Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Director Talks Time Jump, The Ape Bronze Age & Easter Eggs

Caesar’s legacy continues in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which is set hundreds of years later and follows a new hero, Noa. The young ape is captured, along with one of the few surviving humans, by Proximus Caesar. A leader in his own right Proximus Caesar follows his interpretation of Caesar’s teachings and admires the advancements in technology humanity made so long ago. However, as Noa learns more about Caesar and the legendary leader’s beliefs, his eyes are opened to the truth of the past and the world around him. His actions will decide the course of history for both apes and humans alike.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the next step towards the original Planet of the Apes movies. This is reflected not just in how the apes and their culture have evolved but also in the motivation of the villainous Proximus Caesar. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes can delve into the familiar themes of the franchise while also showing how Caesar’s legends have changed as he grew into a legend after his death. This gives director Wes Ball the freedom to explore this beloved franchise, honoring the work that has come before without being shackled to every detail of the past movies.

During WonderCon, Screen Rant had the chance to catch up with director Wes Ball about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. He explained how the massive time jump allowed him to tell a new story while honoring the legacy of Caesar and laying the groundwork for the original Planet of the Apes movie. This includes Easter eggs from those movies and exploring the Apes Bronze Age.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Is “A New Chapter In This Long Legacy Of Movies”

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball, who has been working on the movie for nearly five years, explained why he wanted this to be a new chapter for the Planet of the Apes franchise with some distance from the Caesar trilogy. This isn’t part four in that story, but the legacy of Caesar is key to the story being told in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Wes Ball: The studio came and asked, “What would you do with the next Planet of the Apes movie?” Which by the way, when this movie comes out, will be just shy of five years ago. So it’s been that long now. We survived a regime change at the studio. We survived the pandemic.

Many, many obstacles along the way of the development of this movie, so it wasn’t totally constant necessarily. But it was obviously a very daunting task to follow up what is kind of a perfect trilogy. But really for me, it was just how do we find that balance where we can be our own standalone thing?

We are a new chapter in this long legacy of movies since 1968, but still honor what came before us. So that’s what we tried very hard to find is that balance between being our own thing, but still feeling like it belonged. Not just tonally, but even story-wise. We are an extension, a continuation of that Caesar legacy, but we are our own new characters and story, and it opens up new opportunities.

I know there’s people that wanted to see Cornelius and The Adventures of Cornelius. Someone can still do that story. But the fact that we got to have this distance from that movie, it just opened up new opportunities that are going to let us do something even more exciting and big than maybe people were expecting. So I’m really excited. I think we picked the right way to do this and so it doesn’t just feel like a part four. It feels like a new chapter, a new page in this long awesome legacy of movies.

Ball remained tight-lipped on the specific timeline of how many years this takes place after Caesar’s death. However, the larger time jump, of hundreds of years, was an important part of what got him excited to make this movie. While audiences have experienced Caesar’s journey for the characters, his lessons, the tragedy he faced, and what he built have become legends for the apes, leaving the interpretation of Caesar’s work up to the apes who didn’t learn it from him, but from being passed down through generations.

Wes Ball: That for me was the thing that made me excited. It was like when I was first asked, it could be anything. It could be following this blah, blah, blah. And it wasn’t until we came with that idea that suddenly it opened up all these amazing opportunities that we could do something that is interesting.

It’s more interesting than just another one. So that distance I think is key for me. It turns the lore of Caesar into the stuff of myth and legend. It’s fun to examine what has happened to the legacy of that guy, his story, how has it been corrupted? What has survived? There’s great ideas there that are very thought-provoking ideas of what happens to truth?

That’s very apropos for just not only today, but also Planet of the Apes in general. Remember Dr. Zaius and all the truth that they hit. That’s part of these legacies of these movies. So we get to, like I said, be a part of this thing that makes these movies so great, but do our own thing with it. You know what I mean?

Ball discussed the impressive technological advancements that have lent themselves to an even stronger visual impact on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. He used older cameras to capture a look and feel similar to movies from the 70s, eliciting similar warm tones to the original Planet of the Apes while also working with WETA to employ some of the most advanced motion capture CG work he’s ever seen.

