50 Fun Facts About Planet of the Apes

What ruined landmark does astronaut Taylor find on a beach in the final scene of 1968's Planet of the Apes?

The Statue of Liberty, half buried in sand, tells Taylor the alien planet is Earth. The shot blends a matte painting with real cliffs at Point Dume in Malibu.

Which actor performed Caesar through motion capture in Rise, Dawn and War for the Planet of the Apes?

Andy Serkis had already played Gollum and King Kong the same way. Fox pushed for an Oscar nomination for his Caesar after the 2011 film, but Academy voters passed him over.

Which makeup artist behind 1968's Planet of the Apes later helped the CIA with the rescue dramatised in Argo?

John Chambers, played by John Goodman in Argo, won an honorary Oscar for the ape makeup years before a makeup category existed. He also made Spock's pointed ears for Star Trek.

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the drug that makes Caesar intelligent was designed to cure which disease?

Alzheimer's is personal for chemist Will Rodman, whose father has it. The drug restores his father's mind for a while, until his immune system fights it off.

Which animated series turned Planet of the Apes into a stage musical starring a washed-up actor as Taylor?

The Simpsons staged it in the episode A Fish Called Selma, with Troy McClure in the lead. Its composer, Alf Clausen, had worked as a copyist on the 1968 film.

Which Harry Potter actor plays Dodge Landon, the cruel shelter guard, in Rise of the Planet of the Apes?

Tom Felton, the films' Draco Malfoy, plays a bully who ends up electrocuted by his own cattle prod. The character is named for Dodge and Landon, the astronauts who crash with Taylor in the 1968 film.

Which actor turned down Severus Snape in Harry Potter to play General Thade in 2001's Planet of the Apes?

Tim Roth chose the chimpanzee warlord, so the Hogwarts part went to Alan Rickman. Roth also rewrote some of his scenes to make Thade more frightening.

On which landmark do Caesar's apes fight through a police blockade in Rise of the Planet of the Apes?

The Golden Gate Bridge is the apes' route to the redwood forest. The gorilla Buck dies bringing down a helicopter there to save Caesar.

Which actor backed out of Ocean's Eleven to play astronaut Leo Davidson in Tim Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes?

Mark Wahlberg said yes after a five-minute meeting with Burton, without waiting to read a script. Matt Damon took the Ocean's Eleven part he left behind.

Which actor plays the Colonel, ruthless leader of a rogue human battalion, in War for the Planet of the Apes?

Woody Harrelson's Colonel kills his own infected son and orders his troops to do the same to any carrier, which is why the rest of the army is marching to remove him.

Which actor played the chimpanzee Cornelius in 1968's Planet of the Apes and later his son Caesar in two sequels?

Roddy McDowall missed only the second film, when he was away in Britain directing a picture of his own. He put the ape makeup back on for the 1974 television series.

In 1968's Planet of the Apes, which orangutan has secretly known all along that humans once ruled?

Dr. Zaius admits it once the cave's relics have been shown, lets Taylor ride away, then seals the cave to destroy the evidence and has Cornelius and Zira charged with heresy.

Which television writer devised the twist ending of 1968's Planet of the Apes, absent from the original novel?

Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, wrote the early drafts. Michael Wilson then rewrote all the dialogue and made the ape society more primitive to save money, but kept Serling's ending.

In Beneath the Planet of the Apes, what do the telepathic mutants living under the ruins of New York worship?

A nuclear bomb called the Alpha-Omega sits in the remains of St. Patrick's Cathedral. It can burn the whole planet, and the dying Taylor's hand sets it off at the end of the film.

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, how do Caesar and the orangutan Maurice first talk inside the primate shelter?

Sign language is something both learned from humans: Caesar at home with Will, Maurice during his years in a circus. Their friendship lasts through all three films.

In War for the Planet of the Apes, what does the mutated virus take from the humans it infects?

Their speech and higher intelligence fade, leaving them like the mute humans of the 1968 film. The Colonel catches it himself after handling an infected girl's doll.

