Behind the Planet of the Apes Page #2

..''What are you taIking about?|Spaceships? TaIking monkeys?''

''You're outta your mind!|That's Saturday-morning seriaIs!''

(Roddy McDowall)|Their reIuctance isn't hard to imagine.

Looks like the real thing.

Up to that time, actors in ape costumes...

..were more often found|in Iow-budget B-pictures...

..and tended to be|more IaughabIe than beIievabIe.

But, despite the obstacIes,...

..Jacobs persevered.

FinaIIy Richard Zanuck, who then ran Fox,|having just taken it over from his father,...

..said ''You know,|Iet's have a meeting on this.''

(Zanuck) I'd made a picture, too,|with Arthur at that time...

..and we signed him|to a muItipIe-picture deaI.

So he presented the script, which needed|a Iot of work, with these sketches...

..and gave me a smaII pitch on it...

..and I read it over the weekend|and was captivated by it.

But I had some reservations.

Dick Zanuck said ''These monkeys, they're|reaIIy gonna be actors, right? In makeup?''

''Not reaI monkeys.''|We said ''WeII, sure, of course.''

And he said ''What if|peopIe Iaugh at the makeups?''

You know,|it couId be some very humorous idea,...

..if not done properIy.

And I asked him...

..to make this test.

(Roddy McDowall) On March 8th, 1966, Arthur|and his team went to Fox and shot the test.

We erected ajury-rigged set.

The whoIe test cost $5,000,...

..which was the Iimit Dick wouId give us.

Good evening, Mr Thomas.

Feeling fiine, l hope?

Considering l've been kept in a cage|for six weeks, l'm fiine. Yes.

Good.

The test featured CharIton Heston...

..and HoIIywood Iegend Edward G Robinson|as the orangutan Ieader, Dr Zaius.

Man here is an animal.

Man here was an animal.|He had no civilisation.

He wore no clothes, he thought|no thoughts, he spoke no language.

Just a few feet from this tent,|you found a cemetery.

Built and fiilled by a civilised race.

A race which, according to you, never got|beyond a crawl and a couple of grunts.

You found more than a cemetery, Doctor.|You found a question.

Which came fiirst? The chicken or the egg?|The ape or the man?

Dr Xaius? You'd better take a look at this.

We found it in some kind of artifiicial shaft.

Look cIoseIy and you might|recognise James BroIin...

..pIaying the chimpanzee CorneIius.

What do you think you've found,|Mr Cornelius?

Not found, Doctor. Lost.|And l'm afraid that would be a birthright.

Mama!

Mama!

They had a language.

While we swung from trees,...

..they had a language.

Well, you were right, Mr Thomas.|We have uncovered a question.

Now we must unearth an answer.

lf man had a civilisation here,|what happened to it?

You'd better go and supervise|the preparations for our departure.

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