Planet of the Apes (2001) on Netflix
PG-1320011h 59mActionAdventureSci-Fi
In 2029, astronaut Leo Davidson follows his chimpanzee Pericles into an electromagnetic storm. He crashes on a planet where apes keep humans as slaves, and Ari protests their mistreatment.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb5.7/10243,252 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes43%
Trailer
Plot summary
Aboard the space station Oberon in 2029, Leo Davidson works with apes trained for space missions, and his favorite is a chimpanzee named Pericles. When Pericles's pod vanishes inside an electromagnetic storm, Leo takes another pod after him, loses contact with the station and crashes on a planet ruled by talking apes, where humans are kept as slaves. A chimpanzee named Ari, who protests how the humans are treated, buys Leo and a woman named Daena to serve in her father's household. Leo breaks out of his cage and frees other captives, and the orangutan trader Limbo is seized to keep him quiet. General Thade and his gorilla officer Attar lead ape warriors in pursuit of the fugitives.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Planet of the Apes (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A remake was nearly made in 1988 by Adam Rifkin, with Rick Baker on makeup, Danny Elfman on the score, and Tom Cruise and Charlie Sheen in contention for the lead. New executives arrived at Fox days before pre-production began and the project fell apart.
- Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh pitched a version set during an ape Renaissance, and Roddy McDowall, veteran of the original series, agreed to play a Leonardo da Vinci-like ape written for him. The Fox executive Jackson spoke to was not a fan of the series and seemed unaware of McDowall's history with it, so Jackson went back to Heavenly Creatures.
- Fox executive Dylan Sellers insisted the script include a scene of apes trying to play baseball, and fired writer Terry Hayes when the next draft came back without it. Director Phillip Noyce quit over the firing in February 1995 and went off to make The Saint.
- Gary Oldman was cast as General Thade and dropped out for financial reasons, so Tim Roth took the part; Roth then turned down Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone because of it, and Alan Rickman was cast instead.
- Tim Burton refused computer-generated apes and insisted on Rick Baker's prosthetics, which took between two and four and a half hours to apply and an hour to remove. The actors playing apes spent a month and a half at an ape school choreographed by Terry Notary.
- Tim Roth held a grudge against Charlton Heston during filming over Heston's work for the National Rifle Association, kept it out of the workplace, and later said he would not have taken the role had he known he would share a scene with him.
- Shooting opened at Lake Powell, where parts of the 1968 film were made, but a local drought meant the crew had to pump extra water in.
