NOA’S ARC

KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES New hairy hero Noa heads up a fresh chapter in the apocalyptic primate saga, as past and future begin to converge…

Humanity’s devolution, Caesar’s death, his son Cornelius continuing his legacy… it’s a satisfying place to pause. Our minds can fill in the gap between the Planet of the Apes prequel saga’s conclusion and where the story picks up in the original 1968 film, set 2,000-odd years in the future. And yet here comes Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, starting a likely new trilogy.

Set 300-ish years after War…, it follows young ape Noa (Owen Teague), living under the rule of tyrannical leader Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), an evolved bonobo who has rejected Caesar’s credo and is enslaving apes as he searches for lost human tech. A journey of discovery begins for Noa when the chimpanzee meets Mae (Freya Allen), a young feral human.

‘All these trilogies tend to wane a little bit by the end,’ says director Wes Ball, known for the dystopian Maze Runner films. He had to ask himself, why make a new movie? ‘There’s something uninteresting about just following the adventures of Caesar’s son. The fact that we get to [time] jump and start with new characters, a new story, and have a new perspective on things, opens up a host of new ideas.’

Ball’s aim? To balance the tone of the existing trilogy with ‘turning a new page’. The music is designed to pull everything together – Ball asked composer John Paesano to take one part Jerry Goldsmith, who scored the original 1968 Apes, and one part Dawn and War’s Michael Giacchino. ‘The rest is yours,’ he told him. ‘These movies are bigger than any director, any actor,’ says Ball. ‘There is a huge, long legacy. We’re trying to make sure that we’re staying not faithful [to] but respectful of what’s come before us.’

Aesthetically, Kingdom stands apart. ‘We’re definitely our own thing,’ says the director. ‘Camera-wise, [also] lighting for the environment itself, is very different from the “Vancouver look” that the other movies were shot in.’

Ball was tasked with bringing a new audience to the historically male-skewed franchise. He’s tried hard to appease existing fans, but also asked himself if he could make a movie you can take your kids to. ‘Apocalypto with apes’, as he initially pitched it, seems a tough call for a family audience, but he stresses that Kingdom is fun. ‘We tried to find that tone, that sweet spot, where we can open this franchise up to people who haven’t seen these movies before.’

Taking the reins of a major, acclaimed series like Planet of the Apes, however, is daunting. ‘When I was first asked about doing this, I wasn’t jumping at the chance,’ admits Ball, intimidated to follow in the footsteps of Rise director Rupert Wyatt and Dawn and War helmer Matt Reeves. It’s been a steep learning curve. ‘I feel like just now that I’m entering the last stretch, I’ve finally figured out how to make these movies.’

KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES IS IN CINEMAS ON 24 MAY.

‘These movies are bigger than any director, any actor. There is a huge, long legacy’

WES BALL