Actors Peter Macon & Eka Darville talk to The Inside Reel about mindset, approach and voice in regards to the Home Entertainment release of their film: "Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes" from 20th Century Studios and Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
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00:30What a wonderful day!
00:42For both of you, it's a different thing.
00:44You've worked in genre, but working inside the ape sort of world is a completely different
00:49thing both with performance and also with motivation of the characters.
00:54Could you each talk about that because obviously they come from different sides of the track
00:59per se.
01:00Actually, Ika, could you start and talk about Silva in that way because he's very ambitious
01:06but he's very single-minded and you have to reflect that, you know?
01:10Sure.
01:11Yeah, I will just say that the thing that's most different about working on this project
01:17is the motion capture.
01:18I've never worked in that world before and having all the technological paraphernalia
01:23that's necessary in order to bring these characters to life was a pretty steep learning curve
01:28and once you get it, it's so liberating because there's just nothing else to kind of lean
01:32on.
01:33It's not like you have a cool costume that makes you feel awesome and you've got other
01:37characters and you're in a set that feels like all those things.
01:40We did have some amazing sets, but for the most part, there's a lot of studio work and
01:44so you're just kind of like raw dogging acting and it's actually really liberating.
01:52So that would be this main thing that I feel is different in terms of working in this genre
01:56and this space.
01:57And then in terms of the motivation of Silva, I think of him as like the evangelical, his
02:05belief in the vision of Proxima Caesar is unwavering.
02:13He's the devotee of the highest order and he's ultimately coming at it from the perspective
02:18of this is, you've got to break a few eggs to make an omelette and this is what is ultimately
02:25what is best and therefore I will live in service to that and I think it's hiding a
02:29lot of his own insecurities.
02:30I have a whole backstory that I've created for him as to why that is that we won't get
02:35into, but yeah, he's, I don't, I mean, as a villain, you don't, you can't think of yourself
02:41as that way.
02:42I feel like he's very justified in his actions and what it is that he's choosing.
02:47And I think that part that he represents, I think that the franchise as a whole is these
02:54different archetypes that exist within all of us.
02:57So I think I would deeply resonate with Raka, I deeply resonate with elements of May, I
03:03deeply resonate with Owen, I deeply resonate with things that are in Silva.
03:06And so I think all these different archetypes and aspects that make up the human psyche
03:11that they exist in each of us.
03:14And so I, it was a pleasure to represent the part that I would call the dominating controller
03:20of the violent destroyer.
03:51They couldn't speak across oceans.
03:58But now it is our time.
04:04And it is my kingdom.
04:07Yeah, because it has to do with belief.
04:09Actually going over to Peter, we've talked about belief before and what the notion of
04:12belief is, you know, and obviously with Raka, it's a very specific thing.
04:16The scholar is Caesar.
04:18So could you talk about looking at him in that way, you know, because obviously the
04:22motion capture now can reflect like infinitesimally what you're feeling, you know, versus prosthetics,
04:29you know, per se.
04:30Yeah.
04:31No, no.
04:32I mean, it's actually very, very liberating to have this much, to have the advancements
04:38of technology and what performance capture can do, because at the end of the day, you
04:45just forget about it.
04:46And like, so you're just, you're playing the scene.
04:50I'm fully believing that I am an orangutan that can talk.
04:55And, you know, it's 300 years from now.
04:59So you're thinking about evolution, you're thinking about, you know, and the fact that
05:04he's, you know, his spirit is curious.
05:07He's very, he's like an archaeologist.
05:11And he's in this crossroads of human beings being this once dominant, you know, presence
05:21on the earth.
05:22And now they're, you know, down to, you know, their bare bones in terms of their existence.
05:30And he's very curious as to how that came about.
05:33And he also understands, at least he believes like this order of Caesar's, you know, decree
05:41of apes shall not kill apes, you know, knowing like the fundamental things that are wrong
05:46with the society that we're living in.
05:48And, you know, he's still very childlike, you know, he's still, he's just very curious
05:53about, you know, like about life in the world and wanting to see how it is possible for
05:59human beings who are, you know, basically feral to coexist with the rising consciousness
06:06of apes, you know, and the splintering.
06:10And he's aware that there are so many different viewpoints of consciousness.
06:16And he just, he's a unifier, you know what I mean?
06:19So I think that that just sort of leads him, you know, through life that way.
06:23And again, like with the technology, like I don't have to think about, you know,
06:30unlike, you know, prosthetics, having to, I'm not aware of that anymore.
06:35You know, so like all of the little nuancy things that are, that's coming,
06:39that's actor generated stuff.
06:41So, and then the technology picks up on that to help with the storytelling.
06:44So it's amazing.
06:46No, no, no.
06:51This is important.
06:57They get cold.
07:03Show mercy.
07:16She is smarter than most.
07:25We will name her Nova.
07:29It's amazing.
07:30But it's also the boys, you know, the thing is, is that, you know,
07:33even though it's tracking your motions, I mean, it's also the, it's,
07:37it's the voice.
07:38Yeah.
07:39It's amazing.
07:40I mean, it's the voice.
07:41No, it really is.
07:42And, you know, to that end, that I found to be incredibly difficult too,
07:45because, you know, rock has written a bit chatty, you know,
07:48compared to the other apes.
07:50So, you know, I had, I mean, and I was able to work with Andy circus,
07:54as well as a lingo TA, our movement director on the efficiency,
07:58you know, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the,
08:03of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the,
08:06of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of the,
08:09On the efficiency of, of speech, you know, like some,
08:14I had to go and edit some of my, my texts.
08:16I'm like, this sounds too colloquial.
08:18It sounds too human.
08:19It sounds does.
08:20It doesn't sound like he's only been speaking.
08:22You know, I have a whole backstory of like teaching,
08:26like how he learned how to talk and, you know,
08:28he wasn't always as eloquent, you know,
08:30and picking up words and phrases and things like that.
08:32So I really had to make sure that,
08:34and there are times that I'm just like,
08:36I bumped heads with, with, with the script.
08:39Cause I'm like, this is just,
08:40I know this information has to come out,
08:42but I just feel like, and by this time in the movie,
08:47like we're used to, you know, talking apes,
08:50but I just felt like,
08:51I don't think that this is the way this would be articulated
08:54because I feel like it's way, it's way too human sounding,
08:58but, you know,
08:59so you have to just sort of let things go and move on.
09:03But, but, but there was that bat,
09:05there was that battle, like, you know,
09:07how, how the quality of my speaking voice would translate to,
09:12you know, like this talking orangutan and just the rhythm
09:17in which I could, you know what I mean?
09:19So it just had to be off, but, but, you know,
09:21so I was always trying to work on that, you know,
09:24but you know,
09:25you get what you get at the end of the day
09:27and you just got to trust that the director knows
09:30what they're doing, which she did.
09:32So.