Peter Jackson’s monster gets a little help

Two of Hollywood's most successful directors have visited Wellington in a tongue-in-cheek effort to help "an exhausted" Peter Jackson complete King Kong.

Bryan Singer, best known for The Usual Suspects and X-Men, and Frank Darabont, who directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, feature in Jackson's latest video diary pretending to direct scenes in King Kong.

In an earlier video diary, Jackson fell asleep in a meeting because of the long hours he had spent on King Kong. Jackson pokes fun at the incident in the latest video by having the directors travel to Wellington to take over shooting if he falls asleep.

Early in the skit Jackson, with two days left to shoot King Kong, is shown nodding off. He says he is too exhausted to finish the film.

"The Beatles said it best, 'With a little help from your friends'," he quips.

He calls Singer, who is in Sydney directing Superman Returns with Kevin Spacey as arch-villain Lex Luthor and newcomer Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel.

"I'm running on fumes at the moment, so it would be kind of helpful to have another pair of eyes that I can trust looking over my shoulder," Jackson pleads.

At the same time on the Superman Returns website another video diary shows Singer's viewpoint on the exchange. He asks desperately: "Where's Wellington?"

Singer is then shown arriving at Jackson's new sound stage in Miramar.

"You don't actually have to direct anything unless I'm physically asleep, okay? You're here just in case," Jackson tells Singer, before nodding off.

Singer frantically tries to direct King Kong stars Naomi Watts and Andy Serkis - the model for the computer-generated giant ape - while Jackson sleeps.

The video cuts to the next day, with Jackson saying he will not use Singer again. Instead, he has brought in Darabont. Jackson falls asleep and Darabont - whose presence in Wellington is not explained - gets to direct and gleefully yell: "Cut!"

Darabont's latest project is an adaptation of the Ray Bradbury science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451.

- NZPA