L. Jackson.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND is set to hit theaters on March 10, 2017.