The Apeman returns

The story doesn’t end there. Will ends up raising Caesar,the test simian’s now-orphaned son,and the two form a tight father-son bond. Caesar grows up strong and hyper-intelligent,but when Will releases Caesar into the care of the San Bruno Primate Sanctuary,run by the cruel father-and-son tandem of Landon (Brian Cox) and Dodge (Tom Felton),Caesar is pushed to his limit.

“Caesar has been brought up in an environment in which he’s loved and treated with respect,” Serkis says,“and he doesn’t really understand that he’s different than human beings. Then,after several events,when he’s actually defending Charles,he rages and experiences self-awareness. There’s a moment of self-recognition when he realises that he isn’t at all like these people who’ve raised him.”

The original The Planet Of The Apes (1968) left a “searing impression” on Serkis,he says. This is a very different film,but also familiar in that it’s an origin story and a prequel that begs the question of what happens when mankind overreaches and inadvertently brings about its own downfall.

The original film spawned a tidal wave of sequels and television series,of course,and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes could easily do the same.

“I think so,” says Serkis,who is due next in the films Wild Bill,The Adventures Of Tin Tin and,of course,Peter Jackson’s upcoming The Hobbit,in which he’ll reprise his role as Gollum and serve as a second-unit director.” This Apes story could carry on,easily. In the original movie it’s a very well-organised society with hierarchies and structure and oppression,and all the good and bad things in any society.” “What would be very interesting now is to see how the ape society organises itself and the decisions it takes and the successes and failings,” Serkis continues. “And what would be interesting for Caesar,if he’s a part of it,is how he’ll choose,or not,to take along with him the positive things that he learned from humanity. He makes some of those decisions in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes,but there could be more decisions to make in the future.”

Ian Spelling NYT Syndicate