SUBMITTED BY pimpjoe_esb

November 17, 2005 — Today Ubisoft and Universal Studios Consumer Products Group announced that Academy Award. nominee Naomi Watts and Jack Black will appear via likeness and provide voice talent for the videogame Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. Academy Award. winner Adrien Brody has also lent his voice talent to the game. All three stellar actors star in Universal Pictures' upcoming motion picture King Kong, directed by Academy Award. winner Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy). The videogame, rated "T" for Teen, will release worldwide on most major platforms in November, making it the biggest movie-licensed launch in videogame history.

"We want the movie and the videogame to be a shared experience, so having the voices and likenesses of the actors is very important," said triple Academy Award Winner. and King Kong director Peter Jackson. "Another great aspect of the collaboration is the absolute enthusiasm that the cast has shown for the game. Jack Black loves seeing himself running around the jungles of Skull Island and it's fun watching him actually play the game."

Michel Ancel, regarded as one of the most innovative minds in the videogame industry, together with his team at Ubisoft's Montpellier studio (France), is working with Peter Jackson and Wingnut Films to capture the King Kong movie dynamics through a unique videogame experience.

"The actors' full integration into the videogame with voice-over and likeness adds yet another layer of fidelity and highlights the close collaboration between Ubisoft's Montpellier studio and Peter Jackson's team," said Michel Ancel, creative director at Ubisoft. "It's been great working with each of these gifted actors from the King Kong motion picture and we appreciate their dedicated, exclusive performances for the videogame."

The voice sessions with the actors were supervised and directed by two-time Academy Award. Winner Philippa Boyens, co-writer of both the movie and the video game, to ensure the in-game dialogue reflects the tone and style of the film. In fact, other cast members also contributed either their likeness and/or voice talent including, Jamie Bell, Colin Hanks, Thomas Kretschmann, Evan Parke and Andy Serkis.

"I'm really excited my likeness will be used in the videogame. I've always wanted to be in a videogame, it's kind of a dream come true," said Jack Black, who plays the role of Carl Denham for the movie and the game. When asked about his approach to conducting the voice over session, Black shared, "While it's strictly my voice, I'm still acting and using all of my skills as an artist. I went full blast for this videogame."

Academy Award. winner Adrien Brody added, "It's an amazing thing to be immortalized in a video game! I hope the graphics are still cool by the time my grandkids can play."