Ahead of its digital and physical release, we spoke to stars Eka Darville and Peter Macon about their work in their latest film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. They share how was the experience of being part of such a legacy and discuss the process of preparing for their roles.
THH: Peter, your character Raka has a profound wisdom and a deep connection to the legacy of Caesar. How did you prepare to embody such a pivotal role, and what aspects of Raka’s journey resonated most with you personally?
PETER: I think I’ll start in reverse, like, I think what resonated with me personally that’s synonymous with this is his curiosity about the human experience. And just, you know, Raka’s a bit of an archaeologist. You know. I consider myself when I always sketch myself saying anthropological speaking. You know, what I mean when I talk to people about like you know what’s going on with, you know, like, in sort of the macro world. And then as well as you know, like the balance between my microcosm world and I think that that rock is, you know, doing that a lot as well. And the way that I prepared for it was, i had obviously studied a lot of know videos of orangutans and great apes. I also went to a lot of zoos and studied them personally and would just sit and hang out and just kind of be there. And I probably looked very weird in the zoos because people were like: who’s that guy just sitting, who invited him? He’s not here to see any other animal, he’s just hanging out for hours by the orangutans in the apes. But I did a lot of that.
You know, and I’ve had clown training and physical comedy and work in my career and just, you know, sort of calling upon all those things that are my tool bag. You know, and just text analysis. And you know, just asking a lot of questions. And then we had the benefit of six weeks of ape camp. I mean, ape school just being and just really just being in a space where we can just sort of figure out how to be less human and to be more ape and then how to, you know, do the task of speaking and in figuring that out. So I would say, I had a lot of time to prepare and I also had a lot of time to rehearse and play, you know, and ask questions. So I think that you know the end result is what it is and that plus, you know, like the genius you know where technology is and the genius genius of the performance capture and like the specificity of the performance capture, that was, it’s very helpful get there, so yeah’s it, that’s kind of it like in a null. I mean, and we had time and you know, we had a lot of support.
THH: The physicality required for this film must have been intense. Can you share some insights into the training and preparation you underwent to portray your character?
EKA: Yeah, the physicality of Silva is his most obvious quality. He’s a very dominating and scary presence in a room. And so for me, I’m tall, but I’m not the biggest guy. And so to learn how to take up that much space was a whole process and I had the help of Alain Gauthier who was our movement coach absolutely amazing and then the support of Andy Serkis as well. Who’s the goat in performance capture and so,
they helped guide me in finding what that physicality looks like and the specifics of how the skeletal structure of a gorilla is different. How the musculature, I say, for instance, like their traps joined to a much higher point in their neck so they can’t swivel their heads like this. And so when you move, it’s a very deliberate movement that moves your shoulders with them. The hips are fused, so when the feet move, it turns the whole bottom of the torso. At the same time, when you’re running, a gorilla is going, when they’re quadrupedting, there’s like a rigidness through the back and a back feet move much more quickly than with a chimpanzee that has more rounded through that part. And so there’s so many different little things that was like six weeks of training of how to run like a gorilla, how to walk like a gorilla, how to pick things up like a gorilla, how to ride horses like a gorilla. And we were doing that every day. That was kind of life for that little chunk of time, and it was such an epic experience.
It felt like going back to drama school and getting to play again and learn about all of these things and then on the day when we were actually shooting things in order to allow my body to move the same way that somebody that weighs as much as one of these creatures does. I would put sandbags, like I had sandbags on my legs and sandbags on my wrists so that I would have this more belabboed kind of Big Boy type movement. And it works like so in some of those fight sequences I watch back like the performance capture version of it with me and then what actually ends up on the day and it’s like. Yeah, you bulk out those different muscle groups and all of a sudden that is how movement moves it just. It’s very mechanical and quite technical, and then you learn all of that so that you can let it go and then just play with these amazing individuals that. Yeah, that I got to know that are now my friends.
THH: What do you believe is the lasting impact of the Planet of the Apes franchise on cinema, and how do you feel being a part of this legacy?
PETER: Well, you know I have to say. You know like the first film. I mean. I think I was six. I was a bit suspect of this film. I was a bit like, what are they trying to say? What are they like? What’s really? What’s the subtext in this movie? So like, it kind of put me off you what I mean and I feel like, you know, since so then I’ look at. I even include like the Tim Burton one. So at the time, you know, like on the 1968 film, like, the prosthetics and the special effects were groundbreaking at the time.
The Tim Burton film, the special effects, like, you can clearly see that this is Paul as the orangutan. You can clearly see it’s Michael Clark Duncan, like the makeup, because I think that’s Rick Baker who like this master of special effects. So I was like, man… So it took me away from the original film in the sense that I’m like, well, like I don’t feel like it’s so racialized like I don’t feel like it’s like this direct mirror of our racial know paradigms that we’re sifting through.
And they’re just more specific, which allows me to enjoy them even more. The special effects are much more detailed, and the characters feel more developed. You know what I mean? That film didn’t really have much weight for me because it didn’t ask any thought-provoking questions. It served as a nice bridge. As for the last three films, excluding ‘Kingdom,’ ‘Rise,’ and ‘War,’ anyone can appreciate them.
The political macro-cosmic space is more about disease control, climate change, and war with human beings. These topics resonate with me more than the polarizing racial politics in the country. When watching the films, I approach them from a different vantage point. Additionally, they provide a three-dimensional experience of the ape characters. Unlike other films, which often feel slightly two-dimensional, these movies ask bigger and more specific questions. They hold up a mirror that reflects our desire to cure Alzheimer’s while also addressing our own human hubris. It’s a testament to how we’ve evolved.
As you know, a culture and mean how we still have the same shit that we need to work on. You know what I mean collectively like, it’s like, so it’s a bit of a morality play. You know what I mean, and I think that’s probably why we’re so fascinated with these movies.
EKA: Yeah, I think that’s it. The reason why people are so fascinated with this franchise, and why it is the longest-running franchise in cinema history, is because it has always been an exploration of ourselves. It provides a lens through which we can examine the prevailing concerns, fears, and prejudices of the time. As a Black man, I don’t love the early films; they don’t resonate with me. However, their existence is remarkable because they serve as a starting point for understanding our evolution as a society. These films allow us to grapple with the issues we face today. The exploration of colonial powers, the domination of warring cultures, and the homogenization of culture depicted in this film serve as an allegory for what we witness in the world today. I appreciate that about this film. When I read the original script, I wasn’t sure how it would translate on screen. But upon watching the film, it became clear—it tells a story that resonates with people and allows them to see themselves in it. Each character represents different archetypes within us. We live on the planet of the apes, and this cinematic journey mirrors the forces at play globally. These forces externalize aspects that exist within us as individuals and collectively. So, it’s like a popcorn film that transports you to another world—a delightful escapism that cinema provides. Simultaneously, it offers deep space for personal introspection and reflection on the human condition. In contrast, ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ doesn’t quite achieve that.
Watch the full interview below:
Available now on digital and Hulu. Available on DVD, 4K UHD and Blu-Ray August 27.
