King Klunk

THERE IS STILL ONLY ONE KING KONG, proclaim the Paramount Pictures Dino De Laurentiis ads and posters, and they are right in a way the copywriters never intended. In the $13 million movie's seventh week of production, King Kong still lacks a star. In his race to beat rival Universal's King Kong project (TIME, Jan. 5), De Laurentiis won a court battle but apparently neglected to get the ape off the drawing board. All of the 40-ft. mechanical Kong he has so far is a pair of mighty arms that cost $450,000 and have developed on-camera arteriosclerosis. The producer has rushed over so many Italian technicians to get the monkey off his back that pasta is outselling pastrami at the studio commissary. Director John Guillermin (Towering Inferno) is about out of scenes he can shoot without his star, and the production is reportedly closing down for three weeks. The cost of Kong may be horrendous. When Paramount solicited prices on 40 ft. of realistic Kong pelt, the first bid asked $1 million.

Doubtless, with something like $25 million in advance bookings at stake, Italian electronics will win through. Meanwhile, over at Universal, the folks who gave you Jaws and three snappin'-live mechanical sharks have a workable model of King Kong that they are much too gentlemanly to offer De Laurentiis.

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