USA: AMERICAN FILM PREMIERE OF TIM BURTON'S REMAKE OF "PLANET OF THE APES" STARRING MARK WAHLBERG, TIM ROTH AND HELENA BONHAM-CARTER

Record ID: 391641

  • Title: USA: AMERICAN FILM PREMIERE OF TIM BURTON'S REMAKE OF "PLANET OF THE APES" STARRING MARK WAHLBERG, TIM ROTH AND HELENA BONHAM-CARTER
  • Date: 22nd July 2001
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 22) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) TIM BURTON SAYING Well, you know, I've never had 300 apes out in the middle of the desert so that's, you know, there's new things to it, I mean, I've dealt with big scale things before but, again, what we did try to do with this is, cause, at the root of it, "Planet of the Apes" is still
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA588LPH05SK1N8MYUV27O78XHE
  • Story Text: 33 years after its predecessor was released with Charlton Heston in the lead role, the cast and crew of filmmaker Tim Burton's version of "Planet of the Apes"
    gathered in New York for the film's World Premiere on Monday, July 23. The stars included Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Roth.
    In 1968, Charlton Heston and a team of filmmakers stunned the world when they brought French author Pierre Boulle's classic novel "Planet of the Apes" to the big screen.
    The story of a human astronaut who crash lands on a planet where apes are the dominant species and humans are slaves became an instant classic in itself, inspiring generations of movie-goers and future filmmakers like Tim Burton.
    Over three decades later, and after enjoying huge successes like "Batman," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Sleepy Hollow," Burton decided to update the original film by utilizing the advanced technology of modern-day cinema and changing some of the characters, but still relying on the basic premise that made the first film stick in his mind: human beings under layers of make-up playing super-intelligent apes.
    Although he's not technically playing Heston's role, Mark Wahlberg steps into similar shoes as the spaceman who stumbles onto this extraordinary civilization and then must fight his way out of it. It's Wahlberg's first outing as a full-fledged classic movie hero, but that doesn't mean he's eager to play such parts again anytime soon. Instead, he cites the opportunity to work with Burton as the motivating force behind his decision to take the part.
    Two world-renowned and Oscar nominated British actors underwent hours of make-up daily in order to play the simian roles in the film. Helena Bonham Carter portrays Ari, a chimpanzee who is sympathetic to the plight of humans and who helps Wahlberg escape while Tim Roth is Thade, a fierce and brutal general who will stop at nothing to destroy the entire human population of the planet.
    "The Green Mile" co-star and Oscar nominee Michael Clarke Duncan plays Thade's right-hand gorilla Attar, a powerful and deadly warrior, while Paul Giamatti provides comic relief as the slave-trading ape Limbo.
    In addition to hours of make-up and having to work all day wearing hot and heavy costumes and fur, all of the actors portraying apes had to endure what the filmmakers came to refer to as "ape school." It involved stunt co-ordinators and simian experts teaching the actors how to move, walk and behave as apes would.
    While the actors were preparing, Burton was ramping up one of the most ambitious and large scale shoots of his career.
    His locations included the stark lava fields of Mt. Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii, the harsh desert locales surrounding Lake Powell, Arizona and the bizarre and other-worldly rock formations known as the Trona Pinnacles, located in the high California desert near Death Valley.
    The crew also constructed immense and intricate sets on soundstages representing the massive "Ape City," where Wahlberg's character is brought after being captured upon his arrival on the planet.
    When asked about having to live up to the role created by screen legend, Charlton Heston, Mark Wahlberg said, "I was never really concerned, I mean it was just about working with Tim, Tim thought I was the right guy for the part so I thought well let me do my best for him and that was about it, you know I never thought about it and I'm better off not thinking about it because it adds a certain amount of pressure you know it's too much to deal with while you're making a movie."
    When one reporter asked Tim Burton, "Why remake "Planet of the Apes?" Burton literally began to choke the reporter in a fun way and screamed, "It's not a remake!"
    When the reporter asked Burton what the movie is really all about, he replied, "We felt sort of because they got through all of the you know, five movies, TV show, cartoon, lunchbox, trading cards, that you know it sort of spit itself out through that cycle so, just felt that it was a strong enough property because it's very simple in its nature to just revisit from a different way you know and that's all you know the theme of ape, man the reversal it just makes you see life in a weird way which is what I liked about it."
    Helena Bonham Carter spoke frankly about the difficulties of acting under her ape mask.
    "I did a bit of moving, you know my mouth sniffing whatever, I felt you know I should sniff, and ooh and I went to ape school you know so I learned all about finding my inner ape and just the sort of ape idiosynchrocies and walking and then I just hoped for the best I just acted and I just thought well work with Mark, listen to Mark, he's a really good actor so it helps you to be better so yeah I just hoped for the best, I just trusted Tim, I just hoped that Tim was right, you know."
    "Planet of the Apes" opens in theaters throughout the United States on Friday, July 27.
    ---ENDS---
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