You may not be familiar with the names Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, but you’re probably familiar with their work. Between being two of the scribes behind all of the Avatar sequels – including Way of the Water – they are also the minds behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes and all of its subsequent films too, including the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Now, while Kingdom doesn’t come out until next year, in an exclusive interview with the entertainment website FilmSpeak, the duo revealed that the film is actually only a few weeks away from wrapping production!
“We’re about to close production,” Silver confirmed, before Jaffa clarified that the shoot still has about three weeks left. The somewhat surprising news comes just over 3 years since the project was first announced and 3 months since filming began in Australia.
That’s not all! With so little known about the film so far, the scribes also teased that the next entry will still involve Caesar – but not in the way fans might expect.
After a “period of morning” as Silver called it, the two sat down and crafted a story that would build off of Caesar’s sacrifice. “Caesar created something and left a legacy,” Jaffa said, “So the [next] questions are: what happens with that? What becomes of his legacy?”
On top of answering those questions, the film will also take its time and continue to carve out other stories and new character arcs for the franchise. Jaffa made it abundantly clear that it isn’t time to connect to the original films just yet, posing the question, “Do we want to rush toward an ending [the beginning of the original Planet of the Apes], or do we want to find an interesting story to tell with interesting characters?”
As for what the future holds for the franchise post Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Jaffa also described the upcoming film as “fertile ground” for the series to continue to grow. With no additional details to offer, it seems as if we’ll all just have to use our imaginations until the film comes out.
Now the only inkling we have about the film’s potential plot comes from industry insider Daniel RPK, who suggests that the film will take place generations after War for the Planet of the Apes. Additionally, he hints that the story will follow several ape and human characters whose lives become entwined a search for some “ancient” human technology and a creeping revolution.
READ: James Cameron Confirms ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Will Break Even, More Sequels To Come
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set to star Owen Teague (Black Mirror), Freya Allan (Gunpowder Milkshake), Peter Macon (The Orville), Kevin Durand (The Strain), Eka Darville (Jessica Jones), Travis Jeffery (Unbroken), Neil Sandilands (Sweet Tooth), Sara Wiseman (One Of Us Is Lying), Ras-Samuel Welda’abzgi (The Clearing) and Lydia Peckham (Cowboy Bebop), and William H. Macy (Shameless).
Based on a novel by French writer Pierre Boulle, the original Planet of the Apes film starred Charlton Heston and revolved around an astronaut who lands on a planet and discovers an advanced ape civilization ruling over primitive humans.
The movie was a commercial and critical hit upon its 1968 release and spawned numerous sequels and a TV series throughout the 1970s. In 2001, Tim Burton remade the movie as a campy sci-fi action-adventure film starring Mark Wahlberg. Not only did it fail to excite audiences, but it essentially killed the franchise until Jaffa and Silver’s 2011 reboot.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters May 24, 2024.
SOURCE: FilmSpeak
About Post Author
