Well, Father Geek received this bit of news today, some of it good, some not so good. Of course keep in mind that seeing sets, costumes, makeup in person is never as nice as in a finished motion picture with all the special lighting and atmospherics added, not to mention CGI. The look of the film isn't what bothers Father Geek here. Burton will see to it that it looks and feels great. What worrys me are those comments about the script, hopefully Tim will work those problems out before all is said and done.
I love your site - and here's some interesting
news for you and your readers about the new
PLANET OF THE APES - or - as it's listed here on
the Sony Studio lot --- THE VISITOR. Stage 29
has an absolutely COLOSSAL set - it's known as
the APE BASE CAMP (there are even signs outside
the stage in the studio street that say that, in
front of some of the make-up trailors. The set
itself is literally the largest set I've ever
seen. This is Sony's (formerly MGM's) biggest
soundstage; it's the same stage where they built
the giant miniature amusement park for
Speilberg's 1941, which I used to walk around in
when they were shooting here. Anyway, the Base
Camp rises right up to the rafters - it's easily
over 4 stories tall. It's actually a city 'built
into the rock', like one of the famous American
Indian dwellings built into sheer rock faces.
Gray in color. Magnificent. Huge blocks of
foamcore were used - they were carved by hand,
assembled & glued onto the wooden scaffoldings,
forming 'glacier-size' stone faces, complete with
steps to walk up. It's literally built in 3
dimentions - so the camera can do a 360 degree
turn if director Tim Burton wants to. Brush,
plants & tree branches has been strewn throughout
the setting to make it look absolutely real.
Now the the APES themselves. I've seen about 6
or 7 of the ape people. To tell the truth, the
make-ups, while superbly (and realistically)
done, are disappointing. The ape make-ups are
nothing more than a standard gorilla or
chimpanzee head sticking out of futuristic
clothing. It's as if Rick Baker pulled a bunch of
his great GREYSTOKE, THE LEGEND OF TARZAN ape
masks/prostectics from the back of his shop, did
some minor recycling, and threw them onto actors
wearing clothes. There was No stylization, no
creativity in the design of the make-ups. But
don't blame Baker; Burton is directing the film,
and the decision is his. It's going to be
regular-looking apes and gorillas with moving
mouths to voice the words.
Beyond that, this film's story will feature a
revolt of the humans against the apes. The
humans of the planet are actors in loincloth or
pelt clothing, covered with lots of dirt & mud
smears. Nothing to write home about.
Beyond that, one of my friends has talked with a
(very important) production member on this film -
sorry, I can't give out his name - this would
embarrass him (not to mention, get him in a great
deal of trouble), and he's 'way too near the top
of this picture - but the man said that the
script is really "not much, a real
disappointment. It should have been better." He
hoped Burton would get some kind of polish by the
guys who worked at the 'tale end of the
scriptwriting stage on SLEEPY HOLLOW' (perhaps he
was referring to Tom Stoppard?). He did say that
the writing of scriptwriting team of Konner and
Rosenthal was "Mediocre. Totally uninspired.
Forgettable dialogue."
Well, I hope you can use this. If you'd
like me to find out more, let me know.
Sincerely,
The Spy in Culver City
Father Geek back with some added info...
H.G. Wells here. I've been workin' overtime at the good ol' WB lot,
and though we're done for X-Mas, I was contracted to work over at Sony for
the next couple of weeks. This is fine by me, cuz I'm a huge Apes fan. Read
the talk about the set... it is definitely impressive as defined in the
article. A few more tidbits that you may or may not know (I'm holdin' onto
the real good stuff for awhile... I don't wanna piss off Burton too much.):
Tim Roth is indeed playing Cornelius. He looks freakin' great in
makeup, although your spy was correct- the actual makeup itself is pretty
standard. But really, what can you do with monkey masks?
Nova (who still does not speak, apparently) has a family. Yep. Papa
Nova, and Nova brother/sister (?).
More monkey-biz to follow...
H.G. Wells (aka Beppo the super-monkey)
Father Geek again with still more APES info...
I'm working on the film...WAY at the bottom. I'll be one of the
Background apes. While I have not seen the set he described(yet), I did see
some of the stages downtown at L.A. Center Studios. This is where I went to
"Ape School". I'll talk about that in a second.
When I first approached the stages, several workers were unloading and
categorizing large dry twisted trees. Standard Burton fare, but I love the
look of it. I imagine him auditioning the dead trees, seeking the perfect
dark and twisty curves. It looks inside like they are "foresting" the stages.
Pretty cool, very Burton.
Then I went to ape school with 25 other extras. I'm an orangutan. There's
gorillas, and chimps, too. We got a detailed class in wearing the costumes,
including a demonstration with one of the "gorilla warrior" costumes.I
thought the costume was pretty cool. a rich red armor. The helmet stretches
back Alien style. It's a cool look.
The spy mentioned that the apes look just like apes, nothing special.
It's true, but as it was explained to me, the idea is that they are very much
more apes than the old school apes that are nearly human. These guys will be
AGILE! they will leap from tree to tree and in battle, will be much more
brutal and quick than the humans. Good luck Humans!
We were trained in ape movement by a talented guy whose name escapes
me(sorry). I do know that he worked on ape movement for Mighty Joe Young,
Greystoke,...I heard many ape movie names rattled off. An acrobat from Cirque
Du Soliel was his sidekick. We worked our asses off and I went home pretty
wrecked. We shared the stage with the stunt crew. They were working out the
leaping and attacking movements. A lot of very powerful ratchets, one which
lifted a net that "scooped" to humans out of a crowd. Cool shit.
enjoy,
Nutslap
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