Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

This time, we’re taking a look at the classic reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes and along the way we ask, how has Andy Serkis never won an Oscar, is this movie a really long vacation ad for California and just how plausible is a cure of Alzheimer’s? Let’s dive in…

Cast & Crew

* Directed by Rupert Wyatt: His first film, The Escapist, was the darling of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and afforded him the opportunity to direct Rise of the Planet of the Apes

* Starring Andy Serkis as Caesar: Serkis has managed to carve out a career as an actor, producer and director. Following his motion capture performance in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Serkis was on the top of the list to give life to the main character of Caesar.

* James Franco as Will Rodman: Franco has had an interesting career to say the least. After rising to prominence on the television show Freaks & Geeks and later in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, Franco has also appeared on soap operas, stage and has tried directing several times. At this point in 2011, he was just coming off an Oscar nominated performance in 127 Hours. Tobey Maguire was actually the first choice to play Will Rodman.

* Freida Pinto as Caroline: This was one of four films Pinto appeared in during 2011 and had risen to international fame following her starring role in the Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire

* Also Starring:

* John Lithgow as Charles Rodman

* Brian Cox as John Landon

* Tom Felton as Dodge Landon

* David Oyelowo as Steven Jacobs

From Tim Burton to Rupert Wyatt

Believe it or not, this was not the first time 20th Century Fox attempted to reboot the Planet of the Apes franchise. Tim Burton had directed a remake of the original 1968 film that was released in 2001 and had starred Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter with Charlton Heston making a surprise cameo. The film was a critical disappointment as it currently holds a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes but managed to gross over $350 million.

The journey to get the remake off the ground had taken close to 20 years and following the financial success of the remake, plans for a sequel were drawn but were cancelled with Tim Burton even going so far as to stating he’d “rather jump out a window” than return to direct a follow up.

Fast forward to 2006 when screenwriting team Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver began developing a script involving chimpanzees and genetic testing. That script would eventually become Rise of the Planet of the Apes and kick off a reboot franchise as they were quickly becoming a trend in Hollywood starting with films like Batman Begins and Casino Royale.

Jaffa and Silver had the daunting task of rebooting an iconic franchise but decided to go back further and explore the genesis of a world dominated by intelligent apes. They worked backwards from the mythology mentioned in the film including the first ape named Caesar and that the first uttered was “no”.

Andy Serkis and the Art of Performance Capture