The modern version of the Planet of the Apes franchise has introduced to Hollywood a fascinating new sort of production–one in which nearly every character is a non-human CGI creation played by an actor in a performance-capture suit. It’s a lot even in this age of CGI soundstages. For the actors who played those ape roles, it was unlike anything they’d ever done before. But as several of those actors told me as part of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes press tour, it turned out that wasn’t a bad thing.
“It’s not you on the screen, so you don’t have to worry about what you look like, or anything like that,” said Owen Teague, who plays the main protagonist ape, Noa. “It becomes about purely the character, and playing the character. You can disappear fully, which I think is what I always want in playing a character. I’m always looking to kind of shed myself, but you don’t often get to fully do that, because you still look like you to a certain degree, you’re still moving like you and talking like you.”
Kevin Durand, who plays the villain, Proximus Caesar, echoed that sentiment.
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