Kong: Skull Island - 25 Easter Eggs & References You Must See

15. Princess Mononoke

Skull Island is populated by more monsters than just Kong and the Skull Crawlers, and they owe their existence to anime.

According to producer Alex Garcia (via JoBlo's set report) it was anime legend Hayao Miyazaki who inspired the creatures:

"The creatures are a big thing. Jurassic World obviously owns the dinosaur thing right now. If Kong is the God of this island, we wanted each of the creatures to feel like they're individual gods of their own domain. Miyazaki and Princess Mononoke was actually a big reference in the way that the spirit creatures sort of have their own domains and fit within that.

A big thing was trying to design creatures that felt realistic and could exist in an ecosystem that feels sort of wild and out there, and then also design things that simultaneously felt beautiful and horrifying at the same time. Where if you look at this giant spider or water buffalo, you stare at, a part of you says, 'that's the most amazing thing I've ever seen' and 'oh my god, that's going to kill me right now, I need to run for my life!'"

The decision to take inspirations from Studio Ghibli was a conscious attempt to avoid too many direct comparisons to the franchise's typical use of dinosaurs as the Island's other dwellers. Plus, the director says he loves the iconic studio's imaginative work:

Suddenly Miyazaki and “Princess Mononoke” and this sense of beauty and spirituality and this slightly heightened mythical feel was created. That broke open the door for the design of what these other creatures should be. If Kong is the god of the island then these other creatures are the gods of their own domain. And I loved that. I loved that idea and I love Miyazaki and I think there’s a lot of “Princess Mononoke” in this movie.