Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Director Details MoCap Cut, "Magic Still Exists"

Wes Ball explains the decision to release a special cut of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

By Jamie Jirak

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is being released in theaters tonight, and the new film is already a hit with critics. The movie is currently up on Rotten Tomatoes with an 82% critics score after 113 reviews. ComicBook's Spencer Perry gave the film a 4 out of 5, and called it "a grand time, and a worthy follow-up." As folks gear up for the movie's theatrical release, some fans are already looking forward to the movie's physical media release. The DVD will include a "raw" version of the film, which will feature the actors in their motion capture suits. ComicBook recently spoke with director Wes Ball who talked about the highly-anticipated cut.

"I'm a fan of VFX," Ball began. "The trend right now seems to poo-poo VFX work, and I celebrate it. I think it's a tool like anything else. I think the work that these artists do – these storytellers do – should be appreciated more. Yeah, sure, there's bad VFX out there. There bad photography out there too, and we don't kind of rail on cameras, you know what I mean? It's just a tool to tell a story, and I think people will be blown away to see how these movies are created."

"I think there's this kind of mystique behind them, like there's a button that you say 'make ape' or 'make human' or 'make VFX,' 'make pretty.' It doesn't work that way. It's an incredible amount of craft and hard work and dedication that I think we should honor. There's a lot of people that work on these movies on the visual effects side of things," he continued. 

"That's not to say that all the onset guys, my production designer, and my DP, and all these guys, too. I mean, everyone should be kind of celebrated for their contribution on a movie like this. And I think just the visual effects component is a key of these movies. It would not be possible without them. So I wanna show people just what it is that is done on these movies, and I think the magic still exists because you look at it, and you're like, 'Oh my God, how is that possible?' That still exists. I don't know, for the geeks that like this stuff, they're gonna love it, I think." 

What Is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes About?

You can read a description of the film here: "Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar's reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike." 

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The cast for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is anchored by Owen Teague (IT) as Noa, a young chimpanzee. He's joined in the film by Kevin Duran (Locke & Key) as Proximus Caesar, a powerful chieftain that has appropriated human technology; Travis Jeffery as Anaya; Lydia Peckham as Soona, a female chimpanzee and a friend of Noa. Neil Sandilands as Koro; Peter Macon as Raka; and Freya Allan (The Witcher) as Mae, one of the few human characters to appear in the movie  

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opens in theaters on May 10th.

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