>>>
we're back now at 8:35 with oscar nominated octobactor
james franco
. in "plan et of the apes" he is raising a chimp named
caesar
as his own. when
caesar
gets too big will is forced to put him in a primate facility. take a look.
>>
caesar
, it's going to be okay. everything is going to be okay. you're going to stay here now. i know. we're not
going home
right now.
>>
allow you to drag it out. i know what it is.
>>
james franco
, good morning.
>>
good morning.
>>
i watched that just to remind yourself, this is an actor playing that character of
caesar
. just explain to the viewers the technology that's involved here.
>>
yeah. well, to me, i sound like a bit of a ne a erksnerd but the most interesting thing in the film is the way they capture the chimp. the man who created golin in "the
lord of the rings
", he's onset with me for every scene. wears gray pajamas with wires on it.
>>
motion sensors.
>>
right. so he looks nothing like an ape onset. but he's so good -- he's the master of this kind of work. so he's so good at the chimpanzee behavior that you kind of forget what he's wearing and --
>>
but typical of you, you're giving credit somewhere else. the fact is you've got to act with this guy with wires all over him and you've got to stay in the idea of what's imaginary in this scene.
>>
yeah. but it's -- actual ly not that large of a leap. in a normal scene if i was with somebody playing my brother who is obviously not my brother, as long as he's a good actor you fall into the relationship. b
>>
but he looks like a
human being
. this guy doesn't look like an ape.
>>
but i think you go on behavior just as much as appearance. so andy is so good at the behavior, you fall into that kind of relationship and, you know, you respond to each other based on a lot of things. so it was easy to kind of fall into it.
>>
i think it will be also easy for audiences to go and see this movie and get wowed by the technology and what you guys were able to accomplish in the
movie making
side of this. but there's also a message to this movie. i'll give you my summation of it and you correct me and tell me where i'm wrong. it's a little bit like careful what you wish for in terms of technology and science because you can embrace parts of it that simply aren't going to take you down the right road.
>>
that's true. that is in there. no, that's in there. that's what happens. the scientists are testing on chimpanzees and things go wrong and there's some disastrous results. but to me, that's kind of a premise for, you know, telling this great story. in fact, i see this ape movie and all of the "
planet of the ape
" movies not to be read so literally. it's best read if the apes and the humans interacting is an analogy for how we treat other groups and in this movie apes are kind of a group that are repressed and so it's a great situation to show what happened to a repressed people.
>>
and what happens without giving anything away, there's a pretty amazing revolution scene in this one. it takes me back to the first "
planet of the apes
" came out in
1968
. i was 11. i saw that movie. i didn't sleep for 3 1/2 years. it freaked me out. how high would you say the freak-out factor in this movie is for the average viewer?
>>
it's actually, for a summer movie, not -- it's much more human, it tells the story about human characters and one of the responses i've heard a lot from people that have seen it is i was surprised about how much i felt. and so actually it's not a kind of a freak-out movie as much as it has great action but it's more of a --
>>
it's more thoughtful.
>>
yeah. it's a little bit of a
character piece
.
>>
when we look back at this stage of your career will we call it the prequel phase because here you're doing "rise of the
planet of the apes
" and also working on "oz, the great and powerful" which is the story leading up to what happened to the "
wizard of oz
."
>>
yes, this is my prequel phase.
>>
some actors have a blue phase, you have a prequel phase. you're still working on that movie. what's going on with that?
>>
yes. we're filming that in detroit. i flew in to new york for the weekend. but i'll be going back. we just -- we just started. finished our first week. it's directed by sam rainy who directed the first three spider-man films. and i play the young
wizard of oz
and it's the story of how the wizard got there, you know, before dorothy came. and it's got
michelle williams
and, many mila and rachel.
>>
and the whole academic side of your life. in may you graduated with a masters in film from nyu that adds to the other two masters degrees. pursuing a ph.d. in yale and just started teaching a film course at nyu and you teach drivers ed weekends in brooklyn, also, haven't you?
>>
no, i haven't drifr veb in years.
>>
do you have a license?
>>
i guess i still have one. i might want to check.
>>
might be expired.
>>
good luck with everything. congratulations. it's 8:41. "rise of the
planet of the apes
" will hit theaters this friday.
>>>
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