The latest installment of the Planet of the Apes franchise is almost upon us and the film has its lead actor. Owen Teague has been tapped to play the lead primate in the new film.
As reported by Deadline, 20th Century Studios made their choice after Teague wowed the studio’s top brass with his screen tests. Despite settling in on who leads the apes, the studio is still very much in search of who will play the lead human role. Teague will look to deliver a stellar performance and hopefully something akin to, or on par with, what Andy Serkis delivered while playing Ceasar in the most recent installments of the franchise. Teague will be stepping into one of his most iconic roles yet; he previously landed appearances in the 2017 horror hit film IT and the Paramount+ limited series, The Stand.
Wes Ball has been tapped to direct the new film and the director has already been working on the project for a long time. Since the purchase of 20th Century Studios by Disney and the vision was nursed to retain and continue the iconic franchise, Ball, who also directed the Maze Runner movies, was picked in 2019 to direct the film and has been drafting a script. The director’s work on the script was seen by the studios’ executives earlier this summer, and they seem impressed with Ball’s plans for the future of the franchise since production for the new film hopes to begin before the year’s end.
Planet of the Apes is a long-running franchise that stems from the 1968 film of the same name based on a novel authored by Pierre Boulle. The film followed the story of an astronaut who landed on a planet with apes as the advanced species and humans as the subjugated primitive race. The original was a huge hit, particularly thanks to its twist ending, and continued to inspire new works in the 70s. A new series of films would kick off from 20th Century in 2011 with the release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and then conclude with the War For the Planet of the Apes in 2017. The 2011 origin story was a brilliant hit at the box office which in turn has inspired the next set of films, of which Teague has snagged a front-row seat.
The next Planet of the Apes film does not have a release date yet.
via Collider