Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has said that the political division of 1970s America holds a “black mirror” to the situation today.
Speaking at the film’s European premiere in London’s Leicester Square on Tuesday he said the world should take inspiration from the way people have survived with political unrest during war time.
Set in 1973 at the end of the Vietnam War, the film sees John Goodman’s character driving through US riots, casually stating that America will never witness conflicts on such a scale again.
The scene was shot in the lead-up to Donald Trump’s election as US president.
Jordan told the Press Association: “I loved shooting it in the 1970s because it’s a black mirror to a lot of issues happening right now in the world.
“Hopefully audiences can relate to that and look at how we got through being very divided before and how we will make it through now.
“Division is affecting everybody and we need to come together to figure out how we move forward.”
In a film charged with explosions, guns and mythical CGI beasts attacking each other, Brie Larson plays antiwar photographer Mason Weaver, who joins a mission to the mysterious Skull Island to track down the legendary giant ape King Kong.
Brie said: “She (Mason) is not afraid to fight for what she believes in, but she does it with vulnerability and compassion. She doesn’t hold a weapon in the whole film and yet she holds a lot of power through human connection, through heart, not through force.”
The 27-year-old star described Kong, filmed partly in the Hawaiian jungle and using stunning CGI effects, as the “most physical” job of her career so far, adding that being at a London film premiere was like “dreaming”.
Asked about whether Mason marked a transition in the role of female film characters, she said: “Women have always been extremely complicated, but now we are becoming more comfortable with seeing a woman who is multifaceted and that’s what makes my job so exciting.
“But we are also starting to learn that being a person isn’t binary, it doesn’t have to just be one specific way and so I look forward to doing more roles like that.”
Kong: Skull Island opens in UK cinemas on March 9.
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