Which actor plays Dreyfus, leader of the human survivors, in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes?

Gary Oldman had nearly joined the series before: he was first cast as General Thade in the 2001 film but dropped out for financial reasons.

Which actor played Will Rodman, the chemist who raises Caesar at home, in Rise of the Planet of the Apes?

James Franco got the part after talks with Tobey Maguire, his Spider-Man co-star, broke down. Unused footage from the film gives Will a brief appearance in the sequel.

What do the apes of 1968's Planet of the Apes call the desert region where Taylor's ship crashed?

The Forbidden Zone hides the cave where Cornelius dug up proof of an older human civilisation. The name later served as the working title of the 2024 film Kingdom.

Which French author wrote the 1963 novel that became Planet of the Apes and counted it among his minor works?

Pierre Boulle wrote it in six months and rejected the science-fiction label, calling the book social fantasy. It still became a bestseller.

Which Oscar winner for A Streetcar Named Desire played the chimpanzee Zira in three Planet of the Apes films?

Kim Hunter won it as Stella Kowalski, the role she had created on Broadway. Her Zira appears in the original and two sequels, dying beside Cornelius in the third film.

At Taylor's hearing in 1968's Planet of the Apes, the orangutan judges strike the pose of which famous trio?

The three wise monkeys, who see, hear and speak no evil, were not in the script. The director improvised the gag on set, and it stayed in because test audiences responded to it.

Why can't astronaut Taylor speak when the apes first capture him in 1968's Planet of the Apes?

A bullet wounds his throat during the hunt in the cornfield, so the apes take him for one more mute human. He gets his voice back just as they recapture him after an escape.

In Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Cornelius and Zira travel back in time to which American city?

Los Angeles greets the two chimpanzees as celebrities before fear of their unborn child turns the government against them. A present-day setting also saved money on sets and makeup.

In Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, a plague that kills which animals leads humans to keep apes as pets?

Dogs and cats are wiped out by a disease from space, so people adopt apes instead. Within a decade the pets have become a slave workforce, which sets up Caesar's revolt.

Koba, the lab-tortured ape who turns on Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, belongs to which species?

A bonobo first seen as a test subject in Rise, Koba hates humans for what laboratories did to him. He shoots Caesar and blames the humans to start a war.

In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, what do Malcolm's group need to restart inside the apes' forest territory?

A hydroelectric dam could bring power back to the survivors' colony in the city. Caesar lets the humans work on it only after they agree to hand over their guns.

Which actor plays Bad Ape, the hermit chimpanzee caught stealing a horse, in War for the Planet of the Apes?

Steve Zahn's Bad Ape grew up in isolation, far from Caesar's tribe, which showed that intelligent apes existed elsewhere. The director said that opened the way to later films.

In War for the Planet of the Apes, where did Bad Ape live before soldiers drove him into hiding?

A safari zoo was his home until soldiers blamed its apes for the virus and killed those around him. He had lived alone ever since when Caesar's party found him.

Which actress played the chimpanzee Ari in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes and became the director's partner?

Helena Bonham Carter met Burton while he was casting the film; he told her she was the first person he had thought of to play a chimpanzee. They stayed together for 13 years.

At the end of Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, which landmark in the American capital now honours General Thade?

The Lincoln Memorial has become a monument to the ape general. The ending is closer to the novel's than to the 1968 film's, and the shooting script left it out to keep it secret.

Which star of 1968's Planet of the Apes returns in the 2001 remake as the father of General Thade?

Charlton Heston appears uncredited under full ape makeup. Linda Harrison, the mute woman Taylor is caged with in the original, also has a cameo as a woman in a cart.

In the rebooted Planet of the Apes films, apes made intelligent by the drug typically share what eye colour?

Green irises mark the apes exposed to the drug or born with the intelligence it gave. Caesar's elder son is the exception, and his blue ones gave him the name Blue Eyes.

In War for the Planet of the Apes, the orphan girl adopted by Maurice is named after the emblem of which car?

