Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Part 1

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This is a continuation thread, the old thread is [split]362543[/split]

 

[Gabe99]

SPOILERS

From EW:
'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' screenwriters: 'We pictured a trilogy'

Rise of the Planet of the Apes tore up the box office last weekend, earning $54 million — a surprising showing for the seventh film in a series that’s over 40 years old. EW caught up with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, the married screenwriters who crafted the primate preboot, to talk about the exciting difficulty of writing a character who never speaks and their vague-but-intriguing ideas for a Rise sequel — or rather, sequels —

Spoiler

including the slight implication that Taylor, the character Charlton Heston played in the original Apes, might be making a return journey.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:
It’s interesting that the character audiences are most responding to in the film is Caesar, the rebel chimpanzee played by Andy Serkis. Was it difficult to write a character who doesn’t have any dialogue?

RICK JAFFA:
That was our challenge.
AMANDA SILVER:
It put extra pressure on us, in a good way, to tell a story visually without dialogue. I think — thinking back on my film school days! — that’s what you look for. Yes, Paddy Chayefsky has great dialogue, and you aspire to do that as well. But film is a visual medium, and what can you show and not tell? Caesar was the genesis of the story. Rick came up with the idea for this when he was looking through his idea file. He’d cut out some articles about chimpanzees raised in homes, and he thought, “My god, this would make a great reboot for Planet of the Apes.” We kind of fell in love with Caesar. We didn’t think of him specifically as a chimpanzee. We thought of him as a full character. Because he didn’t have dialogue, it put extra pressure on us in a good way to tell a story visually without the dialogue.

RJ:
We did a lot of research, and a lot of reading online, about some very specific primates who have become somewhat well-known. There’s that great documentary out right now, Project Nim; we read about him. There’s another one, Kanzi, who was…

AS:
He was a gorilla, right?

RJ:
No, I believe he was a….

Amanda and Rick in unison:
…A bonobo!

The film bears a slight similarity to Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth film in Apes series. Did you use that film as a signpost for Rise?

RJ:
Not in the beginning! We laid out the story and pitched the idea to Fox, and had gotten hired, and okayed to write and produce this thing. It was at that point we went back and started studying the old movies. We already had the movie laid out. I think some of the connections to Conquest are on purpose, but others are coincidental. “Unlikely character becoming a leader and leading his people to freedom” — it’s also a Moses story.

If this is the Moses story — a leader taking his people to freedom — then do you see the potential sequel as a kind of Joshua story, with the Apes fighting wars and conquering the world?

AS:
I’m touching wood, because I’m superstitious! We definitely have ideas for where the sequel — plural, where the sequels — would take us. And those were kind of built into –

RJ:
— the construction of the narrative already. There hasn’t been an official discussion yet about a sequel, because I think everyone still doesn’t want to jinx where we are. But we definitely have ideas.

AS:
When we started this, we knew that this movie would stand on its own, and we designed it that way. But if it didn’t stand on its own, we pictured a trilogy that would start with this movie.

Spoiler

I’m definitely intrigued to see what happens to the Icarus mission, the spaceship that hovers around the background of the plot of Rise.

RJ:
We definitely have ideas about that! What better plant can you put in a script then, “Oh my god, Taylor’s going up again!”

One of my favorite parts of the Apes franchise is the pulpy grandiosity of the later titles: Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and now Rise of the Planet of the Apes. What’s your dream-title for a Rise sequel?

RJ:
We’re gonna have to figure that one out. That’s a great question. We do have a good sense of what will be in the sequel. Maybe in 20 years, the last one will be called Success of the Planet of the Apes.

AS:
It’s that B-movie flair, that excitement. We haven’t found the cheesy-but-fun noun that would fit the action that we’re seeing.

RJ:
Maybe Revenge.

 

[Britannic]

Director and cast are scheduled to attend WonderCon, April 19

http://sdccblog.com/2014/04/20th-ce...nner-how-to-train-your-dragon-2-to-wondercon/

 

[Britannic]

New stills!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...of-the-planet-of-the-apes-sneak-peek/7323787/

 

[dark_b]

fantastic images.

i am afraid that i will like the movie to much

 

[terry78]

This one just kills me. Just chilling with one of the apes having a drink.

 

[redhawk23]

This one just kills me. Just chilling with one of the apes having a drink.

 

[redhawk23]

Damn this is scary real. I've always thought Caesar himself was a bit too anthropomorphized and therefore never looked quite as good.

This film still needs more gorillas though.

 

[dark_b]

This one just kills me. Just chilling with one of the apes having a drink.

i think thats Koba. human is dead

 

[TX85]

Awesome shots!

 

[Marvolo]

So Caesar has two sons an infant and a teenager? I'm betting one or both of their deaths is what breaks the tenuous peace. This movie looks like it's gonna be pretty crazy.

 

[Octoberist]

Looking through the photos, there are some beautiful looking shots, thanks to the landscape and cinematography.

 

[terry78]

I think Koba took a **** in that cup and he's just waiting for the payoff.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Geez this movie looks so good.

 

[Quasimod0]

Do the Apes speak?

 

[Marvolo]

Do the Apes speak?

Based on what the director and writers have said the ape portions of the movie are dialogue free. They use sign language. Caesar however does have some actual dialogue at some point. This is confirmed.

And if you look in the picture of Koba and the human you can see that he is signing based on where his hand is at. Im curious to see what Koba is saying lol. Matt said he hates humans still but he reapects Caesar so much that he want hurt a human. That kind of loyalty amongst the apes is one of the things I love about these films. These apes are fully organized and together.

One thing id love to see in this movie is that Caesar is collecting books and reading them. Itd be cool to show him reading up on military tactics and human history like that of the Caesar's and ancient rome and maybe The Art of War.

 

[terry78]

I NEED...TO SPEAK....TO CAESAR.....because the rest of you ****ers can't even talk.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Koba- no way batman would wipe the floor with captain America

 

[Marvolo]

Koba- no way batman would wipe the floor with captain America

Human- What is this sign BS? English, you damn dirty ape, do you speak it!?

 

[Kane52630]

I keep getting a lot of Jurassic Park vibes from the looks alone.

 

[Marvolo]

 

[dark_b]

i am so hyped for this movie.

everytime i see angry apes and their teeth from Dawn of Planet i remember the Charla Nash story from Oprah. google it. its scary .

 

[Marvolo]

i am so hyped for this movie.

everytime i see angry apes and their teeth from Dawn of Planet i remember the Charla Nash story from Oprah. google it. its scary .

That is insane! I'd never heard of that incident. People really need to learn that wild animals are not pets. Chimps are incredibly strong, and have zero problem with killing anyone and everything that they view as a threat. I've read stories about people in the field studying them having their arms ripped out of socket and one had his arm ripped clean off at the shoulder...all because the male chimps saw him as competition.

 

[P Supreme]

This looks dam good

 

[terry78]

Actors that work with monkeys have no idea how close to amputation they really are.

It looks like Caesar is fine with living side by side with the humans who are now in the minority, but as said before something happens that causes him to view us as lesser beings, more than likely from extremism on both sides.