Merian C. Cooper

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Lore & Background

Cooper's background as an explorer and documentary filmmaker gave him experience traveling the world and documenting adventures. Before King Kong, he and Ernest B. Schoedsack made Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925), a documentary about the Bakhtiari people in Iran, and Chang (1927). These films combined real footage with staged sequences. Cooper was also a member of the board of directors of Pan American Airways from 1926 to 1927, though his love of film took priority. He resigned from the board in 1935 following health complications. During his film career, he worked for companies such as Pioneer Pictures, RKO Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 1952 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

In Their Own Story

Cooper said that he thought of King Kong after he had a dream that a giant gorilla was terrorizing New York City. When he awoke, he recorded the idea and used it for the film. He was going to have a giant gorilla fight a Komodo dragon or other animal, but found that the technique of interlacing that he wanted to use would not provide realistic results. Cooper needed a production studio for the film, but recognized the great cost of the movie, especially during the Great Depression. He helped David Selznick get a job at RKO Pictures, which was struggling financially. Selznick became the vice president of RKO and asked Cooper to join him in September 1931, although he had only produced three films thus far in his career. Cooper began working as an executive assistant at age thirty-eight. He officially pitched the idea for King Kong in December 1931. Shortly after, he began to seek actors and build full-scale sets, although the screenplay was not yet complete. The screenplay was delivered to Cooper in January 1932. Schoedsack contributed to the film, focusing on shooting scenes for the boat sequences and in native villages, leaving Cooper to shoot the jungle scenes. In February 1933, the title for the film was registered for copyright. Throughout filming there were creative battles. Critics at RKO argued that the film should begin with Kong. Cooper believed that a film should begin with a 'slow dramatic buildup that would establish everything from characters to mood ...' so that the action of the film could 'naturally, relentlessly, roll on out of its own creative movement', and thus chose not to begin the film with a shot of Kong. The iconic scene in which Kong climbs to the top of the Empire State Building was almost cut by Cooper due to legal concerns over a similar sequence in The Lost World (1925). RKO's purchase of the rights to The Lost World neutr...

Reader's Guide

The creation of King Kong was a direct reflection of the cultural anxieties and technological optimism of the early 1930s. Merian C. Cooper drew heavily from his own experiences as a war pilot and explorer in Asia and Africa, channeling the era's fascination with 'lost worlds' and uncharted territories into the film's narrative. The Great Depression influenced the story's themes of exploitation and the clash between nature and industrialization. Kong represents raw, untamed power being captured by the machinery of civilization, a metaphor that resonated deeply with audiences struggling through economic hardship. Cooper pushed for the use of groundbreaking stop-motion technology to realize this vision, betting his reputation on the idea that audiences would accept an animated giant as real. Cooper's insistence on high production values and emotional storytelling set a new standard for monster movies. His work established the template for future generations of filmmakers, proving that special effects could serve a deeper narrative purpose rather than just providing spectacle.

Did You Know?

• Cooper thought of King Kong after a dream about a giant gorilla terrorizing New York City, and he recorded the idea when he awoke.
• He originally planned to have the giant gorilla fight a Komodo dragon, but the interlacing technique he wanted to use wouldn't produce realistic results.
• Cooper helped David Selznick get a job at RKO Pictures, and Selznick later asked Cooper to join him in September 1931.
• The iconic scene of Kong climbing the Empire State Building was almost cut by Cooper due to legal concerns over a similar sequence in The Lost World (1925).
• Cooper was a member of the board of directors of Pan American Airways from 1926 to 1927, resigning in 1935 due to health complications.