The Making of PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

Introduction

For over fifty-five years, Planet of the Apes has been one of the most iconic science fiction brands in the annals of Hollywood history. When the original film was released in 1968 nobody realized it would go on to launch four sequels, a television series, and two theatrical reboots over the next several decades. This is the story of the movie that started it all.

Novel and Rights

In 1963, French novelist Pierre Boulle published his second most popular novel, La Planète des Singes. It would be translated into English as Monkey Planet the following year.

Fledgling Hollywood producer Arthur P. Jacobs formed his production company APJAC Productions just months before the French release of the novel. He had heard about the premise of the story prior to publication and contacted Boulle about securing the rights to turn it into a feature film, which he did.

Boulle was no stranger to Hollywood adaptations of his work. His most popular novel, 1952’s Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï, was adapted into box office smash and Academy Award-winning classic The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957.

Development

Jacobs initially struck a deal with Warner Brothers to make Planet of the Apes with Blake Edwards attached to direct. However, after Jacobs’ hit movie What A Way to Go (1964) starring Shirley MacLaine was released by 20th Century Fox, he moved Planet of the Apes over to that studio. This was at the behest of Fox vice-president Richard D. Zanuck who had already committed to Jacobs’ next project, Doctor Doolittle (1967).

While Edwards was still attached to directing the movie, he recommended Rod Serling to write the script. Serling would go on to write approximately forty different drafts of the screenplay. However, Serling’s vision was deemed too expensive to film. This was due to the advanced technological society in which the apes lived.

Serling’s drafts were scrapped. However, many of the ideas he came up with were included. Among them was the basic plot and story structure, but with a less advanced culture. This was in order to cut down on costs. Serling changed the ending of the story to the iconic version seen in the film. Although the ending from the novel was basically used in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001).

Changes were made at both the director and screenwriter positions in early 1966. Michael Wilson, who had been blacklisted for being a Communist a decade earlier was brought in to make the less expensive version of Serling’s script. Wilson’s version also replaced all of the dialogue and some of the character names from Serling’s version. Wilson was recommended for script duties by Franklin J. Schaffner, who replaced Edwards as director.

Casting and Screen Test

Despite all of the script activity of Planet of the Apes, the brass at Fox didn’t believe the film could be made convincingly with ape characters. Zanuck chose to have a scene from the Serling script shot with Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson. They had been cast as Thomas (changed to Taylor in Wilson’s script) and Dr. Zaius respectively. To round out the casting for the scene, Zanuck used two of the young actors from the studio’s Talent Training School: James Brolin as Cornelius and Linda Harrison as Zira. Harrison who was Zanuck’s mistress at the time would go on to play the role of Nova in the final film.

“I think they always had me in mind for Nova. But they needed someone to do the screen test, and you keep trying to employ your actors. So. I did the screen test. The part that was hard for me was actually doing the mask, where they put all that plaster on your face and you have to lie there still for a long time. Fortunately, I was an acrobat growing up, and a very very good one — I won a lot of contests — so I knew how to control my body and be ‘quiet’. You had to do that, you had to be very still and lay there and be a ‘good patient’. A young actor will do anything to get their mug on the screen!”

– Linda Harrison

The scene was shot on March 8, 1966, at a cost of $5,000. Makeup artist John Chambers was responsible for transforming Harrison, Brolin, and Robinson into humanoid chimpanzees and orangutans. To accomplish the task he spent many days studying apes at the Los Angeles Zoo. Chambers would have a crew of seventy-eight in the makeup department during the production of the film.

“I remember that the makeup process took about three hours. I had to lay back and be perfectly still as they put this plaster mold on my face. After seeing the test, everyone was very enthusiastic about going ahead with making Planet of the Apes. But they felt the makeup needed a little more work and perfecting before it would look good on screen.”

– Linda Harrison 

Over the next several months the final casting for the film took shape. Edward G. Robinson left the project due to failing health and the lengthy time commitment the makeup chair required. Maurice Evans replaced him in the role.

Roddy McDowall filled the role of Cornelius with Kim Hunter being cast as Zira. However, Hunter was not the top choice for the role. That honor belonged to Ingrid Bergman, who didn’t believe in the movie. Upon seeing the finished film, turning down the role ended up being the biggest regret of her historic career. 

Although Brolin was out of the film, Harrison was eventually cast as Nova. The casting of this role was challenging (despite Harrison’s belief that the role was hers to lose) with actresses such as Ursula Andress and Angelique Pettyjohn being considered. Eventually, Zanuck approached Jacobs and associate producer Mort Abrahams about Harrison in the role.

“The casting problem’s really Nova: who will do it, and how naked can she be. The tests I saw were not good.”

