Adrien Brody: Jack Driscoll

King Kong

Jack Driscoll

Preston: He was right. There is still some mystery left in this world, and we can all have a piece of it for the price of an admission ticket.
Jack Driscoll: That's the thing you come to learn about Carl, his undying ability to destroy the things he loves.

Ann Darrow: [Jack reminiscing] You're writing a comedy?
Jack Driscoll: I guess, I am. I'm writing it, for you.
Ann Darrow: Why would you do that?
Jack Driscoll: Why would I write a play for you?
[pause]
Jack Driscoll: Isn't it obvious?
[Play going on: "Cry Havoc!" by Jack Driscoll]
Theatre Actor: So he took me to this fancy french restaurant, and half way through the hors d'oeuvres, he clutches my hand...
Theatre Actor: ...and that's when he told you how he felt?
Theatre Actor: No. He never said it.
Theatre Actor: He never said it?
Theatre Actor: [Man disguised as a Woman] He probably thought he didn't need to say it!
Theatre Actor: Well then how does she know that it's real?
Theatre Actor: He said that it was not about the words.
Theatre Actor: Oh! Please! If you feel it, you say it! It's really very simple.
Theatre Actor: He said we'd talk about it later. Only, there was no later. It never happened.
Theatre Actor: [Lady 1 Stands, walks towards the audience] Lady 1: That's how it ended.
Theatre Actor: He just let you walk away? He didn't try to save it?
Theatre Actor: I honestly believed things might actually work out, which was really very...
Jack Driscoll: [along with Lady 1] foolish.
Theatre Actor: Men! Oh, they'll give you the world! But they let the one thing that truly matters slip through their fingers, typical!...

Jack Driscoll: I always knew you were nothing like the tough guy you play on the screen. I just never figured you for a coward.
Bruce Baxter: Hey, pal. Hey, wake up. Heroes don't look like me - not in the real world. In th real world they got bad teeth, a bald spot, and a beer gut. I'm just an actor with a gun who's lost his motivation. Be seeing you.

Bruce Baxter: What do you think, Driscoll? Dialogue's got some flow now, huh?
Jack Driscoll: [sarcastically] That was pure effluence.
Bruce Baxter: I beefed up the banter.
Jack Driscoll: Try to resist that impulse.
Bruce Baxter: It's just a bit of humor, bud. What are you a Bolshevik or something?
Jack Driscoll: Actors. They travel the world, all they ever see is a mirror.

Carl Denham: Oh! Ann, this is... uh... Ann?
Ann Darrow: That's all right Mr. Denham. I know who this is. Thrilled to meet you. It's an honor to be a part of this.
[shakes hands with Mike]
Mike: [confused] Gee, thanks.
Ann Darrow: Actually, I'm quite familiar with your work.
Mike: [very confused] Really?
Ann Darrow: Yes, and what I most admire is the way you've captured the voice of the common people.
Mike: [smiling now] Well, uh, that's my job.
Ann Darrow: I'm sure you've heard this before, Mr. Driscoll, if you don't mind me saying, but, you don't look at all like your photograph.
[Jack Driscoll looks over]
Mike: [smile disappears] I'm sorry...
Carl Denham: Wait a minute, Ann.
Ann Darrow: [to Carl] He's so much younger in person. And much better looking.
Carl Denham: [as Jack approaches Ann from behind] Ann, stop. Stop right there.
Ann Darrow: [to Mike again] You see. I was just afraid that you might be one of those self-obsessed, literary types.
Mike: I'm sorry. I'm not...
Ann Darrow: You know, the tweedy twerp with his nose in his book and his head up his a...
[Jack snaps his book shut just behind her head. She turns around]
Jack Driscoll: It's nice to meet you too, Miss Darrow.

[the boat is leaving the dock, and Carl made Jack stay because he hasn't finished the script]
Carl Denham: I keep telling you, Jack, there's no money in theater. That's why you should stick with film.
Jack Driscoll: No Carl, it's not about the money. I love theater.
Carl Denham: No, you don't. If you really loved it, you would've jumped.

Jack Driscoll: [the crew has finally released the ship from the rocks where it was wrecked] Stop! We've got to go back! They've taken Ann!

Carl Denham: [Denham stalls as the ship prepares to depart] Alright. We might as well settle up.
Jack Driscoll: You're gonna pay me?
Carl Denham: I'm not gonna stiff a friend.
Jack Driscoll: I've never known you to volunteer cash before.
Carl Denham: How does two grand sound?
Jack Driscoll: That sounds great... sounds great.
Carl Denham: Here ya go.
Jack Driscoll: Carl, you... you've written, "two grand".
Carl Denham: Thought I did. I'm sorry, let's just do this from the beginning.

Carl Denham: She's standing at the railing. She doesn't know it yet, but they are sailing toward disaster. You got that?
Jack Driscoll: Okay, so she turns and the first mate is staggering toward her. There's a knife sticking out of his back.
Carl Denham: Wait a second... We're killing off the first mate?
Jack Driscoll: Well that's assuming she knows who the first mate is.
Carl Denham: Come on, Jack. It was an honest mistake. Anne is near-sighted. It could'a happened to anyone.
Jack Driscoll: I was joking, Carl.

[Jack finds Kong's footprint in the mud and kneels down to touch it; Lumpy approaches]
Lumpy the Cook: Bloody Nora!
[everyone gathers round the footprint]
Jimmy: Is that what took Miss Darrow?
[Jack looks worried]
Lumpy the Cook: [points] There's only one creature capable of leaving a footprint that size.
[all eyes look to Lumpy, who puffs on his cigarette]
Lumpy the Cook: The abominable snowman.
[Jack rolls his eyes; Hayes kneels beside him]
Venture Crew: Yeah, a snowman.
Venture Crew: We dead meat.
Hayes: It's gotta be what, twenty, 25 feet?
Jack Driscoll: Carl saw it. Let's ask him.
[they stand up]
Hayes: Denham!
[Carl is nowhere in sight]
Hayes: Where'd he go?