Infusing new life into The Planet Of The Apes film franchise based on the 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle was always going to be an exercise in reinvention and innovation to keep audiences invested. The first series of five Ape films ran from 1968 through 1973, with a remake in 2001 directed by Tim Burton.
A decade later in 2011, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver created the reboot “Caesar” series with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes starring new characters they created including Caesar (Andy Serkis) who led the tribe of enhanced apes.
The fourth film in the series Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes is set three hundred years, and several generations, following Caesar’s tragic death when tribal apes are the dominant species on the planet and humans are living in the shadows. But every tribe needs a leader, and with power comes the potential for its abuse. Caesar was torn between his love of humans and their potential for brutal cruelty. Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who now leads the apes, is less trusting of humans, but aware of their technological innovations that can benefit the apes.
Josh Friedman
Co-writer Josh Friedman (Fantastic Four, Avatar: The Way Of The Water) spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about tackling the current instalment of the Apes franchise.
Friedman adds that despite the power reversal in the way apes and humans interact, apes are hardly dominant. The apes never set out to acquire power, but they have it nonetheless, and are figuring out how to best wield it.
Proximus Caesar has had the most exposure to humans. “He’s probably been infected by more of the human gene of power and dominance than any of the other apes.”
“I think this was important to try to differentiate the different clans of apes, different types of apes with different experiences in a different location who have a different attitude towards power,” ponders Friedman.
The Eagle Clan exists in its own world relatively uninfluenced from human power dynamics and content in that balance. “They’re the ones that were the most balanced in the beginning of the movie and they’re the ones thrown out of that.”
Noa and Raka
The character of Noa (Owen Teague), son of Koro (Neil Sandilands), is based on Friedman’s son who manifested signs of scrupulosity OCD, which is compulsive need to truth tell and follow laws exactly as written to his detriment. As such, Noa is less overt and falls into background. The Eagle Clan, which he’s part of, is a well-structured and benevolent society with very strict rules. “Noa’s father is quite strict, which is was a lot like my father,” mentions Friedman.
Noa’s constantly trying to prove himself to his father adds a layer of coming of age to the story. It’s also a high risk road movie. They can pick him as their leader or cast him out and destroy all the laws that he follows “into chaos, into a forbidden area through a tunnel.”
He then meets Raka (Peter Macon) and others who challenges Noa’s ideas. “Rules that you adhered to don’t exist or aren’t relevant, and you’re going to have to find your own place to figure out your own rules.”
Noa (Owen Teague) and Raka (Peter Macon) Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios
“In the third act, the clan says, “Hey, we belong to Proximus now. That’s our law.”
Raka is an orangutang remembers Caesar’s actual teachings of decency, morality, and strength. He lives in the remains of a disintegrating airport and preaches tolerance and peace with humans. Proximus follows a subverted brand of Caesar’s teachings.
Josh Friedman states that although a big movie like Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes feels beyond a screenwriter’s personal experience, many storylines are constructed from his personal experience. His father was living his last days while Josh was writing this script, so themes of loss also permeated throughout the script.
“I was contemplating being unmoored from my own father. The bird that follows no one around is very clearly an avatar for his father and his father’s expectations. These were things that I was contemplating as the emotional core of the movie.”
“Noa ends up with competing fathers Raka and Proximus, and from his point of view, they’re one thing. And then, from the legacy of Caesar, they’re another thing.”
A Study Of Power
The enhanced apes under the leadership of Proximus display the various sides of power – the acquisition, the abuse, and the shifting of who holds it.
“Information and disinformation are also part of power [as evidenced by Proximus]. Whose stories they are, who tells them, what they are, who listens to them, and who believes them are more important than laws and rules. They’re more powerful and lasting,” states Friedman.
“It’s also about a character trying to navigate a number of different narratives and parsing through various authority figures trying to figure out basically what’s true or not true for him.”
The interaction of knowledge and power is apparent when Proximus covets the human book of secret words left behind by Caesar which he falsely believes will save them.
The abstract ideas of faith, wonder, and new ways of thinking are beyond the scope of the Eagle Clan who live by a rigid set of rules. This was explored more in earlier drafts, but was thinned out later. These ideas were designed to differentiate between the thought processes of humans and apes.
Noa and Raka aren’t given any decisive answers regarding the truth, allowing them to make up their own minds based on their characters. Even today, people are wrestling with the truth as perceived by historical figures whether they are humans or apes.
Nova/ Mae (Freya Allan) Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Kingdom is largely told from Noa’s point of view. “He’s heroic, sympathetic and decent.” In service to the other characters, Friedman also touches on other characters’ points of view whether they’re from Proximus and the apes or from Nova/ Mae (Freya Allen) and the humans.
“They both have some decent points, and in some ways, it’s about tribalism as opposed to heroes and villains. I think for various reasons, Noa does end up heroic because he rejects that divisive tribalism to a degree.” Nova/ Mae just wants to enter the vault to retrieve the human book and activate the satellite to establish contact with humanity. She also doesn’t want the apes learning more than they should. The book is for humans only.
“I think that there’s kind of a negotiation that’s going on where she needs Noa to help her get into the vault. Noa is curious and smart enough that she knows she’s making a little bit of a deal with the devil, where she has to give him more knowledge than she would want him to have in order to stop Proximus from having that knowledge. Maybe she’s defeated Proximus, but she’s also to a degree, radicalized Noa against her.”
Hybrid Genre
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes is a broad science-fiction post-apocalyptic movie infused with other genres in its storytelling. There’s a strong coming of age element to it as Noa matures. “The second act of the movie is more of a road movie. “It’s not a thriller. It’s not really an action movie,” continues Friedman.
“It has great set pieces, but it wants to sit quieter and longer in places. It made me really happy that there were scenes in the middle that were a little more contemplative and quieter. They were about the power of the architecture and about the power of nature. And about the smallness of these characters in this world.”
“I always describe the movie as picaresque,” he quips.
By the end, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes revisits its central questions of whether humans and apes can harmoniously live together side by side as intelligent species, but doesn’t provide a final answer. That’s for the audience to decide.
[More: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver On “Avatar: The Way Of Water]
