Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Director Wes Ball Teases Larger Plans For Mae & Noa

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set generations after the events of War of the Planet of the Apes. Ape civilizations have emerged while humans have regressed to primitive and feral. Noa, a young Chimpanzee and member of the Eagle Clan, begins a harrowing quest to find those he lost, which leads him to Rakka, an Orangutan who follows the teachings of Caesar, an enigmatic human girl named Mae, and Proximus Caesar, the ape king who has twisted Caesar’s beliefs. As Noa grows throughout his adventure, he will be forced to make a decision that will determine the future of apekind.

This new installment in the beloved Planet of the Apes franchise is helmed by Wes Ball, who has been a fan since he first saw the original 1968 movie as a child. Ball manages to continue the legacy of Caesar and set the stage for what apes will become in Planet of the Apes while telling a new story with all new characters. The visual effects in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes are stunning, bringing emotional depth to the actors’ performances as apes and capturing both the beauty and horror of this world.

Screen Rant interviewed director Wes Ball about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. He discussed Proximus Caesar’s backstory and laying the groundwork for the original 1968 Planet of the Apes. Ball also explained the importance of the relationship between Noa and Mae, including how they are the key to his plans for potential sequels, and who the true heir to Caesar’s legacy is.

Wes Ball Teases Proximus Caesar’s Origin: “Many Apes Died”

Proximus Caesar stands out in the Planet of the Apes franchise as an antagonist because his fears and motivations aren’t wrong. Where the villains in the previous trilogy are a bit more clear, Proximus, like Black Panther’s Kilmonger, is more complicated because the concepts he believes in aren’t wrong or evil, but the way in which he goes about it is what steers him down the path of villain.

Wes Ball: I think we’ve evolved as an audience to expect depth to our villains. It just makes it interesting that there’s no easy outs for Noa as a character and he has to really consider what Proximus says to him. He’s going to take that into hopefully future movies. How is he going to be changed by what he learned from Proximus, what he learned from Raka? I think it’s interesting questions there.

One of the things that was interesting to me about Proximus Caesar is we don’t really see a lot of his backstory or his origin or how he knew about Caesar. Was that something you worked on with Kevin?

Wes Ball: We kind of talked about these things. There’s still room to explore where that goes. We took some stuff out because we want to see where we go. But I always saw it as he stems from, there’s a deleted scene from Raka and he talks about long ago, this split that happened and many apes died. So there’s really a fork somewhere in what was left the remains of Caesar’s world.

You can imagine there’s still apes out there that believed in Koba’s version of things. There are these competing ideas of where apes should go forward. There was a split somewhere that happened where you can imagine Maurice went off to start to found this order of Caesar where he learned about the teachings of who he really was.

Then someone else who latched onto apes together strong and all that kind of stuff. And maybe lose some of those other ideas that weren’t so important. I think that’s interesting for our times, truth, knowledge, and how they’re so delicate and fragile. So yeah, there’s ideas there, we’ll see where it all takes us.

Noa And Mae Are The Key To Planet Of The Apes Moving Forward

Noa and Mae are the ape and the human at the center of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. While Noa is the clear protagonist experiencing the world for the first time, Mae is more of a mystery. Ball revealed why he wanted them at the center of not just Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, but potential sequels as well.

Wes Ball: You start the movie thinking this is a movie about an ape named Noa. But you’re really, in the movie, realizing this is a movie about Noa and Mae. It is both their movie. Mae is this character that’s an enigma that gets unwrapped slowly all the way up to the very last few minutes of the movie, where a door opens up to I think many more possibilities for the human species.

But the core relationship between these two, what they went through together, the things they learned about each other, both good and bad, is going to be hugely important to the drama that could unfold if we’re lucky enough to make more.

You’ve talked about how by the end, this kind of feels more like Noa and Mae’s movie, assuming we get a sequel or another trilogy. Would you want to follow both characters?

Wes Ball: Yes. Yeah, That’s key.

I love that we kind of get this resentment from Mae that makes sense because humans have essentially lost at this point. How do you think her feelings about Apes evolve as she gets to know them more personally?

Wes Ball: You could imagine her as a character learning about how apes were the cause of their downfall, which probably wasn’t true. She has a certain idea of what these things are and she’s forced to accompany two very gentle, nice apes. I think it really changes her idea of what apes are and what they’re capable of.

In a way she sees this how close they are to each other, both of them. That’s the interesting dynamic of these movies is that we’re the same but different, and can we live together? That’s kind of what these apes movies have always really analyzed. I think they both are changed because of their experiences together. Hopefully for the better.

