By the time Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is released, director Wes Ball’s continuation of the reboot trilogy will arrive in theaters almost 7 years after War for the Planet of the Apes. Fronted by Andy Serkis’ Caesar, those previous three films set the foundation for the next adventures, which will be led by Owen Teague’s unnamed protagonist. As part of his preparation, the young actor got to meet with Serkis, and he got some pointers on the adventure known as motion capture. What resulted was an education that Teague found to be invaluable.
Speaking with THR about his role in the comedy You Hurt My Feelings, the young star was eventually asked about his experience on the next chapter in ape evolution. While what we know about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes doesn’t tell us much about Owen Teague’s simian protagonist, knowing that he’s the functional lead of the upcoming picture is all you need to have in mind when reading this recollection of meeting with Andy Serkis:
Well, we all talked to Andy Serkis. He and I had a meeting, and he was part of why I became an actor. So this was something that I’d been wanting to do my entire life, and it was literally a dream come true to get to do this job and play this character. The hardest part about it was just learning how to be in a suit all day and have a camera strapped to your head. But you get used to it after about a week, and I remember Andy being like, ‘You’ll get used to it and you’ll stop worrying about it after the first week.’ And he was absolutely right.
With these previous films arguably considered some of the best sci-fi movies in recent history, the advice of Andy Serkis in any capacity is probably considered a huge help. In his performance as the Planet of the Apes hero who started it all, Serkis knows Caesar’s world in and out.
Paired with Serkis' experiences pioneering the field of motion capture through other projects like Lord of the Rings, Owen Teague had the best teacher possible when picking up the torch for the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. As this new story addresses Caesar’s legacy and the effect it’s had centuries into the future, it’s rather fitting that Teague is also continuing the work that Andy Serkis set up through the previous trilogy.
Much like his motion capture mentor, the Bloodline star seems to be a natural for this advanced degree of make-believe. Owen Teague said as much in these further remarks about his promising potential future in the medium:
The rest of motion capture is just what you would do otherwise, and the difference between a human and whatever you’re playing just becomes a costume, so you don’t even really think about it that much. It’s just acting and it’s no different. So I took to it very quickly and very happily, and it’s something that I’d like to do a lot more of. So I hope I get to, because I really enjoy it. It’s actually freeing. It’s the fun of acting boiled down to the very essence of what it is. You get to be anything you want, and it doesn’t have to be even remotely similar to what you are in real life. So you just have to put yourself in that being and exist. It was wonderful.
Andy Serkis thinks the next Apes movie will blow people’s minds, and that must be in part because of Owen Teague’s performance at the heart of it all. Reflecting on what he knows about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes with such glowing praise is a huge vote of confidence, both in the story chosen to lead the way and in the choice of Teague to help tell it.
We’ll all get to see what the finished product looks like next year, as the fourth Planet of the Apes installment is part of the 2024 movie schedule. Set to debut in theaters on May 24, 2024, it won't be too long before the legacy of Caesar continues to unfold once more. In the meantime, you can see Owen Teague in You Hurt My Feelings, which is currently showing at the movies.
