Planet of the Apes – The New Kingdom: “I think the visual effects are unfairly treated”

Wes Ball It’s a good question. Much could be written about why this franchise has survived this long, and for over 55 years now. But I think what ultimately captures the audience’s imagination is the way the franchise holds a mirror up to us. You see monkeys, but what you’re really looking at is the human experience. These films are always about the possibility of apes and humans coexisting, all these metaphors, and what that represents.

Wes Ball In our film, there is this idea that knowledge is power, and a really important thing. This is also one of the great principles of Caesar’s teachings. We really explore that through the character of Noah who is a bit of a blank slate when he sets out on a journey to save his family. He thus finds himself influenced by all these new and different ideas, and truly rediscovers the world, the meaning of knowledge. The film shows how this shapes and changes him, for better and for worse.

Wes Ball I don’t really like being in the studio: you have air conditioning, everything is a little slower… There’s just something you lose, I think. I enjoy the nervous energy that comes with filming on real locations. I like being in real places, because you feel inspired, and you can be spontaneous with the camera. There is a reality that sets in for the actors, as for the technical team.
That said, after 30 minutes, the film is entirely 100% CGI. Every blade of grass in every scene. But I don’t think people will realize that, because that’s part of the magical side of this film: we had to make people believe in this crazy world of talking monkeys, and all these fantastic places. It was a big challenge for us.

Wes Ball Yes, I think the visual effects are unfairly treated, to be honest. The truth is, people see them in movies all the time, but never notice them. But you see bad CGI (Computer-generated imagery in English, editor’s note) once, and suddenly all the special effects become bad.
I think it is above all a tool, and like any tool, it can sometimes be misused. But the visual effects guys are unfairly maligned, because they make images possible that were unimaginable even five years ago, and I think that should be celebrated instead.

Wes Ball (laughs) I don’t know! I didn’t plan this, and I didn’t know that I would one day direct a film The Planet of the Apes ! Of course, The labyrinth also fits into this dystopian framework, but my first short film (Ruin in 2011, editor’s note) is certainly most closely linked to this film. It feels like it’s a little more fantastical that way. We actually spent time thinking about that and making it a magnificent world, even if we were in the vestiges of the failures of the human species.

Wes Ball Obviously, the post-apocalyptic is a world that captures people’s imagination. We have an endless amount of works that deal with this concept of “The Great Reset”. We have iPads and phones that ring constantly, and all the current problems, and I think we kind of romanticize the idea of ​​a world without those things. There is something fascinating about this simpler world.