Behind the Planet of the Apes Page #9

..who was very wary of any more ape sequeIs.

lt's Doomsday.

I said ''How about if I set off this atom bomb|and bIow up the whoIe earth?''

And they said ''That's very good.''

Man is evil,|capable of nothing but destruction!

And I thought, that's the end of the sequeIs.

(trailer) The Planet of the Apes was only the|beginning. What lies beneath may be the end.

ReIeased on May 26th, 1970,...

..Beneath the Planet of the Apes|opened to a mixed criticaI reaction.

lnvade!

(trailer) The gorillas are on the march.

Human mutants strike back with new,|frightening weapons of the mind.

But there was no debating|its success at the box office.

The fiIm made $14 miIIion -

over three times its production cost.

(trailer) Can a planet long endure,|half ape, half human?

The answer lies|Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

Rated G.

I'd say we were moderateIy successfuI. I don't|know whether that's aII we couId have been.

But I think that's aII we were.

Which is not to downpIay the project at aII,|but to be honest about it.

The surprise of the first picture|was not to be topped.

With Beneath the Planet of the Apes,...

..the ape saga now seemed to have reached|a IogicaI concIusion.

The prophecies of the apes'|sacred scroIIs had come true.

The beast man had wieIded|his finaI weapon of destruction.

But, just four months after the fiIm's reIease,..

..screenwriter PauI Dehn|received a teIegram from Arthur Jacobs.

''Apes exist. SequeI required.''

Dehn was now faced with|a seemingIy insurmountabIe task.

How do you carry on|after you've bIown up the worId?

WhiIe puzzIing over the probIem of|how to create a third Apes adventure,...

..PauI Dehn thought of astronaut TayIor's|spaceship from the first fiIm.

It gave him an idea.

- All right, open her up.|- Open it up!

What if, just prior to the worId's destruction|in Beneath the Planet of the Apes,...

..the abandoned craft had somehow|been saIvaged and repaired?

Now the story couId move forward...

Welcome, gentlemen, to the United St...

..by bringing the apes back in time.

And, through the magic of science fiction,...

..that's exactIy what happened|in Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

This time I was abIe to|take the roIe of CorneIius,...

..with kim Hunter aIso returning|as my wife, Zira.

There was aIso a third ape accompanying us|on the journey: Dr MiIo.

He was pIayed by SaI Mineo, accIaimed|for his roIe in Rebel Without a Cause.

Having onIy three apes made sense|storyise... and budgetwise.

The number of makeups and effects|was greatIy reduced,...

..and made it no probIem to work|within the fiIm's $2.5 miIIion budget.

Because number two did not do|as weII as number one did,...

..number three shouId then|not probabIy do as weII as number two did.

So you've got to Iook at something more|contained, which is what we tried to do.

Action! A IittIe more on the Ieft!

(Roddy McDowall)|FiIming began on November 30th, 1970...

..under the direction of Don TayIor.

Hey, Bill Creber, take your cue on action!

You must reaIise that mine was|the third fiIm of this particuIar series,...

..and I inherited everything, practicaIIy.

I inherited the two actors, Roddy and kim,...

..who certainIy knew more|about the characters than I did.

The onIy thing that I didn't inherit was|the pIot. It was different. It was fresh.

(Roddy McDowall) The story showed the|ape-onauts brought back to a Iaboratory...

..and put under scientific examination.

The two animaI psychiatrists|were pIayed by Bradford DiIIman...

..and NataIie Trundy, now making|her second appearance in an Apes fiIm.

Well, why doesn't she take it?

Because l loathe bananas!

- Xira!|- l don't believe it.

Use your heads and start thinking.

Now that they know we can speak,|how much will we tell them?

Milo!

The character of Dr MiIo|meets an untimeIy end earIy in the fiIm,...

..much to our disappointment,|and to SaI Mineo's reIief.

We did have to hug SaI a Iot.

It was very, very difficuIt for him,...

..being confined in the appIiances.

He was not comfortabIe at aII|being a chimpanzee.

lf you'll just be seated,|we'll get right down to business.

Dr Dixon. As a zoologist,|l know and respect your work,...

..but if you want to turn|a Presidential lnquiry...

..into a ventriloquist's act,|l have to inform you...

And l have to inform you|that these apes have the power of speech.

It was during the fiIming of this scene...

..that kim and I had|one of our most unusuaI experiences...

..whiIe working on an Apes picture.

- Have you a name?|- Xira.

(public gasps)

- One might as well be talking to a parrot.|- A parrot?!

(laughter)

(Kim Hunter) We had to face|this PresidentiaI Commission.

Roddy and I were facing the commission,|which was up on a stage,...

..sort of in a semicircIe.

And we were here,|and behind us were members of press.

Does the other one talk?

- Only when she lets me.|- (laughter)

So, in order to get rid of aII those extras,...

..of course, they shot us first.

Then the director said ''Look, you and Roddy|can start getting the appIiances off...

..because we won't be shooting you|the rest of the day.''

''Just come back to be off camera|for the PresidentiaI Commission,...

..for their questions,|and respond to the other actors.''

So it was marveIIous. We started taking it off.|But it was so weird.

''Roddy,'' I said,|''are you feeIing the same thing I'm feeIing?''

It didn't feeI Iike Zira and CorneIius|when they started taking this stuff off.

I finaIIy said ''Stop taking it aII off.''

''Leave on some.''

''I've gotta have it.''

It just didn't work without the appIiances.

The characterjust... sort of disappeared.

InternaIIy I was thinking|and feeIing the same thing,...

..but it didn't come out properIy|without the appIiances.

It was very strange.

(Roddy McDowall) The fiIm was|primariIy set in and around Los AngeIes.

This heIped the studio to controI costs|and keep the production cIose to home.

Address, please?

- The zoo.|- (laughter)

It aIso gave us the opportunity to create|some of the fiIm's most memorabIe scenes...

..as CorneIius and Zira|become media ceIebrities.

Dr Cornelius. Tell me,|how do you fiind our women?

- Very human.|- (laughter)

Many of these scenes were inspired by|episodes in the originaI Pierre BouIIe noveI.

How do you like it, Cornelius?

Beastly.

..and recaptured much of the originaI fiIm's|humour and sociaI satire.

- How is that?|- Soothing,...

..but very wet.

But the Iight-hearted tone of the fiIm|began to shift...

..when Zira offered this surprising reveIation.

- lt must have been the shock.|- Shock, my foot!

l'm pregnant.

EventuaIIy, fearfuI government officiaIs|put the apes into custody.

- Cornelius?|- (Cornelius) Xira!

They made me tell them everything,|Cornelius.

We can't live with lies.

After this, l doubt we shall|be allowed to live at all.

You have evidence, Mr President, that|one day talking apes will dominate Earth.

Now, what do you expect me to do about it?

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