'Devin Rose' wrote in with a cool scoop about the sets for Peter Jackson's King Kong in Los Angeles.

Just wanted to let you know that filming for King Kong has started on the Universal backlot, as of yesterday. While I was roaming around, I was able to see all the trailers for the cast. I wasn't aware that they had got back from New Zealand to film, so it may also be that they are filming some exteriors. New York st. has been decorated to look 1930's. The crew was tearing down a section of buildings to be replaced with 1930's New York looks. Mostly they were only replacing the top of the buildings. I got to see PJ's trailer, as it said "PJ" on the door. Other decorations included broken telephone poles, phone booths, exposed wires everywhere, and blocks of concrete.

Principal photography is scheduled to begin in New Zealand this August, so the production could be filming preliminary shots on the backlot.
 

The New Zealand Herald reports that a pre-World War II plane being built for Peter Jackson's King Kong adaptation will be housed at a new $3 million aviation museum in Blenheim when filming finishes next March.

A World War I aviation buff, Jackson said he would bring in his special effects team and art department to help design, "in their spare time", an authentic hangar, complete with oil-drenched dirt floors, aviation artefacts, mess room and wax-works dummies in period uniforms.

"It's not just a museum ... it's a living environment. You'll be able to open up the hangar doors and wheel the planes out and fly them," he said. "I've been collecting World War I memorabilia since I was 8. I can now get them out of the box they're stored in."

The replica 1930s Curtiss Helldiver being built for King Kong would be used as part of a static display at the museum. "We need to build it and use it in the movie first, but then it will have a home at Omaka," Jackson said.

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