Picking up about 300 years after War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes saw Kevin Durand’s Proximus Caesar preaching a corrupted view of the original Caesar’s teachings and clashing with main protagonist Noa, played by Owen Teague. But as is often the case with antagonists, Proximus was defeated by the end of the movie and fell to his death when attacked by the eagles trained by Noa’s clan. While many were likely glad to see his comeuppance, Durand’s own daughter was “beyond unhappy” about what happened to Proximus for a reason that’s both sweet and sad.
Durand, also known for his performances in projects like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Strain and Locke & Key, stopped by Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum to discuss his career, and that included carving out some time for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. First, the actor talked about how his “body” was shaking and he “had tears coming down” when Wes Ball showed him his first look at Proximus Caesar, and called Kingdom the “greatest immersive experience” he’s ever had. Then when Rosenbaum asked Durand if his kids had seen the movie, he answered:
Yeah… I don’t think I would have taken them, but my wife took them while I was away doing press. ‘Cause my 8-year-old, she’s a real little artist, storyteller, and she flipped out at the end. Like, she was beyond unhappy. She was so distressed because she wasn’t seeing Proximus, she was seeing me because she sees me walking around the house like that all the time speaking in that voice and I play with them like that. So even though there was that great work that WETA added on, she didn’t do so well with that. So I don’t know, maybe when she’s older.
I can understand where Kevin Durand’s young daughter is coming from here. While the actor’s face is nowhere to be seen in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (unless you’re watching the Raw Cut), she was around her father a lot while he was preparing for the role, so of course she’d think of him when that bonobo villain was shouting, “What a wonderful day!” and scheming to access human technology. It’s no wonder she didn’t handle seeing Proximus die well, even if the character deserved to be overthrown.
Like Kevin Durand brought up, maybe it’d be worth seeing how his daughter does revisiting that scene when she’s older, whether it’s in her teenaged years or even as a young adult. But now that Proximus Caesar’s reign is over, the paths is cleared for the next chapter of the Planet of the Apes reboot timeline. Kingdom’s twist ending saw Freya Allen’s Mae delivering the decryption key from the vault at Proximus’ beachfront base to a settlement of humans at a satellite base. With that key, they were able to reactivate centuries-old satellites and make contact with other intelligent humans around the world. What will they do now that they can coordinate with each other, and what will this mean for apes, which are now Earth’s dominant species?
Since the next Planet of the Apes movie is expected to come out sometime in 2027, those answers will be forthcoming in just a couple of years. In the meantime, stream Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and all the other movies in the sci-fi franchise with a Hulu subscription.
