Our resident man-on-the-scene JimmyO was recently prowling around the set of James Wan’s INSIDIOUS (read his report HERE); what he didn’t give up then was this little tidbit from production designer/art director/make-up expert Aaron Sims (expect the full interview soon), who is also attached to a couple of small films you might have heard of called CASEAR: THE RISE OF THE APES and CASTLEVANIA, the latter of which is also set to be helmed by Wan.
JimmyO harassed the man like a true beat reporter and got him to spill on these two projects. Read about them below!
On RISE OF THE APES: “Well, we’re still kind of at the end as far as the designs go with CASEAR: THE RISE OF THE APES which is a prequel for PLANET OF THE APES. So we did a lot of designs on that, which was coming up with an origin story. I can’t tell you too much, but it’s basically the beginning of how it all started. So we spent quite a lot of time designing the apes, the evolution of the apes and these big scenes. So that was a lot of fun because I’m a gigantic Planet of the Apes fan, ever since I was a child. It was just one of my favorite films when I was just growing up. To be able to work on this one was just a dream come true.”
Q: “How true are you staying to the original film?”
“Well, the thing is, it is different from the original because it’s an origin story. None of the other movies really had a beginning. This actually has a beginning. So it’s kind of the offshoot of how everything started. So it’s going to be its own thing. So that’s exciting. We pretty much designed all the characters and all the apes and they are up building the sets in Vancouver right now. “
On CASTLEVANIA: “When he (James Wan) got into this bigger film that he wanted to do, he re-connected with me, which is CASTLEVANIA. And so we spent a lot of time on Castlevania, the design and the look of the film; the characters, creatures, vampires, in a very, very unique style. It’s very much a James Wan style, mixed with my contributions and my aspects of what I would do as a designer as well. That was a really good show to kind of see how we work together from the ground up. Unfortunately it’s still kind of in limbo right now but it sounds like it is picking up.”
Q: “Why do you think it has fallen into limbo like it has? There was Paul W.S. Anderson involved for awhile? Is he still involved? It seems like a no brainer that that could be a big hit right now.”
“Yeah, I’d think so. And then there is the new videogame with Patrick Stewart that is coming out, where he is one of the lead characters. It just has… you know, making a film is definitely not an easy task if it even has a gigantic fan base or not. There are so many things that can go against it. You know, getting financing is always trouble, especially independent financing. And the studio is another thing, trying to get the studio on board with it. So it’s always difficult, I don’t think any film really goes as smoothly as anyone would hope it would. I can’t really say exactly why this has been having a little bit of trouble but there is interest. Eventually it will be made and it will hopefully be James and I working on it together, because it is really a joy to… he really wants to do something like that too, where it’s a bigger film, more of a big action film with a lot of characters and stuff. He loves doing Insidious and SAW and all those films, I think that he really enjoys it because he knows them so well. But he wants to challenge himself too on some bigger stuff.”
So there you have it – APES is definitely marching forward full bore (it has a JUNE 2011 release date set), while CASTLEVANIA is stalled, but hopefully only temporarily. Big ups to JimmyO for poking around the dude’s head! (And thanks to Mr. Sims for allowing such things.)
INSIDIOUS star Rose Byrne
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