Printable version

 To print: Click here or Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

	--------------------------------------------------------------
	This story was printed from dtheatre.com,
	located at http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=1477.
	--------------------------------------------------------------

Mark Wahlberg Talks Planet of the Apes 2
By Jack, (DT)
July 26, 2001 11:46 AM PT

(EMPIRE) After some last minute complications, Tim Burton?s Planet of The Apes is finally finished and despite the gruelling physical requirements of the film, star Mark Wahlberg is keen to come back for round 2.

Playing the voice of resistance who forces the oppressed human slaves to rise up against their primate captors, Wahlberg is more than happy to consider a sequel, but only if director Tim Burton signs on as well. "If Tim wants to, I'd love to, but it really depends on him," Wahlberg told reporters.

In fact, so enamoured with the director was Wahlberg that he maintains working with him was the high point of Apes: "The coolest thing about the experience was meeting Tim the person, getting to know a fantastic human being. It was a really tough shoot for me physically--I was getting beaten up for most of the movie-- I still rushed to work every day just to hang out with Tim. I never had so much fun, felt so comfortable on a set or around somebody. It was really, really special."

Not everyone on set was quite so accommodating however, the chimps kept on set were notoriously temperamental, taken to sudden temper tantrums and periodically attacking their human co-stars. More worrying was Wahlberg?s experiences with pseudo-apes Tim Roth and Michael Clarke Duncan who, unnervingly, insisted on maintaining their despotic demeanour even when the camera stopped rolling. Wahlberg admits that sometimes it was easy to forget that there were human beings under the ape-like costumes: "I did [forget] with Tim and Michael, especially because they became extremely violent, like the [real] chimps I was working with in preparing for the movie. They were relentless, they were always in character, which was fantastic for me, because I need something to cling to, to believe myself, so that way I can convey that to the audience. Yeah, there were a lot of times. Those guys in particular."