Stories from the set

Andy Serkis, Terry Notary and Karin Konoval are the only actors who appeared in all the films of the «Planet of the Apes» trilogy. Serkis played Caesar, the leader of all the apes, while Notary and Konoval played Rocket and Maurice, Caesar's close associates.

The ninth film in the "Planet of the Apes" franchise.

According to director Matt Reeves, the group of human rebels is called "Alpha and Omega." This is a reference to the cobalt bomb that the mutant humans worshipped in Ted Post's film "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" (1970). Even the symbol on their helmets and flag is a copy of the symbol on the bomb whose explosion ends the second film in the franchise.

The girl Nova was named after a character played by Linda Harrison in the first two films of the franchise (1968 and 1970). The same actress also appeared in a cameo role in Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" (2001).

Unlike her colleagues Andy Serkis and Terry Notary, 55-year-old Canadian actress Karin Konoval had never performed stunt work on set before joining the franchise, and to prepare for the role of the orangutan Maurice, she spent a lot of time with primates at the zoo, as well as learning their movements and habits, while wearing heavy weights on each arm to look more convincing on screen.

The young apes in the corresponding scenes were played by the children of the filmmakers. Terry Notary specifically trained his children to move on all fours the way apes do.

The post-production process took over a year, as the filmmakers tried to make the apes – and especially their facial expressions – as realistic as possible.

In almost all scenes with horses, real horses and stunt performers were used, and only one scene with Caesar on horseback was the product of computer technology.

Director Matt Reeves noted that the apes in Rupert Wyatt's science fiction films Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Matt Reeves's own Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) walk without clothing. In the ape civilization in the original film of the franchise, it was customary to walk clothed; likewise, the character played by Steve Zahn also wears clothing. Like Terry Notary's character, he is not covered in fur, but if in Notary's character this is most likely the result of alopecia or baldness, then Zahn's character's fur fell out from old age.