Exploring The Apes Bronze Age Allowed Wes Ball To “Develop New Cultures”

Ball specifically chose to explore the Apes’ Bronze Age in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as they begin to evolve mentally and culturally beyond what was seen in War of the Planet of the Apes. While there is still a lot of ground to cover before the Apes become the society seen in Planet of the Apes, Ball wanted to touch on this part of their history.

Wes Ball: Just seeing that the next step. It opened up the opportunities for us to kind of develop new cultures, a new visual palette of the world itself. So much time has passed what’s become of the world, the lost knowledge along the way. That sense of our own march through civilization, how we developed kingdoms and authoritarian rulers.

It just felt like a neat flavor to add to these Apes movies as they kind of ultimately steer towards that ’68 version of Charlton Hesson coming down from the skies into this world of apes that have been living with democracy and whole ideas about the world around them. It seemed cool, something to play with.

What inspired the Eagle Clan and their connection to the Eagles?

Wes Ball: It was just the idea of, again, that march through civilization echoing our human history, how we domesticated dogs. Well why not? Apes can domesticate eagles. Plus it looks really cool.

Wes Ball “Wanted [The Feral Humans] To Be Naked” During The Hunt Scene

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set between the most recent trilogy centered around Caesar and the original Planet of the Apes. Ball incorporated elements of both, with Caesar’s legacy being an important throughline in the movie as pieces of the Apes’ culture in the 1968 film begin to take hold, including the apes hunting feral humans.

Wes Ball: It was a way for us to have a foot in worlds of the Caesar trilogy and the ’68 original. That was the goal, is to be somewhere in between those two movies and draw from that same DNA. Which is what the previous movies did too. So I would say that we’re kind of a prequel and a sequel in a way. So hopefully fans of the original ’68 version will see some echoes of where this trilogy, where this franchise ultimately ends up. It’s cool stuff to play with.

Can you talk to me about filming the hunt scene?

Wes Ball: Yeah, it was difficult. Fun, to see those people. It felt like, Wow, we’re doing a Planet of the Apes movie here guys. I actually had a little bit different visual style for the feral humans. I wanted them to be naked. I wanted to, I had concept designs. I even did some makeup tests with it. It was just, we couldn’t go there, unfortunately. But it was pretty cool.

I am sure we’ll continue to evolve on their designs as we go forward, because feral humans, there’s still some echo of human in there. Even though they are kind of diminished to where they’re animals now, but there’s still something in them that would make them…

You see it occasionally, but they’ll smear mud in certain patterns. There’s certain hierarchical things that you kind of see them as this slightly intelligent creature. So it’d be fun to keep playing with them as a different type of character in the movie.

Wes Ball On The Heir To Caesar’s Legacy: Is It Raka Or Noa?

Proximus Caesar and Raka have a fundamentally different understanding of Caesar’s philosophy. Proxmius has taken his name and leans into the idea of “Apes Together Strong” from a physical sense and from the perspective of a tyrannical leader. Raka instead sees that strength from a more holistic perspective and believes that humans and apes living side by side it the ultimate goal. However, Noa undoubtedly has a connection to Caesar as well.

Wes Ball: Raka, I think, even if he’s not quite right all the time, he really understands what Caesar stood for. What ape should aspire to become. Proximus has wielded Caesar’s legacy as a weapon to steer other apes in a particular direction. I think it’s an interesting thing for Noa as this kind of blank slate who doesn’t know who Caesar is, to interpret both these ideas of Caesar, who he was, and how he carries Caesar’s torch forward into the future. It’ll be fun to play with.

There’s even this little thing where, spiritually, there’s a lot of connections to Caesar through Noa. He’s a chimpanzee, destiny gave him the same scar right here [on his chest]. As you see in the movie, that same birthmark that Caesar had which some people caught in the trailer. “He’s Caesar!” He’s not.

There’s destiny at foot here. There’s something mythic about it all. So even the very first frame of the movie and the last frame of the movie is very similar. So we tried to play with that kind of stuff.

Ball also shared that one of his favorite surprises about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is how audiences have connected with so many different characters. While for some it is the main protagonists or antagonists, others connect with the characters who don’t have as much screen time.

Wes Ball: I was not expecting people to fall in love with Dar, which is Noa’s mother as much. She has a very small role in the movie in a way, but every time she shows up I love her. And Sarah Wiseman, who plays her, did a really fantastic job and I’ve had multiple people who watched the movie tell me how much they love her character.

I love those things that happen where so many people have watched the movie that I’ve talked to. They all have the different favorites, which is awesome. Some people love Mae, some people love Noa, some people love Proximus and some people are rock. Of course it’s an easy one I think. But that’s cool. That’s really great.

Some people love Lightning. This little character, this bald ape that was playing around electricity and got a scar on the side of his face. They call him lightning. That’s cool. That’s cool that people, they’re distinct enough that you can pick him out and I like that guy or that girl. That’s cool.

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