Paul Giamatti Really, Really Loved Being in Planet of the Apes

Though few look back on the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes with fondness, there is one person that has nothing but warm thoughts when it comes to Tim Burton’s movie, Paul Giamatti. For those that don’t recall, Giamatti played the part of Limbo, an orangutan, in the movie. The modern Planet of the Apes movies notably moved away from prosthetic make-up for their ape characters, opting instead for mo-cap and visual effects, but the 2001 remake was the last time that a major chunk of the budget was allocated to turn human actors into apes using make-up. Speaking on the latest Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, Giamatti spoke with reverence and glee about his time wearing big fake orangutan teeth.

“I need those huge teeth huge prosthetic teeth and then I would feel I would feel right the teeth were amazing,” Giamatti said when asked if he could get right back into his character from Planet of the Apes. “That was Heaven from beginning to end. I loved that doing that so much I didn’t want to take that makeup off. There were days when we were called out and already be in makeup on and we wouldn’t work and Tim Burton would be like ‘I’m so sorry,’ I’m like ‘I’m so happy to be in this f–king makeup.’ Because that was a a childhood dream to be in Planet of the Apes. I was like, if I never act again I will be so happy I got the play of talking orangutan.”

When asked how he feels about the new movies in the series, Giamatti confirmed that while he does like them, he thinks they’re missing something because they don’t use prosthetic make-up.  “I like the new ones they’re great but I am a little bit like…it’s missing something with that tactile thing of those real faces.” The original makeup is so iconic and strange actually too. There’s nothing like (it). They’re not quite apes, they’re not quite people. it’s not quite real. It’s great, I love it and Rick Baker’s makeup in in the Tim Burton film was amazing but you know it’s it’s not the same thing….I love it. I love wearing that stuff.”

The next film in the franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, is slated to hit theaters on May 24, 2024. It’s described as follows: “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.”

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars Owen Teague (IT), Freya Allan (The Witcher), Kevin Durand (Locke & Key), Peter Macon (Shameless), and William H. Macy (Fargo).