– Charlton Heston 

“(Zanuck) said, ‘I’d like you to consider Linda.’ Linda was in the acting school that was on the lot at that point and about four or five times a year the students did little scenes live on a soundstage and the producers and directors on the lot were invited to attend. So I’d seen her act and I said to Dick, ‘We will be glad to meet with Linda,’ and Frank (Schaffner) and I would chat with her and talk about the part but that she would be treated like an actress, not as an affiliation with anybody else. And he said, ‘That’s the way it has to be.’ And we did and we thought she was fine…(Linda) was delighted to get it, because she’d only done little tiny bit parts in a couple of pictures before that. I was pleasantly surprised by her.”

– Mort Abrahams

Filming

Filming for Planet of the Apes began on May 21, 1967, and wrapped nearly three months later on August 10, 1967. The film was primarily shot in Arizona as well as in Malibu, California. Due to the desert heat and the heavy makeup and costumes, this was the only movie in their series to be shot in the Summer months, a lesson learned due to the lack of comfort the actors experienced in this movie.

The film had a budget of $5 million dollars with a staggering $345,000 dedicated to makeup. It was falsely reported that the makeup budget was $1 million dollars at the time of release to drum up publicity.

All of the ape actors were required to stay in costume during the entire shooting day, which meant they could only have a liquid diet (by way of a straw) while on set. Smoking was also difficult, requiring the actor to use cigarette holders. As the shooting schedule dragged on for these actors they began to congregate by ape species during breaks, something that occurred organically on a subconscious, tribal level.

Initially, Kim Hunter despised the facial ape prosthetics finding them to be claustrophobic. In order to cope with the experience she took Valium each morning while her makeup was applied. Eventually, she didn’t think she needed the pills anymore and went one day without taking one. However, after the morning’s makeup session, her makeup artist threatened to find someone to replace him if she didn’t start taking them again because he felt as though he was “wrestling” with her the whole time. 

“(Harrison) was a lovely girl and so pretty, such a lovely figure and consumed with the work. I also remember her in relation to the Valium I used to take to relax because of the makeup. She asked what my strength was. It was five milligrams, or whatever, and she said, ‘Oh, my God, that little? I never go to sleep without ten at least..’ I do remember that conversation.”

– Kim Hunter

One actor who didn’t mind the makeup process was Roddy McDowall. The actor loved the makeup, especially making faces in the mirror while wearing it. He also enjoyed driving around Los Angeles freeways with his makeup on to startle other drivers.

Because this was Harrison’s first big movie Heston was a little frustrated with her at the beginning of filming. However, he soon acted as a mentor to her.

“(Heston) taught me to favor the camera. Don’t look right into it. Look off to the side, don’t look too far, you know, not to turn my head this way. And he would say turn it just here. Don’t go all the way back. And he held my hand for a lot of things…Heston had a quiet quality about him and was very courteous with me. He encouraged me to favor the camera. I was a newcomer in many ways – which may have helped my character. I’m sure Heston had his doubts about me; however, he never showed them. He treated me more like a child than an adult and not much was discussed between us, in character or out. When you idolize someone like I did, you tend to submit rather than assert yourself. Again, this worked in our roles and the relationship between us, as Taylor and Nova. Heston was terrific to work with and so helpful and such a gentleman.”

– Linda Harrison

Cutting Room Floor

One of the story elements that didn’t make the final film was Nova’s pregnancy. Although many scenes involving this storyline were filmed they were ultimately cut from the final version of Planet of the Apes.

The reason for the removal of this plot point was twofold. First, there were feeling that it would detract from the movie’s ending. Secondly studio brass could be problematic with audiences as well as the MPAA board, who ultimately gave the film a “G” rating.

“(The footage was cut) at the insistence of a high-echelon Fox executive who found it distasteful. Why? I suppose that, if one defines the mute Nova as merely “humanoid” and not actually human, it would mean that Taylor had committed sodomy. There’s probably a great deal of footage of it somewhere.”

– Michael Wilson

One scene that was supposed to be cut in which the judges imitate the “see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil” monkeys, was kept in because it elicited a strong, positive reaction from audiences during a test screening. This scene was improvised on set and was not in the shooting script.

Release and Reception

Planet of the Apes was widely released on April 3, 1968, with its premiere taking place on February 8, 1968, at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. It would go on to earn over $20 million at the box office that year, making it the sixth highest-grossing movie of the year.

Planet of the Apes would be nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Costume Design and Best Original Score. Despite not winning in those categories it would take home an Honorary Oscar for outstanding makeup achievement.

Due to the success of the movie a sequel was greenlit. This movie, Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), would have a reduced budget and reluctant reappearance by Hunter, Heston, and Harrison. As the series continued the story got further and further from the original movie.

Budgets and box office also dwindled until the original series came to an end with Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). The following year a television series version of this incarnation Planet of the Apes would appear on CBS but be canceled a few months later due to poor ratings.

If You Enjoyed This Article We Recommend:

FRANKENSTEIN: The Boris Karloff Years (Click Here)

The Making of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (Click Here)

Scholars’ Spotlight: Lon Chaney (Click Here)

If You Don’t Want To Miss Any Of Our Content In The Future Like Us On Facebook and Follow Us On Twitter and Instagram