Wes Ball: It’s whole new characters and I think just a visual thing is the approach we took was one, we were going to shoot on really old lenses. This is the first Apes movie I think, at least compared to say the previous three, where we’re shooting on anamorphic lenses. And so what that basically means is it feels like one of those old movies from the ’70s that you watched.

So the lenses are kind of crappy on the sides. Even our LUT is based on an old Agfa film LUT. I hadn’t even heard of it before. So it’s this old ’70s thing that does a really great interesting thing to the skin tone. So it has a feel like it’s this old found movie from decades ago, even though it’s the most cutting edge, best visual effects you’ve ever seen. So that was a really fun process, but I can’t say enough good things.

I’ve been with him now for three and a half movies. I almost made Mouse Guard with him. It’s just something so humbling about working with the best people in the world at what they do. They create miracles on screen. It’s just incredible stuff. So you haven’t really seen much in the trailer yet, but there’s a tremendous amount of simulation work in this movie that I think is fantastic.

I think people will talk about it from a geeky visual effects standpoint because they’re doing things they just haven’t done before. Just the simulation data, the cache files that they render for this stuff, it’s 10 to 11 petabytes of material. That’s more than the weight of water.

Well, that was what I’m told. It’s almost a billion processor hours of compute time on this stuff. It’s staggering the amount of sheer geeky technical stuff on this movie, but all in service of just incredible storytelling, of what they’re able to do. Take this actor who gives his performance of his life on camera in the environment we’re shooting and with the real light and the real sun going down, and we’re all racing, Oh my God. Go, go, go.

Then we take that footage, we edit it, we give it over to WETA, and then a shot that comes back is this living, breathing ape that looks like the actor. It looks like them, but it’s not them. So it’s like a miracle. It’s amazing. It’s amazing to watch what they do. And like I said, I think it’s some of the best work they’ve ever done.

Planet of the Apes Fans Will Be “Rewarded Greatly” While Watching Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes

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Ball shared how the theme of man vs. ape is a core tenet of the movie. However, where the previous trilogy was set in the human world with Caesar coming into his own Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now an Ape world introducing a human that will shake things up, setting up an intriguing future that will lead to the original Planet of the Apes.

Wes Ball: That is really ultimately, I think, what the core concept of these movies is. What makes them tick. It is that kind of relationship between apes and humans. So we are no different, we are very much about that story. It’s an interesting thing that the previous set of movies really began in the human world, and it was about this ape who came into it.

We get to turn that on its head now and start with the ape world and see how a human comes in, changes that, and potentially opens many more doors literally for other installments. So the ape and human thing is very, very central to the story and the themes of this movie.

Ball made it clear that he is taking inspiration from the movies that have come before with imagery inspired by the original Planet of the Apes. He also revealed that the music in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes takes influence from Caesar’s trilogy with echoes of Giacchino peppered into the score. This allows them to lean into the idea of legacy and legend regarding Caesar and hint at the future of what this planet will become.

Wes Ball: We watched the original Planet of the Apes quite a bit. There’s some imagery in this movie that looks like it could have been lifted from that ’68 version and there’s even music. By the way, even some of our music, I told John Pisano, my composer who did the Maze Runner moves with me, “But it’s got to be a little bit Jerry Goldsmith. It’s got to be a little bit Giacchino and the rest is all yours.” So you’re going to hear echoes of themes from the Giacchino movies, for instance. You’re going to hear echoes, you’re going to hear almost straight nostalgic nods to the Goldsmith stuff that is so iconic, you know what I mean? So I think we have a lot of fun that way.

The Planet of the Apes franchise began in 1968 and has only grown in the decades since. While this may seem daunting to new fans, Ball reassures them that this is the perfect point to jump into the story. However, he also suggests watching the Caesar trilogy and the original Planet of the Apes, because if you have seen those four movies, there will be a pay-off, likely both in the story and through Easter eggs, for fans of the franchise as a whole.

Wes Ball: You do not have to see the previous movies to jump into this. This isn’t like season three of a TV series. It is designed, you will have enough to enjoy it for what it is. We have a little opening prologue that sets the table a little bit. But I will say this, I think it’s on Hulu or Disney Plus now or something, but go watch those previous three movies and go watch the 1968 version.

