I
t took megastar Charlton Heston
just one hour to agree to playing
astronaut George Taylor in Franklin
J. Schaffner’s proposed Planet of
the Apes movie, but Hollywood’s bigwigs
needed a lot more convincing. In fact, the
would-be director and leading man were
laughed out of every Tinseltown meeting
they attended. Well, almost every meeting...
Impressed with Schaffner and Heston’s
passion for the project, which proposed
a human space traveller crash-landing
on a planet populated by intelligent, talking
apes, Twentieth Century Fox decided to take
a punt. And the rest, as they say, is history...
Released in 1968, the film became one of that
year’s biggest hits and went on to spawn four
sequels, two TV shows, a 2001 Tim Burton-
directed remake and a series of origin movies –
the epic third chapter of which is out this month.
Although reviews for Burton’s version were
mixed (largely due to its unfathomable ending),
2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and
2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes were
both box office monsters and critical darlings.
With Dawn director Matt Reeves back
in the hot-seat for War for the Planet of the
Apes (in cinemas 12 July), motion capture
maestro Andy Serkis once again wowing as
primate hero Caesar and special effects so
advanced you won’t know what’s real and
what’s not, this latest instalment is – just like
the original proved to be – no laughing matter.
Apes of Wrath
Set two years after the events of Dawn,
War sees Caesar and his ape friends
(Maurice, etc) embroiled in a brutal
conflict with humanity’s scant survivors.
Unable to match their enemy’s fire
power, the beasts have retreated
from the city to the relative safety
of the woods, but their losses are
immense and Caesar is no longer
the benevolent ape we once knew,
as Andy Serkis explained during
an interview with Gamespot.
“Caesar at the end of Dawn
of the Planet of the Apes was
in a terrible position where for
a moment there could have
been some sort of peaceful
solution [between apes and
18 odeon.co.uk
“We’re two years on. War
is raging, with both sides
sliding into oblivion...”
Andy Serkis
humans],” the actor candidly revealed.
“Unfortunately that slipped away and the
moment passed. So he carries this
phenomenal guilt with him into [this
film]. We’re two years further on
and war is raging... with both sides
sliding into oblivion. As ape losses
grow, he gets taken into this
phenomenally dark place and he
loses his ability to be empathetic.”
Adding to Caesar’s troubles
is Woody Harrelson’s Colonel,
a remorseless leader of men
who knows that it’s them... or
us – and is prepared to forego his
humanity to preserve his species.