"Planet of the Apes": filming announced
According to director Wes Ball, production of the new "Planet of the Apes" sequels is progressing so well that filming could begin soon.
"Planet of the Apes: Supremacy" will not be the final instalment in the franchise, which depicts a dystopian world where apes rule planet Earth, according to director Wes Ball, who confirms this in an interview with Discussing Film.
Source: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA
As far back as early February, the 39-year-old American indicated that the planned "Planet of the Apes" films are not a reboot, but the corollary to the trilogy released between 2011 and 2017 with, in the lead role, Andy Serkis. What is surprising in this interview is the announcement that filming will start soon despite the pandemic.
A virtual-based shoot.
Virtual filming thanks to motion capture
Wes Ball cites, not without a degree of cynicism, the coronavirus pandemic as the reason for the film's smooth production. He would therefore have taken advantage of the quiet of the house to polish the script in video conference with his screenwriter, Josh Friedman.
And:
We have a huge team of art designers behind a lot of incredibly fantastic visualisations of the script. It's coming along super well, so well that we could start virtual production pretty quickly. For the most part, this is a film made up of digital special effects.
By digital special effects, Wes Ball means that the film is primarily computer-generated, or to be quite accurate, motion capture,
a combination of technologies that James Cameron developed with New Zealand special effects company Weta Digital for Avatar, released in 2008: on the stage of an ultra-modern studio, the actors wear sensors on their bodies and faces. These are tracked by special cameras that trace the actors' movements on a computer model. In addition, a GoPro camera mounted in front of the face records all facial muscle and pupil movements.
Although this system was perfected for 2011's 'Planet of the Apes: Origins' with the aim of working smoothly on outdoor sets, Wes Ball is fortunate during the current pandemic that he doesn't have to go out to finish the initial shoot.
Details of the story itself are not yet known.
From "Mouse Guard" to "Planet of the Apes"
Wes Ball is not a big name in the film industry, a world he first treads in 2011 with his short film "Ruins". Three years later, he made his Hollywood directorial debut with the adaptation of the YA novel "The Labyrinth". Dithyrambic criticism and two successful sequels established his position in the film world.
His next project? The film adaptation of the famous children's comic strip by author and illustrator David Petersen "Mouse Guard", a story about intelligent mice who live in a medieval world and have to look after other intelligent animals.
As with "The Labyrinth", Wes Ball has been commissioned by film studio 20th Century Fox, which, around June 2018, released a first demo video.
With Matt Reeves as producer - he had already directed two of the three "Planet of the Apes" installments - and Andy Serkis in the lead role, the project seemed well underway. The production of "Mouse Guard" is suffering from the buyout of Fox by Disney in March 2019.
Luckily, the studio - now 20th Century Studios - has found a new occupation for Wes Ball: the "Planet of the Apes" franchise.
We can reuse a lot of the material from « Mouse Guard». We're using the same technology as well as the same producers, writers and actors for the most part. Basically, it's not too complicated to go from « Mouse Guard» to « Planet of the Apes».
Wes Ball says in the interview that he is perfectly aware that he is walking in the wake of the success of the new Planet of the Apes films. He assures fans that the sequels are in safe hands and that he has no plans to accept any drop in quality from the previous ones.
Don't want to miss out on anything from the world of film and TV? Then follow me by clicking on the 'Follow the author' button.
I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»