Owen Teague is set to helm his first studio film with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the highly anticipated fourth installment of the Planet of the Apes reboot series. Ahead of the film's release in 2024, Teague spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the motion capture process on the project, as well as getting some advice from an Apes veteran.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set to serve as a sequel to 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes, which starred legendary motion capture actor Andy Serkis as the leader of the apes, Caesar. Teague is reportedly playing Caesar's son, Cornelius, in Kingdom, according to THR. As filming began, Teague told the outlet that he met with Serkis to get some advice on motion capturing an ape, describing Serkis as part of the reason he wanted to become an actor. Teague added:
"The hardest part about it was just learning how to be in a suit all day and have a camera strapped to your head. But you get used to it after about a week, and I remember Andy being like, 'You’ll get used to it and you’ll stop worrying about it after the first week.' And he was absolutely right. The rest of motion capture is just what you would do otherwise, and the difference between a human and whatever you’re playing just becomes a costume, so you don’t even really think about it that much."
While plot details remain mostly slim, Kingdom will be set many years after War. During this period, "Many apes societies have grown from when the Moses-like Caesar brought his people to an oasis, while humans have been reduced to a feral-like existence," according to a plot summary from THR. "In this setting, one ape leader begins to enslave other groups to find human technology, while another ape, who watched his clan be taken, embarks on a journey to find freedom."
The Director Also Helped Teague on Kingdom
Kingdom will be directed by Wes Ball, known for helming the Maze Runner trilogy. Teague also told THR that Ball helped the cast get intuned with themselves as apes, even though the motion capture hadn't been rendered. "[Wes is] so visual, and so he could paint this picture for us, which actually made it very easy to imagine all this stuff," Teague said. "We called ourselves 'the apes.' We were the apes. So it was very realized for everyone, and we also created a very detailed world for ourselves. So it wasn’t hard to imagine what the movie would be."
In addition to Teague, Kingdom will star Freya Allen, Peter Macon, Eka Darville, Kevin Durand, and William H. Macy. Ball will direct from a script by Josh Friedman, Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, and Patrick Aison. The film comes from 20th Century and is produced by Joe Hartwick Jr. for Oddball Entertainment, Silver and Jaffa for Shinbone Productions, and Jason Reed, with Jenno Topping and Peter Chernin executive producing for Chernin Entertainment.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be released on May 24, 2024. Check out the trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes below: