The Planet of the Apes franchise has spanned nine science-fiction movies, with a tenth entry set for release in 2024. Starting with the discovery that humanity ended itself and led to the evolution of the simian race to take over the planet, the series would begin churning out tales that had audiences clinging to the political commentary attached to the script. When it comes to science fiction, The Planet of the Apes is one of the most recognizable franchises in movie history.
Update November 2, 2023: This article has been updated with more behind-the-scenes facts about The Planet of the Apes franchise as audiences eagerly await the release of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
A franchise that has run this long means there are plenty of interesting behind-the-scenes aspects from across the decades. From the original 1968 classic to the various sequels to Tim Burton's remake to the recent reboot trilogy, this is a series with a lot of behind-the-scenes stories. While they never did make the Planet of the Apes musicals that The Simpsons perfectly parodied, there are still some interesting tidbits about this franchise that many might not know. Here are ten facts you may not have known about the Planet of the Apes franchise.
11 The Film Is Based on a Book
The original film, Planet of the Apes, was based on the work of Pierre Boulle, a French novelist. The original story told a similar tale as the film did, but with the framing device that the events of the film happened to a journalist named Ulysses and not to a trained astronaut. These events have already occurred as they are being recounted by a spaceship's crew reading the discovered manuscript of Ulysses.
While certain characters still exist in the novel, such as the mute Nova and the chimp scientists Cornelius & Zira, the bevy of new characters adds a new depth to the plot. Some barbaric acts are described in the novel, such as Ulysses being "mated" with Nova and the experiments being performed on the regressed humans to discover what events led to the apes' rise. Unlike the first film, Ulysses & Nova can leave the planet, only to find out that they returned to the present too late, as events have already happened that led to the apes taking over the Earth.
10
9 The Makeup Process Was Unlike Anything for Its Time
The job of makeup director John Chambers was to make the apes look as realistic as possible. The artist drew inspiration from multiple techniques he picked up serving in World War II doing cosmetic surgery on deformed soldiers. Chambers also studied Apes for countless hours, drawing numerous sketches with facial expressions. By the time he was finished, he had trained over 80 makeup artists to create a flawless look for most of the cast.
The makeup budget for the film ballooned to $1 million, as soft latex appliances were used with nontoxic glues to achieve the desired look. It remains one of the most outstanding works ever made to date, earning Chambers an Oscar win for his achievements in the film. The process would eventually be streamlined and used in the latter sequels.
8 It Sparked A Brief Feud Between Burt Lancaster and Charlton Heston
Burt Lancaster was offered the role of Taylor, the astronaut who lands on a planet he believes is in another galaxy. The actor declined the role, thinking the script was too childish. Charlton Heston accepted the part without much hassle, making it the fifth time he took on a role left behind by Lancaster on a film that would become an enormous box office hit. It happened previously with films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and Khartoum.
Despite this snub by the actor, it's fair to remark that Heston wasn't the first choice to replace Lancaster, as production reached out to heavy hitters such as John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen to offer them the part, and they all turned it down.
7 Rise of the Planet of the Apes Introduced New Primates
Every Planet of The Apes film and TV show is known for portraying only three species of primates: chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. Rise of the Planet of the Apes would break tradition by introducing bonobos, a subspecies of chimps that resemble a bald chimpanzee. Koba was the first one to be seen on screen. The scarred ape becomes a handy warrior at Caesar’s side while resenting his leadership. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Koba was played by Toby Kebbell, who would later do motion capture work as Kong in 2017's Kong: Skull Island.
6 Caeser and Cornelius Link
Roddy McDowall and Andy Serkis are the two actors closely associated with the Planet of the Apes franchise. While McDowall played Cornelius, Caesar, and Galen across the original five films and the vintage TV show Serkis played Caesar in the three prequel reboots. The connection between their characters is a bit complex.
