There are cinema images that leave a lasting impression. Like the final scene of The Planet of the Apes (1968) by Franklin Schaffner: Charlton Heston, an astronaut who has made a leap into the future and landed on a planet that resembles Earth but colonized by primates, falls to his knees on a deserted beach upon discovering the Statue of Liberty mired in sand, symbol of a fallen civilization and the eventual extinction of humanity.
This dizzying and astonishing plan ignited the boundless imagination of Hollywood screenwriters who produced four sequels in the 1970s, a failed remake by Tim Burton in 2001, before revitalizing the franchise with a particularly successful prologue, Planet of the Apes origins (2011) by Rupert Wyatt, which spawned a trilogy that was as intelligent as it was spectacular and totaled $1.6 billion in global box office revenue.
Pierre Boulle, the French writer who published the famous science fiction novel in 1963, which he considered unsuitable for the big screen, could never have predicted such enthusiasm. Even today, we remain fascinated by his story of relentless and visionary anticipation, which tells how men returned to the wild, deprived of speech, the consequence of a pandemic having decimated the majority of the population and favored the the meteoric evolution of monkeys, who have become dominant.
A philosophical tale and political allegory to warn against the arrogance and violence of our war-prone species, the best-seller captivated Wes Ball, the 43-year-old American director who takes over the reins of the saga with Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom. The action takes place several generations after the death of Caesar, the first ape who acquired his independence and rallied his peers to his side to create a community in the forest.
We see that they reproduce the errors of humans since different clans have formed and compete to reign. Thus, the young chimpanzee Noa sees his daily life turned upside down the day gorillas round up all the inhabitants of his village so that they serve as slaves to Proximus, a tyrant claiming to be the heir of Caesar, a messiah who sacrificed everything for survival of his peers…
The rest after this ad
“We exchanged a few ideas and this is where I am now”
Wes Ball continues to enrich and reinvent the mythology with a visually splendid opus, which takes the form of a coming-of-age road movie with a hero having to endure trials to grow. “Ten years ago, I was in New Orleans on the set of my first film, The Labyrinth, he remembers. In the studio next door, Matt Reeves was directing Planet of the Apes. Some technicians came and went between the two sets. Therefore, I took a look at my neighbor. (Laughs.) We exchanged some ideas and this is where I am now. »
He wasn’t even born in 1968. Yet when Wes Ball watched The Planet of the Apes As a kid, he was haunted for a long time by the image of primates on horseback, guns slung over their shoulders. Today, he is in charge of a perilous mission: to ensure the connection with the classic, while benefiting from a fairly enjoyable freedom while respecting a certain coherence so as not to betray the original work. To achieve this, he chose to adopt the point of view of the monkey, who demonstrates wisdom and kindness when the only human representative is ambiguous and unfriendly.
“A challenge to reverse the perspective,” he admits. We feel empathy for Noa. I evoke the utopia of living together, how charismatic leaders manipulate public opinion with untruths to enslave it, how fear pushes us to the worst. » Without forgetting the religious metaphor with a false prophet invoking Caesar, twisting his word for his profit and committing atrocities in his name.
Filming took place in Australia, in partnership with Weta Digital, a special effects company founded by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings). The method used is performance capture: actors and stuntmen embody the monkeys in natural settings, their faces and bodies studded with sensors so that their digital avatars reproduce their expressions and movements. The result is striking realism.
“No question of my characters looking like soulless stuffed animals,” he insists. It is a computer creation, but guided by live performers. I got a taste for it. I’m announcing it to you: I’m inaugurating a new trilogy! »
Planet of the Apes, The New Kingdom, by Wes Ball, with Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Peter Macon and Kevin Durand. 2:25 a.m. Release Wednesday.
