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(At around one minute) At the beginning of the film, there is a shot of a restaurant in New York City called "BG's Sandwiches." It is a nod to BG Hacker, who organized and catered the New York City premiere parties for Sir Peter Jackson's production people on all three "Lord of the Rings" films.
It took 18 months to craft the CGI version of the Empire State Building. The real thing was built in 14 months.
The color orange was deliberately kept off-set, and in the lighting effects, because it was found to create an odd effect on Naomi Watts' piercing blue eyes.
As a personal favor for Sir Peter Jackson, Bryan Singer, who was in Australia working on Superman Returns (2006), spent two days directing the King Kong vs. V-Rex confrontation sequence. He was given a "Special Thanks" at the end credits.
King Kong's roar is a lion's roar played backwards at half speed.
The scene where Denham, Driscoll, and the crew fall into a pit filled with giant bugs is a reference to a scene in the original King Kong (1933), where the crew fell into a pit, and were devoured by giant spiders, which was cut after many members of preview audiences ran out of the theater in horror during the scene. The original scene has never been found. In 2005, for a new DVD edition of the original film, Jackson and his team at WETA recreated the sequence as a bonus feature with stop-motion animation techniques that were virtually identical to the techniques used by the original filmmakers.
Andy Serkis: [motion capture acting] Andy Serkis had 132 motion capture sensors attached to his face, so that his every facial expression could be captured and shown on King Kong's face.
Naomi Watts: [bare feet] Ann Darrow is barefoot for the entirety of her time on Skull Island, excluding the crew's initial arrival, and by extension the majority of the movie. According to director Sir Peter Jackson, it was his idea to have Naomi Watts running around the island on her bare feet to illustrate her character's innocence, vulnerability, and closeness to nature. Fay Wray was also forced to spend her whole stay on the island without shoes in the original King Kong (1933).
Naomi Watts: [starring in remakes] This is the fifth of seven remakes or adaptations of previously existing films in which Naomi Watts has appeared.
Howard Shore: (At around two hours and twenty minutes) The conductor seen in the theater where Kong is on display to a large audience.
Rick Baker: The pilot of an airplane that is shooting at Kong on the Empire State Building. Baker designed, created, and played Kong in the 1976 remake. This makes him the only person to both play Kong and kill Kong.
Thomas Robins: Man entering the theater and removing his hat before the revelation of Kong. Previously Robins has appeared in Forgotten Silver (1995) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), both also directed by Sir Peter Jackson.
Peter Jackson: [children] Jackson's children Billy Jackson and Katherine Jackson appear during the first two minutes of the film.