Rise of the Planet of the Apes director says what he would’ve done with Dawn

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES took audiences by surprise and delivered a film that many thought was better than it had any business being. There's no doubts that Andy Serkis created a hell of a character in Caesar, but the vision from director Rupert Wyatt is what successfully rebooted the franchise (eat it Tim Burton) and paved the way for an even better sequel in DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Due to a scheduling conflict, Wyatt was unable to return to DAWN, but he did speak with Collider and had a few things to say regarding the sequel.

Wyatt's thoghts on the Matt Reeves-directed sequel:

I thought it was beautifully directed; an incredibly well-made film. It’s hard, you know, because I very much wanted to do the sequel. I was very passionate about doing the sequel and other films. I love that franchise and I’m thrilled in a way for Matt and what he achieved with that because he achieved something I probably couldn’t have because he did something different. He’s his own filmmaker, I’m a different filmmaker, so it’s great he’s had success with that film and the fact that the franchise lives, that’s what we’re all hoping for. So for that, I was thrilled when I was watching it. I just had a very different take, and very different idea of what the movie was going to be, so it’s always going to be colored by that.

On how Wyatt would have approached the sequel:

To be honest, it’s not that different, I guess. For me, the majority of revolutions, probably the American Revolution aside, 9 times out of 10 result in civil war. A revolution happens and then it fragments, and you have a civil war. So we always set out on that path with Caesar and Koba becoming in a way the Martin Luther King Jr. and the Malcolm X of the revolution and the clash as the result of that.

I think the fundamental thing I wanted to do, which I think the franchise will probably do—and I haven’t talked specifically to Matt or Mark Bomback, the writer, of where they’re going with this—but I would imagine the thing that they’re going to go to was the thing I was hoping to do with the sequel, which is go into the cities. Evolve technically, sort of figure out the combustion engine, so in a way interact with our society. And for me, I found that fascinating, and I guess what Matt wanted to do—and obviously it was his first Apes film—was play out more the interim aspect of it. Keep them in the forest for longer and stuff, so that was the fundamental difference between our takes on it.

I don't think anyone's disappointed with what Reeves was able to accomplish with the sequel, and not that I think Wyatt had a bad idea, but I'm glad that DAWN decided to spend more time with the apes in the forests as opposed to the cities. That locale was what Caesar worked so hard to get to in the first film, and to see how things played out was a real treat. I never would have thought a modern-day Apes franchise would have me looking forward to each installment, but there ya have it. Here's hoping they don't drop the ball where so many trilogies do.

DAWN OF THE PLANET of the apes hits Blu-ray/DVD on December 2nd.