Hollywood has come a long way, baby. The days of prosthetic makeup are becoming a thing of the past. The newest, most shiny way to create the world of make-believe is digital visual effects. Weta digital is a leader in the industry with several big budget movies under its belt including the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, District 9, Avatar, King Kong, and the most recent simian centered film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The 1968 Planet of the Apes was revolutionary for its time. It featured people dressed as apes including fairly convincing prosthetics on the face and body. Rise of the Planet of the Apes gives new life to the Apes that take over our planet.
Andy Serkis, the man behind the monkey, has loaned his extraordinary talents and love of acting to films like Lord of the Rings (Gollum), King Kong, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes as Caesar. Serkis wears a complex suit designed to record his every move so that it can be placed on Caesar’s face and body in the film to give him the most realistic movements and mannerisms possible. Caesar is the baby of an Ape called Bright Eyes. She earned her name due to the one side effect of ALZ-112: a green tinting of the iris. Scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) has designed the drug to cure Alzheimer’s which his father, Charles (John Lithgow) suffers from. The drug is tested on Bright Eyes who exhibits remarkable improvements in intelligence. During a feeding, Bright Eyes – who is normally pretty tame – goes ape shit. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)Read More »
Ms. Silver Screen 