A Chevy Nova badge, a gift from Bad Ape, gives the girl her name. It matches the name Taylor gives the woman he is caged with in the 1968 original.

In War for the Planet of the Apes, soldiers use which animal nickname for apes who serve the human army?

Donkeys is a nod to the video game character Donkey Kong, and to the way the turncoat apes are used as pack animals. Red, a gorilla who once followed Koba, is one of them.

The Colonel's renegade battalion in War for the Planet of the Apes drew comparisons to which Vietnam War film?

Apocalypse Now gave journalists their comparison: the Colonel and his faction recall Colonel Kurtz and his renegade army. The actor acknowledged the inspiration himself.

Which birds does young Noa's clan raise and train in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?

Eagles are central to the clan, whose young apes climb for eggs as a coming-of-age test. In the final fight Noa leads the clan in calling the birds down on the ape king.

Which Fargo star plays Trevathan, the human tutor of the ape king, in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?

William H. Macy's Trevathan teaches Proximus Caesar human history and styles himself the king's chief adviser. He is strangled when he tries to raise the alarm.

Which Cloverfield director replaced Rupert Wyatt on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and stayed to make War?

Matt Reeves took over when Wyatt felt the release date left too little time. Fox liked his cut of Dawn so much that it hired him for the third film before the second had opened.

What do survivors call the lab-born virus that has killed most of humanity by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes?

Simian Flu began as a side effect of the drug that made the apes clever. Only about one person in 500 turned out to be immune.

The writer of an unmade 1990s Planet of the Apes film was fired for omitting a scene of apes playing which sport?

Baseball was a studio executive's idea for a comic scene. Terry Hayes left it out of his next draft and was fired, the director quit in protest, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's film was never made.

Which composer wrote the eerie, Oscar-nominated score of 1968's Planet of the Apes, with its unusual percussion?

Jerry Goldsmith used odd percussion instruments and twelve-tone writing to make the planet feel unsettled. His themes return in the score of Kingdom, the 2024 film.

Which director of 1968's Planet of the Apes went on to win the Best Director Oscar for Patton?

Franklin Schaffner got the job on his leading man's recommendation; Blake Edwards had been attached at an earlier stage. It was his idea to make the ape society primitive, which cut the budget.

In the 1963 novel behind Planet of the Apes, the ape-ruled world Soror orbits which real star?

Betelgeuse is the destination of journalist Ulysse Mérou and two companions. Thanks to time dilation, they spend two years in transit while centuries pass back on Earth.

Which famous film director appears in orangutan makeup as the Lawgiver in 1973's Battle for the Planet of the Apes?

John Huston's Lawgiver tells the story from six centuries on, to a mixed audience of young apes and humans. The film was the last of the original five.

Which veteran Hollywood star played the orangutan elder in the 1966 makeup test for Planet of the Apes?

Edward G. Robinson wore an early version of the makeup opposite the film's eventual star, and the footage persuaded Fox to back the film. Failing health kept him out of the real shoot.

The spaceship crash that opens 1968's Planet of the Apes was filmed on which reservoir of the Colorado River?

Lake Powell and the canyons around it stood in for the alien world. Tim Burton's 2001 remake began filming at the same lake, where a drought forced the crew to pump in extra water.

In the 1974 Planet of the Apes television series, which chimpanzee goes on the run with two stranded astronauts?

Galen is accused of heresy and sentenced to death after helping the astronauts, so they break him out and all three flee. Poor ratings ended the series after half a season.

Writer Paul Dehn modelled the ape revolt in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes on which 1960s American unrest?

The Watts riots of 1965 shaped the film's burning city, and some scenes were shot like news broadcasts. The original ending, with the governor's execution, was cut after a preview audience reacted badly.

Which actor played Brent, the astronaut sent to find Taylor, in 1970's Beneath the Planet of the Apes?

James Franciscus took the lead because the first film's star would only return for a few scenes. He spent a week reworking the script with director Ted Post to give Brent more depth.