King Kong visits gorillas in the mist

British actor Andy Serkis is so determined to get it right playing King Kong that he visited Rwanda to observe endangered wild gorillas.

Serkis, now in Wellington for Peter Jackson's $200 million movie, will be the basis for the computer-generated giant gorilla, in the same way he was for Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films. He will also play Lumpy, cook on the ship Venture.

In preparing for the big role, Serkis said he originally planned only to observe gorillas at the London Zoo and San Diego Zoo.

"It was important for me to do the job as thoroughly as I could. I really wanted to observe the difference between gorillas in captivity and gorillas in their natural environment, and I was so glad I did."

Tourists are allowed to watch the gorillas for only one hour, but Serkis was allowed to accompany primatologists for three days as they observed a group of 23.

"They were doing a survey on silver-backed gorillas, so I was very fortunate to be there at that time.

"I did nothing but eat, sleep and talk gorillas for the time that I was there."

- NZPA