'Willis O'Brien' never liked the giant head bust of Kong, which he thought had limited dramatic possibilities.
Merian C. Cooper was partially inspired by W. Douglas Burden, who brought the world's first captive Komodo dragons to the Bronx Zoo in 1926. Cooper was intrigued how the once mythic, massive predators quickly perished once caged and displayed for the public.
Merian C. Cooper's first vision for the film was of a giant ape on top of the world's tallest building fighting airplanes. He worked backward from there to develop the rest of the story.
Jean Harlow refused the lead part.
Fay Wray claimed that she personally insisted that her character be a blond, and personally chose her wig at the Max Factor shop in Los Angeles.
Edgar Wallace died in Hollywood in February 1932 while working on the story for this film.
According to Orville Goldner in 'The Making of King Kong', the film came in at thirteen reels. Cooper feigned horror at the the number thirteen, and insisted another scene be shot to bring the film to fourteen reels. The new scene was the elevated train sequence, one that Cooper had wanted all along.
According to the book "David O. Selznick's Hollywood" by Ron Haver, costume designer Walter Plunkett (later noteworthy for Gone with the Wind) worked uncredited on this film. Specifically, he designed the "Beauty and the Beast" costume that Ann Darrow wears while Carl Denham is filming her screen test.
Actual close up footage of The Empire State Building was added to the film upon reissue in 1952, for the scene where Kong grabs the first plane and tosses it off the side of the building. We see a pristine picture of the Empire State Building as it existed in the 50s with its' TV Antenna. In the original scenes the NYC landmark was part of "Hollywood Set", with aerial footage added.
After King Kong has been successfully gassed on the beach, and just before the break to New York, Denham yells that they've captured "Kong! The Eighth Wonder of the World!" He says "Kong" rather than "King Kong" because at that point in the script development, the picture's title was simply "Kong".
Art drawn for the press book associated for the original release of the film was contributed to by actor Keye Luke, who was a highly regarded illustrator before he became an actor and whose works have appeared in films themselves, such as The Shanghai Gesture.
As a child, Merian C. Cooper lived close to an elevated train which kept him awake at night when it clattered across the tracks. This was the inspiration for the scene where Kong destroys an elevated train.
Body count: 40.
Both Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack had been wrestlers, and they acted out the fighting moves for the battle between the T-Rex and Kong in the effects studio, before the animators shot the scene.
Close-ups of the pilots and gunners of the planes that attack Kong were shot in the studio with mock-up planes. The flight commander is director Merian C. Cooper and his observer is producer Ernest B. Schoedsack. They decided to play the parts after Cooper said that "we should kill the sonofabitch ourselves".
Cooper had been a wrestler as a youth, and O'Brien had had several amateur boxing matches. This experience is evident in Kong's fight with the allosaur. Kong puts his left paw up to guard his face, as a boxer would do, as he hits the allosaur with a right cross. Kong also uses the well known wrestling moves trip-out and snap mare during the fight. Kong finally wins by climbing on the allosaur's shoulders and pulling its jaws apart. This move would later be popularized as the "Rocca Ride" by professional wrestler Antonino Rocca in the 1940's.
Cooper had originally planned for Kong to be exhibited in Yankee Stadium, but later decided on a mid-town theatre. Willis O'Brien drew a sketch of Kong breaking loose in the Stadium.
Executive Producer David O. Selznick left RKO midway through production of this film. But Selznick's last act of business at RKO - and probably his biggest contribution to the film - was to write a memo changing the name of the production from 'Kong' to King Kong.
Film debut (uncredited) of Bill Williams.
For the shots of the airplanes taking off from the strip, the pilots were paid US$10 each.