SERKIS RINGMASTER
5 things to know about the Dawn
Few in Hollywood expected the Planet of the Apes franchise to still have appeal in the 21st century, decades after the classic Charlton Heston sci-fi flick first hit theatres.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a different movie animal, even compared to 2011’s box office reboot, Rise of the Planet of the Apes:
1. The apes are the headliners.
The gorillas, chimps and orangutans are the featured attractions in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes as the action takes place 10 years after the Rise redo. We don’t see humankind (Gary Oldman and Keri Russell among them) until well into the movie. Director Matt Reeves calls this film “the apes’ movie.”
2. In the CGI world, Serkis is a star.
All of the primates are computer-generated images developed from performance capture. It makes Andy Serkis’s character, Caesar, the primate leader, the star of the show.
3. There is animated emoting.
Serkis says the performance capture in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the best yet. The actor made a name for himself refining the performance technique as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. He says Caesar is the most advanced.
“It had all the emotion of a live-action performance,” said Serkis. “Allowing for more facial performance has been a huge shift forward.”
4. Togetherness is a first, too.
Advancements in audio technology and the development of computerized cameras allowed the “ape actors” to be on one set with the director.
“It was one of the first films where we could all be on set together, providing an intimacy to the performances.”
5. Think of him as the Serkis ringmaster.
The British actor turned out to be the fearless performance-capture leader for the actors who were new to the technique.