The film's main set, Ape City, was constructed on a rented sound stage at Sony Pictures Studios, since all the Fox stages were occupied. Construction began last July and took four months. "Then we have a week after we wrap to tear it down, since 'Spider-Man' is due to come in right after us," Winter says. ('Spider-Man" is now filming for release next summer.)
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Remaking, Not Aping, an Original
Director Tim Burton, makeup artist Rick Baker and their crew were charged with making a 'Planet of the Apes' for a new century.
SUMMER SNEAKS
FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Friday June 29, 2001 Home Edition Part A Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 1 inches; 21 words Type of Material: Correction
Writing credit--A May 6 Sunday Calendar story on "Planet of the Apes" should have said Michael Wilson co-wrote the screenplay of the 1968 original.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday July 1, 2001 Home Edition Calendar Page 2 Calendar Desk 1 inches; 21 words Type of Material: Correction
Writing credit--A May 6 Sunday Calendar story on "Planet of the Apes" should have said Michael Wilson co-wrote the screenplay of the 1968 original.
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The Ape City set resembles a giant pop-up jungle storybook, with every alcove holding another, more compact location. "The great challenge with Ape City," says production designer Rick Heinrichs, who is a veteran Burton collaborator, "was not only that it serve the action, but that it say something about the apes, their dual nature. Aspects of their culture and civilization had to be intertwined with their natural animal habitat."
More creative differences saw the departure of the film's original makeup artist, Stan Winston. He was replaced by Oscar perennial Baker, who considered using animatronic apes, but was more excited by the challenge of "actor driven" gorillas, chimps and orangutans, with movable faces (unlike the stolid masks in the original film). (See box, Page 7)
As astronaut Capt. Leo Davidson, who lands on the simian-run planet, Mark Wahlberg is sleekly and simply clad throughout the film. "I'm basically there just to get my ass kicked by guys in gorilla suits," he says. Wahlberg sheds his blue-collar screen persona in "Planet of the Apes," taking his first step toward playing a more sophisticated leading man. He's currently in Paris shooting Jonathan Demme's remake of "Charade," in which he plays the Cary Grant role.
But, he says, "I'm still having dreams about gorillas--that I'm in prison with a bunch of apes."
Last August, all the actors playing simians enrolled in "ape school" under the tutelage of Terry Notary, a former UCLA gymnast turned Cirque du Soleil performer. Like Baker, Notary had just come off "Grinch," for which he had taught "Who" school. "Tim wanted the apes to be realistic, about 20% ape, 80% human, since they were fairly developed," Notary explains. Most of the six weeks of training was in ape movement--shoulders down, knees bowed, arms swinging like independent appendages. "The walk took a long time," says Notary. "Once they got it, we started to develop how they would sit, eat, pick up something, throw a sword. Every little thing had to be learned. Nothing was normal. And there was a lot of maintenance."
