Behind the Planet of the Apes Page #5

(Roddy McDowall) As it took shape,...

..production designer WiIIiam Creber began|designing the more primitive ape society.

I needed to come up with some|ape unearthIy architecture,...

..and so I Iooked at aII the books I couId find|of... you know, to be inspired.

And I found in Turkey there's|a trogIodyte city carved into a mountain.

And I Iiked the shapes and that was|a very strange pIace. And that was it.

It was Iike ''That's what we're gonna do.|I don't know how.''

But we had our meeting with the director|and Arthur and they said ''Yeah!''

(Roddy McDowall)|With the start of fiIming drawing near,...

..the production was hit by the unexpected|Ioss of actor Edward G Robinson.

Voicing concerns over|the Iengthy makeup process,...

..he decided to withdraw|from the roIe of Dr Zaius.

When we got to make the picture and|we said ''Eddy, we gotta have a go'',...

..he said ''Guys, I can't do it.''

He said ''My heart's shot.''|He said ''I'm too oId.''

And he said ''That makeup|just drove me crazy.''

He said ''I couIdn't possibIy do that,|day after day.'' He said ''I gotta pass.''

(Roddy McDowall)|Studio executives were aIso concerned,...

..this time over the fiIm's escaIating budget.

On ApriI 28th, onIy three weeks|before fiIming was set to begin,...

..the studio cut the production's|55-day shooting scheduIe by ten days.

AII aspects of the production were affected...

..with the exception of the makeup|and wardrobe budget,...

..which remained at aImost|one miIIion doIIars.

Jacobs and the studio finaIIy settIed|on a budget of $5.8 miIIion.

And, on May 21st, 1967,...

..Planet of the Apes|went before the cameras...

..and HoIIywood history|was about to be made.

ln less than an hour we'll fiinish|our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy.

The earth has aged nearly 700 years|since we left it.

While we've aged hardly at all.

Seen from out here, space is... boundless.

lt squashes a man's ego.

l feel lonely.

l leave the 20th century with no regrets.|But... one more thing:

Does man, that marvel of the universe, that|glorious paradox who sent me to the stars,...

..still make war against his brother?

FoIIowing a proIogue estabIishing|the character of astronaut George TayIor,...

..the fiIm's opening sequence|depicted a dramatic spaceship crash.

Striving for reaIism,|FrankIin Schaffner and WiIIiam Creber...

..came up with a simpIe|yet effective visuaI approach.

I convinced Frank to do it subjective,...

..as though you were Iooking out|the front of the spaceship.

A whoIe montage|of kind of tumbIing, crashing.

You just see the hurtIing at the water.

And then the screen goes bIack,|and when it comes up,...

..the camera puIIs back,|you're inside the spaceship.

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