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Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes kicked ass this past summer! Not only was it a huge box office success, but it was one of the best movies of the year. Fox is currently trying to get Andy Serkis an Oscar nomination for his role as Caesar in the film, which I think he deserves. That would be very cool if it actually happened, but who knows if the Academy will allow it.
Reeves talked about the next sequel in the franchise during an interview with Comingsoon, and in it he described Caesar as an ape Moses, saying,
"The first one is sort of how [Caesar] goes from humble beginnings to becoming a revolutionary. In 'Dawn,' he really rose to occasion of becoming a leader in really challenging and difficult times. The notion of what we're after with the third is to sort of continue that trajectory and see how he becomes a seminal figure in ape history. He almost becomes sort of like an ape Moses. A mythic status... We're trying to play out those themes and continue to sort of explore it in this universe. Exploring human nature under the guise of apes."
Reeves then goes on to discuss Serkis' "outsider" take on Caesar, and its importance to the arc of the character as a whole. That aspect of him it will also carry over into the next movie.
"A thing I always found very moving was the concept of a character that was [an outsider]. Andy [Serkis] told me the way he played him and the thing that really moved me was that [Caesar] was really all about being an outsider. [He] said that [he] felt [he] was human until the one day it was made clear that that [he isn't]. [He] said it felt like heartbreak. Like, 'Oh, I'm not one of them!' Then he's thrown in with the apes, but he's not one of them either. He's an outsider to both. That was very moving to me because he's an outsider to both but connected to both. He is the unique character in this story to be able to connect between the human and the ape world."
After seeing what Reeves did with the last Planet of the Apes film, I’m looking forward to seeing what he has planned for the next installment. It’s currently set to be released on July 29th, 2016.
