Would you want any of the directors on this short-list to direct Dawn of the Planet of the Apes?

By Alejandro Stepenberg

Posted 14 years ago

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is coming, and the world of science fiction/action films is a better place for it. And as Fox is wanting to get this puppy (ape?) moving as quickly as possible, a short-list of directors has emerged to take over for RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES director Rupert Wyatt (who was concerned about making the already-chosen release date). I’ll list off the names Fox is look at for you, and then we can get on with breaking down the possibilities.

Matt Reeves (CLOVERFIELD, LET ME IN), Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 WEEKS LATER), J. Blakeson (THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED), Jeff Nichols (TAKE SHELTER, MUD), Juane Antonio Bayona (THE IMPOSSIBLE, THE ORPHANAGE), and Guillermo Del Toro. It’s also rumored that Fox is look at Rian Johnson (LOOPER), but Johnson’s reps have denied that he is part of the equation.

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Reeves is probably the most likely possibility, having a balanced history of both large-scale event work and smaller character-driven work (tinged with horror). He was last attached to THE TWILIGHT ZONE but has since exited that project. Fresnadillo is still set to do the HIGHLANDER remake/reboot, so he’s probably out unless he gets offered some truly amazing deal (he set a bit of a “leaving precedent” with THE CROW and BIOSHOCK before this). Blakeson, Nichols, and Bayona are interesting choices in that they all have backgrounds in the thriller/horror genres, with stories that tred some very dark ground. Bayona is the only one of the three to have had experience working with a big production that integrated the use of large-scale special effects (THE IMPOSSIBLE), so he’s probably the dark horse possibility. Which leaves Del Toro, a man so busy trying to get his own stuff made it’s foolish to think he’d take up the second chapter in someone else’s saga. But he too has a background in horror, which makes me wonder if the DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES script by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) is intended to be a darker experience than the first movie.

But no matter who gets picked, the release date remains May 23rd, 2014. See you then.

Reeves, Fresnadillo, Blakeson, Nichols, and Bayona

Source: Deadline New York

Tags: Action, Adventure, Amanda Silver, Andy Serkis, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Rick Jaffa, Science-Fiction

About the Author

Alejandro Stepenberg

1,096 Articles Published

Favorite Movies: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Dark Knight, Dead Man, The read more Devil's Backbone, Drive, Excalibur, Field of Dreams, Gladiator, The Great Escape, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Hook, Insomnia, Jason and the Argonauts, Kingdom of Heaven, Let the Right One In, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Michael Clayton, Michael Collins, Munich, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pan's Labyrinth, Pirate Radio, The Princess Bride, Remember the Titans, The Seventh Seal, Some Like It Hot, The Tree of Life, Trick 'r Treat.

Likes: Deadwood, Carnivale, Firefly, that smell after the rain, Tom Waits, film read more scores, Bioshock, Kingdom Hearts, pie, Ireland, wine, drinking wine in Ireland, Shakespeare, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Calvin and Hobbes, thinly-veiled sexual euphemisms, Monty Python and bad puns.

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