Jessica Lange hated her hair in the seventies. Actually, that’s not entirely true, but she did spend half of 1976 locked in a "hair-off" with Jeff Bridges while a forty-foot mechanical monkey fell apart in the background. It was her first movie. She was a model from Minnesota who had been living in Paris studying mime under Étienne Decroux. Then, suddenly, she was "Dwan"—not Dawn, Dwan—the blonde sacrifice in Dino De Laurentiis’s massive, expensive, and deeply weird remake of King Kong.
If you look at her career now, it's almost impossible to reconcile the "Triple Crown" winner (Oscar, Emmy, Tony) with the girl who spent several weeks of her life being "massaged" by a giant hydraulic finger.
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The Screen Test That Almost Didn't Happen
Dino De Laurentiis didn't want a "name." He wanted someone new. Someone he could mold. Legend has it he looked at dozens of hopefuls, including a young Meryl Streep. Dino apparently called Meryl "ugly" in Italian, not realizing she understood every word. Oops.
Then came Jessica.
She had the look, sure. But she also had this ethereal, almost spaced-out quality that Dino loved. Honestly, the 1976 version of the character was a product of its time—a ditzy, aspiring actress who was less of a "scream queen" and more of a "New Age" dream girl. When she first sees Kong, she doesn't just shriek; she talks to him. She tells him he’s a "typical Aries."
It’s hilarious. It’s camp. It also nearly killed her career before it started.
Why Jessica Lange King Kong Reviews Were So Brutal
Critics in 1976 were not kind. Imagine being twenty-something, your face is on every billboard from Times Square to Tokyo, and the New York Times is basically calling you a vacuum in a dress.
The hate wasn't just about her acting. People were protective of the 1933 original. They hated that stop-motion was replaced by a guy in a suit (the legendary Rick Baker, who actually went uncredited for the performance). They hated that the Empire State Building was swapped for the World Trade Center.
Jessica became the lightning rod for all that frustration.
- The critics equated her lack of experience with a lack of talent.
- The script by Lorenzo Semple Jr. was intentionally "campy," but audiences didn't always get the joke.
- She was literally playing a character named Dwan. There’s only so much "gravitas" you can bring to that.
After the movie came out, she didn't work for two years. Two years! For a Golden Globe winner (she won Best New Star of the Year, funny enough), that’s a lifetime. She went back to acting class. She worked. She waited.
The $24 Million "Kongbot" Disaster
You can't talk about Jessica Lange in this movie without talking about the mechanical hand. Dino spent a fortune—about $1.7 million of the $24 million budget—on a full-sized, forty-foot mechanical Kong built by Carlo Rambaldi.
It was a nightmare.
The robot barely worked. In the final film, it’s on screen for maybe fifteen seconds. Most of what you see is Rick Baker in a suit or a set of giant, separate mechanical hands. Jessica spent days sitting in those hands. They were dangerous, jerky, and covered in horse hair.
There’s a famous scene where Kong "washes" Dwan in a waterfall. To get that shot, Jessica was drenched in freezing water while these massive, clumsy pistons moved around her. It wasn't glamorous. It was a test of endurance.
How She Actually Saved the Movie
Years later, people have started to come around on the 1976 version. It’s got a vibe that Peter Jackson’s 2005 version lacks. It’s tactile. It’s sweaty. It’s very 1970s.
And Jessica? She’s actually the best part of it.
While Jeff Bridges is busy being a rugged, bearded environmentalist, Lange brings a weird, surreal vulnerability to the role. She’s the only one who treats the ape like a character instead of a prop. When she cries at the end on the plaza of the World Trade Center, you sort of believe her.
She survived the "curse" of the blockbuster. Usually, when a model gets cast in a giant monster movie and gets panned, they disappear. They do a few TV guest spots and vanish. Jessica did the opposite. She used the King Kong money to buy time, then came back in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and blew everyone's minds.
Actionable Insights: What We Can Learn From the 1976 Fallout
Looking back at this era of film history gives us some pretty clear takeaways about the industry, then and now.
- Don't confuse a bad role with a bad actor. Hollywood is littered with "failed" stars who just needed a script that didn't involve zodiac signs and giant snakes.
- Practical effects are a gamble. De Laurentiis's hubris with the "Kongbot" is a textbook example of why "simpler is better" often wins in filmmaking.
- The "Beauty" role is a trap. Lange only found her footing when she started playing women with "sparks and spunk" (like in Rob Roy or Frances) rather than just being an object to be stared at.
If you haven't watched the 1976 King Kong lately, do it. Don't go in expecting the 1933 masterpiece. Go in for the John Barry score, the incredible 70s cinematography by Richard H. Kline, and the sight of a future legend finding her feet in the grip of a mechanical monster.
If you're interested in more deep cuts from 70s cinema, you should check out the production history of The Towering Inferno or the career-saving turn Lange took in Tootsie. Both show just how much the "disaster movie" era shaped the stars we love today.