It’s impossible not to have misgivings about Rise of the Apes, the new Planet of the Apes prequel that Fox is shooting for next year, but the casting so far has been more or less great. James Franco has the human lead, while Freida Pinto will be the love interest, and John Lithgow is going to be in there. The script isn’t a mindless actionfest but rather – gasp! – a drama that builds to a big ending. And now the film has cast its real lead actor – Caesar, the genetically modified chimp who leads an ape uprising.
Andy Serkis, who provided the acting for Gollum and the new King Kong, will wear a mocap suit for a turn as Caesar. That’s fitting as WETA is doing the ape FX work on the film. The news comes from a weird source – a tweet from 20th Century Fox’s Twitter acount.
Against my cynical nature, I’m getting really, really hopeful for this movie. Casting Serkis proves that director Rupert Wyatt is taking this seriously and trying to craft a great character, and not just have another special effect. Could Rise of the Apes be… a great Planet of the Apes film?
13 comments
No. It won't be, devin. This is fox we're talking about. The destroyer of cinema for the last 5 years.
Serkis is great, but I'm not sure I'd take his casting as THE mark that Rupert Wyatt is taking things seriously. Isn't Serkis a name anyone would think of for a mocap dealio? At any rate, nobody could fault this film on its casting. Except I have no idea who Freida Pinto is. Better be hot! Though if she's under monkey make-up then maybe it's where a Reese Witherspoon would be well used.
When should we expect your Planet of the Apes review retrospective?
The apes are going to be mocap? As in… not makeup? Laaaaaame.
I guess you'll find out opening day like the rest of us, since Fox hates you.
why do you keep calling it a prequel? isn't it more a reboot? unless it's a prequel to the burton version then it's not really a prequel. maybe a reboot. or a preboot. unless nero shows with some red matter to *monkey* with the timeline i'm gonna consider this one a reboot
I certainly fucking hope its a great Planet of the Apes movie. I've always been a HUGE fan on the franchise. Fuck haters. This movie is sounding better and better.
I'm actually looking forward to this more and more. The concept is pretty clever I think. It's actually a sequel to Project X.
This has potential and promise. But so did Tim Burton.
"Great" and "Planet of the Apes" are contrary to one another. Sorry.
You know, regarding the mocap issue, I think i would be perfectly happy is Serkis did the film in traditional prostetic makeup. On a lighter note, is Serkis trying to go for the record for most mocap ape performances? Who's leading the race?
The Burton flick blew. I bet he even thinks it's an acid flashback instead of a reality that he did it. Oh, and James Cameron hated it too. Look it up.
The original was awesome. All of the sequels, the remake, and the tv series, are absolute garbage. But I'm sure the ten people still interested in this horrible franchise will find this news interesting.
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