Andy Serkis knows the ins and outs of performance capture technology better than any other actor on the planet. He’s brought to life Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films, he’s played Kong in King Kong, and he’s revisiting Gollum for the two The Hobbit movies. And with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, he’s charged with making the central ape in the story (‘Caesar’) into a character that audiences will understand and embrace.
In this interview in support of the film’s August 5, 2011 release, Serkis talks about what attracted him to the film, playing Caesar, the performance capture technology, the motivations of James Franco’s character (‘Will Rodman’), and the ape sanctuary scenes in the film:
The Plot:
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present-day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.