At least watch those four movies. You’ll be rewarded greatly if you have some familiarity with those movies when you go into this movie. But like I said, I think even the whole family can go to these things. There’s some thought provoking adult ideas in this thing, but there’s nothing gory, there’s too intense necessarily, but it is a mature kind of adventure but it’s safe for kids. They can take it.

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Enters “The Apes’ Bronze Age”

Ball described this movie as the Bronze Age for apes where the Caesar trilogy was the Stone Age. He broke down how this is the first step to the world of the 1968 movie teasing the destruction of the Statue of Liberty which plays a vital role in the original Planet of the Apes.

Wes Ball: You get to see how it came to be. That to me was a really interesting thing. I think we talked about this before, but if the last two movies were the apes in the Stone Age, we’re now entering the apes’ Bronze Age where they’re taking on cultures, developing rites of passage, legacy, legends are building, and things are being written down. Truths are being set in stone and new civilizations are being born.

So we get to see our own self, our species, essentially how we march through the eras of our civilization. We get to just have that first little step towards that ’68 version where we have apes doing democracy and blowing up Statue of Liberties and all that kind of stuff. We just get to see a little piece of that start, that beginning so it’s cool.

Ball explained that while he isn’t sure if the franchise will ever catch up to the 1968 movie, he hopes they never remake the movie. He instead pitches covering the time between Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and the 1968 movie, leading all the way up to an immediate prequel without overtaking that movie.

Wes Ball: I think there’s plenty of runway for this franchise, and I’m sure I’ll be doing something else someday. I don’t know, I’ll leave it there. Let me say this. If I had my druthers, and again, this is not my choice to make, you would not remake the 1968 version. You would make a bunch of them.

You could maybe make another three after these three. You could do a lot, there’s a lot of story to mine there. There’s a lot of time to mine there. Go all the way up to the point where an ape, it looks up and sees a spaceship crashing down. Boom, cut to black. It goes back to ’68, and you start all over again. That would be the way to go. I think in my mind.

Why There’s A Large Time Jump From Caesar’s Story (But Cornelius Still Deserves To Have His Story Told)

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Ball was never interested in telling the story of Caesar’s son, Cornelius, but he thinks someone else could tackle that tale in an interesting standalone outside the new trilogy that he is building. Ball wanted the space to explore this world separately from the previous trilogy while still honoring the legacy it left behind and continuing to lay the groundwork for the original Planet of the Apes.

Wes Ball: I totally appreciate why. I totally agree too. I think Cornelius is a great character and that opportunity is still there. This movie does not replace the previous three trilogy. It does not replace the fact that someone could still do a little standalone story between our three.

So for me, it was not interesting enough. I needed to have something that was new. It was different. I think we’ve seen that in just the world, the state of the movie business that we’re in right now, I think you see it. Audiences are getting a little tired of the same thing.

So the best thing to do is to give it a fresh face and start kind of a new, and our story embraces that idea. It’s about rediscovering, unearthing, kind of what came before. And so just to follow the same character, it just would not yield as much, at least stuff for me personally, to get excited. I’d certainly love to watch that movie. I just don’t think I would’ve made that movie.

Ball confirmed that more characters like Ulysses will be introduced in his movies. He also shared how intricate the interconnected Easter eggs are in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, including audio cues taken directly from the original Planet of the Apes. This is grounded in the movies that came before while still bringing something new to the franchise, which is reflected throughout with visual, audio, and music cues honoring what came before as well as story elements tied to the previous movies.

Wes Ball: There’s stuff from the ’68 movie. There’s definitely stuff from the previous three movies. Even down to, I don’t know if any of the fans know the ’68 version. There was a scene with a baby doll and there was a baby doll, and we took literally that sound from the archives and we’re using it in this movie. So there’s stuff like that all over the place.

Even sounds that you heard from those movies that sound department is even inserting in here and there. Just trying to stay part of that tradition, that history, honor that stuff. But there’s Easter eggs everywhere for anyone who really, like I said, who have seen those movies, they’ll see a lot of that kind of stuff.

About Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

Source: Screen Rant Plus