Still, it goes something like this: Perkins plays Caesar, the first ape to rise against humans and set the stage for the events taking place hundreds of years in the future when the events of the first Planet of the Apes film take place. McDowall plays Cornelius, an ape who believes in human-ape coexistence and gets blasted to the past in Escape from the Planet of the Apes after his world ends in war. He has a son before dying in the film, who becomes Caesar II, a character unrelated to the ape played by Serkis.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes reimagines the ape's origin story, telling the origin of Caesar in a reboot of the classic film series. In War for the Planet of the Apes, he has a son named Cornelius. Owen Teague will play an adult Cornelius in the next film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
5 James Franco was Killed Off-Screen
James Franco was the lead actor in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. While Franco played a crucial character in Caesar's life, audiences wouldn't see the actor return to his role in future films. Franco played Will Rodman, a scientist who had been working with apes to find a cure for Alzheimer's. This cure would prove to be degenerative, and further attempts to recreate the serum would lead to the Simian Flu.
While Franco doesn't return, many believed it was simply because the films chose to follow Caesar's path after Caesar left Will behind. However, the production team would reveal in later interviews that because Will Rodman had been at ground zero for the virus, it had been determined that he eventually succumbed to the disease and died off-screen. This is confirmed in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes when Caesar visits his old home.
4 Tim Burton's Film was Almost Very Different
Tim Burton's film Planet of the Apes is widely considered to be the worst entry in the franchise to date. One of the most maligned scenes in the film is the plot twist ending, but the entire plot was almost even worse. Development for the reimaging had been in the works for years, suffering a revolving door of directors and writers, with the movie's tone changing multiple times.
The studio had been insisting on a more campy feeling, a request made all the stranger, seeing as Arnold Schwarzenegger was initially set to be the lead actor. Leaning into the camp, the studio had a script featuring a story of Arnold helping to teach the apes of the future how to play baseball, with the infamous final scene changing to feature the apes playing baseball in Yankee Stadium.
3 Actors Would Segregate
The franchise had started as early as the late '60s when racial injustice was more common throughout the country. While the act of segregation had been outlawed 14 years before the first film's release, actors would naturally segregate, but not by the color of their skin. They were more akin to separating based on whether they played humans or apes in the film. This would also reflect the different species of simians that the actors played.
In the film, the Gorillas were military, the Orangutans were diplomats, and the Chimps were scientists, and all of these factions would separate and eat together during cast meal breaks. The political commentary that this would cast upon the crew is provocative, with the thought that after playing these characters for so long, the actors may have cast aside ideas of who the people underneath the makeup were and found comfort in actors that looked most similar to themselves.
2 There Was Almost a Hybrid
.png?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
In science fiction, there are always thoughts of how life may have evolved and created a new life. Just look to the predator-alien featured in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem for evidence that sometimes these elements can be very divisive. In the development of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the production team ran tests on how the look of a human-ape-hybrid would appear on the screen. The fact that these tests were run, to begin with, shows that there was serious thought and consideration given to the idea.
However, this plot hook would eventually be dropped when someone brought up the fact that such a creature would imply a strange sexual act had taken place. Even though the apes in question show clear signs of thought and speech, the humans native to this planet (sans the mutated ones living in the Forbidden City) are mute and mentally regressed creatures. This idea would be tossed into the trash bin as soon as the implications were brought forth; an intelligent decision most would feel.
1 Nova Was Supposed to be Pregnant
The first film's final act was set to be vastly different from the theatrical cut. During filming, the writers wanted to adapt the aspect of Pierre Boulle's novel that featured Nova being pregnant. The team had filmed scenes where Nova would be pregnant with Taylor's child and escape into the Forbidden City after an ape sniper killed Taylor. These scenes would eventually be removed after conversations about whether there would be negative moral implications attached to this story arc.
As Nova is a mute woman who had regressed in intelligence to the point that she likely could not properly communicate consent, the actions would have implied grossly inhumane treatment had been done to her by the story's hero. Another intelligent decision had been made to leave these scenes on the cutting room floor.
Comments
Post a Comment