AsiaOne sits down with Owen Teague and Freya Allan, stars of the new movie Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, to talk about working with motion capture technology and how the themes in the movie relate to human society. What would their survival strategy be if they were lost in a forest-like environment like in the movie?
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00:00 I'm such a good tree climber.
00:02 Really?
00:03 Yeah.
00:04 Oh.
00:05 That used to be my thing.
00:06 Natural trip?
00:07 That was my forte as a child.
00:08 Being a dog and climbing trees.
00:09 Hey, I'm Dreamer from Asia 1.
00:17 Hey!
00:18 Hey guys.
00:19 Owen, you play the ape Noah with some motion capture technology, which they showed us a bit of in the beginning of the movie,
00:25 while Freya plays a human among apes. So how difficult is it to get into a role and imagine apes,
00:31 imagine eagles attacking apes, etc. in front of you?
00:35 Well, for me, I feel like these guys did such a great job at being these apes that I didn't have to imagine anything.
00:43 The times where I had to imagine was when they, you know, we basically had to do the scene twice,
00:48 and so I'd have to do the whole scene without the actors.
00:52 So then I really did have to imagine everything and remember exactly where they had been,
00:57 and that was the biggest challenge.
00:59 But when they were in front of me, I was, you know, I didn't really need to think about anything else
01:04 because they embodied these characters and then also the physicality so well.
01:09 Well, you know, after a very short period of time, a couple of days, it actually becomes very normal.
01:17 Personally, you know, you start feeling more comfortable as an ape than as a human.
01:24 So it's not like you have to imagine very much in terms of like, "Oh, I'm being an ape."
01:29 It's really not about that. It's about finding the truth of the character
01:33 and how you move and how you speak is a reflection of that.
01:37 It's just a costume that you're putting on.
01:39 In terms of the eagles, that did require some imagination, you know, because obviously there's nothing there.
01:46 And so like when Noah, you know, has his arm out and has Sun on his arm,
01:51 it's like I really had to be like, "Okay, where's the eagle's head?
01:55 You know, he's looking at me here, and this is what it feels like for him to take off."
01:59 That was actually tough, just getting that to look believable and feel believable.
02:05 Other than that, it all felt very real.
02:09 How do you think the themes in the movie relate to like our human society
02:13 and the way we kind of interact with each other and, you know, advancing of technologies and stuff like that?
02:18 I mean, I feel like one of the core elements to this, to Noah and May's relationship,
02:24 is that they grow up with such fixed views of one another and one another's species.
02:29 And then when they actually end up being put in a position where they are face-to-face with someone,
02:34 all of those assumptions are challenged.
02:39 And I think that that is a theme that, you know, is everyone can...
02:44 It's so prevalent in our world, you know, and people create such fixed mindsets around things
02:52 and sometimes can't seem to cross over the line into thinking that there might be more to that than they think.
02:59 And sometimes you need to go face-to-face with those people
03:02 and make the effort to broaden your mind in order to be intelligent.
03:07 I think, you know, especially now we're seeing a kind of refusal to be challenged
03:14 or to be shown that we're wrong.
03:17 You know, people are very, very closed-minded.
03:22 And that's what this relationship is about.
03:25 It's about their views of the world and their respective kinds, you know, being proved wrong.
03:33 So, here's kind of a fun one.
03:35 So, if both of you were lost and alone in a forest-like environment like in the movie,
03:41 what would your survival strategy be?
03:43 Climb a tree. I'm such a good tree climber.
03:46 Really?
03:47 Yeah.
03:48 Oh.
03:49 That used to be my thing.
03:50 Natural trim?
03:51 That was my forte as a child. Being a dog and climbing trees.
03:54 We definitely have to put you in a motion capture shoot for the next one.
03:57 Am I right?
03:58 Yeah. You gotta be a background chimp.
04:01 I think so.
04:02 Yeah.
04:03 The more and more we speak, I'm like, "Wait, I'm a chimpanzee."
04:06 Well, I am too, but we're both kind of- We're both a bit feral.
04:09 Yeah.
04:10 My survival strategy, I mean, figure out a way to stay warm and get fresh water and, you know, the basics.
04:22 I don't know that I would find a lot of use in climbing a tree, but maybe that.
04:26 I don't know.
04:27 Well, it's fun.
04:28 I guess-
04:29 Just have fun.
04:30 I guess predators, you know, they can't get you up high.
04:33 Yeah.
04:34 That's why chimps nest in trees.
04:35 Exactly.
04:36 Yeah.
04:37 You know.
04:38 It's what they do in the films, climbing a tree.
04:39 Yeah.
04:40 Together, you will die.
04:45 No.
04:47 Together, stronger.
04:51 Together, we will win.
04:54 Yeah!
04:56 Yeah!
04:57 Yeah!
04:58 (whooshing)
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