When I first read The Green Mile in its original, monthly serialized form, I was struck by two thoughts. First, that it would make one hell of a movie. Second, that it would be unlikely to ever become one, because it would be nigh impossible to cast the character of John Coffey, the black 6′ 8″ hulking simpleton who was falsely accused of the rape an murder of two young white girls in the novel.

Michael Clarke Duncan was three inches shorter than John Coffey, but other than that he was perfect for the role. He had been an actor for five years prior to landing the role, typically in small roles as bouncers (in Married With Children, Bulworth and A Night at the Roxbury) or guards of one sort or another (in Back in Business, Living Single and The Players Club) in a number of films and TV shows. Arguably, his largest role prior to The Green Mile was as a member of Bruce Willis’ crew in Armageddon.

But his playing John Coffey was a thing that happens all too rarely in Hollywood–the absolutely ideal marriage of an actor and role. His physical appearance matched the fearsome and imposing figure Stephen King described in his novel, but  Duncan’s acting captured the nuanced characterization–the sweet innocence and simple nature–that King wrote into the character. It’s telling that in a film where awards season favorites such as Tom Hanks, David Morse, Patricia Clarkson, James Cromwell and Sam Rockwell gave bravura performances, Duncan was the only member of the cast to get a Oscar nomination (for Best Supporting Actor, which he lost to Michael Caine for Cider House Rules).

Unfortunately, while Hollywood has no shortage of roles that Duncan’s physical presence would be ideal for, few of these roles would play up to his acting talents. Regardless, he would fulfill his dream of becoming a working actor, typically in science-fiction and comic book genre films.

He played Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin, in 2003′s Daredevil, played Manute in 2005′s Sin City, and voice the alien trainer Kilowog in 2011′s Green Lantern. In addition, he had pivotal roles in 2001′s Planet of the Apes, 2002′s The Scorpion King, and 2009′s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

Duncan would also appear in a number of comedies, notably 2000′s The Whole Nine Yards, 2006′s Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby and School for Scoundrels, and 2009′s The Slammin’ Salmon. And his deep baritone lent itself to voice overwork in animation and numerous video games.

With two weekends in a row at the top of the box office, it is safe to assume that Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is not just attracting fans of the classic science-fiction franchise to theaters. Those who are die hard Planet Of The Apes buffs who have seen the new film have probably caught a number of winks and nods to the original series that the filmmakers have slipped in.

The most obvious of these, of course, are two lines of dialogue uttered by the original film’s star Charlton Heston that actor Tom Felton gets to deliver at separate points – “It’s a madhouse! A madhouse!” and “Get your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!” But many of the other nods are not so obvious, so here is a guide to the various Easter eggs hidden within. Needless to say, there will be some spoilers below.

Names

Many character names in the new film are derived from characters, actors and behind the scenes personnel from the original films.

Bright Eyes – Captured in Africa and brought to California for experimentation, the chimpanzee who will give birth to Rise’s hero Caesar is given the same name that chimp scientist Dr. Zira givens Charlton Heston’s character Taylor in the first film.

Steven Jacobs – The head of the research corporation where James Franco’s experiments were carried out is named after the original franchise’s producer Arthur P. Jacobs.

Dodge Landon – Tom Felton‘s sadistic son of the operator of the primate sanctuary that Caesar is forcibly sent to is named after the two members of Taylor’s crew who briefly survived their crash landing on the Planet of the Apes before being hunted down by gorillas – Landon (Robert Gunner) and Dodge (Jeff Burton).

Maurice – The former circus orangutan who Caesar befriends in the primate sanctuary is so named not because he speaks of the pompitous of love but in recognition of actor Maurice Evans, who played orangutan scientist Dr. Zaius in the first two Apes films.

Cornelia – Another resident of the primate sanctuary, her name is a feminization of chimpanzee scientist Cornelius played by Roddy McDowell in Planet Of The Apes and Escape From The Planet Of The Apes. (The role was played by David Watson in Beneath The Planet Of The Apes due to McDowell being in Scotland directing Tam Lin.)

Rodney – It has been speculated that the name of primate shelter worker Rodney is a nod to franchise star McDowell, who appeared in four of the five original films as well as the short-lived television series spinoff. However, McDowell’s full first name is actually Roderick. Equally tenuous would be the argument that it is a reference to Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, who did a majority of the work on the original Planet Of The Apes screenplay and contributor to the story for the second film, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, as his given first name is Rodman.

Callbacks To The Original Film

Beyond the name references in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, there are a few story moments that distinctly echo the original Planet Of The Apes film. The film’s opening chimpanzee hunt and the attack on the apes by police on horseback on the Golden Gate Bridge mirror similar scenes in the opening of Planet Of The Apes where apes were hunting humans. When Caesar is sprayed with a high-pressure hose by Dodge, it parallels a similar moment in the original when apes blast Taylor with a hose.

One of the most powerful images in the original Planet Of The Apes is the end reveal of a toppled Statue of Liberty and that Taylor had been on Earth all along. Rise references this iconic moment when we see a young Caesar in his room putting together a three-dimensional model of the Statue. What makes this moment particularly well placed is that it comes right before the event that sends Caesar on the path to the primate shelter and ultimately the rebellion he leads. It’s a small and subtle bit of foreshadowing to the dramatic end of the first film.

Charlton Heston Cameo

Just because he passed away in 2008, that isn’t going to stop Charlton Heston, the star of the original Planet Of The Apes, from making a cameo appearance in this new film. Here, we glimpse him in a clip from his 1965 movie The Agony And The Ecstasy, which primate shelter worker Rodney is watching in one scene. Heston also cameoed in director Tim Burton’s Planet Of The Apes remake in 2001, ironically in the role of an anti-gun ape elder.

The Icarus

Perhaps the most obvious bit of stage-setting the film does for a possible sequel is the mentions of the flight of the spaceship Icarus. Some glimpsed television news coverage tells us that the NASA ship is readying launch on the first manned mission to Mars. Later, at the start of apes’ escape from the primate sanctuary, we see a newspaper headline stating that the Icarus has been “Lost In Space.” While the ship that Heston’s Taylor commanded in the original film went unnamed, it is obvious that the screenwriters are setting up their version of the backstory of how Taylor arrived in the future. In the original film, the ship was on a “deep space” mission. But since we weren’t launching such missions in 1972, the year Taylor and his crew supposedly came from, I can live with this bit of retroactive adjustment. Since screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have stated that they have a trilogy of films in mind and that Rise is only the first part, hopefully we’ll get to see this paid off in a future installment.

1. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (Fox, 3,500 Theaters, 105 Minutes, Rated PG-13): I recently wrote a post addressing Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman’s criticism of the reboots of comic book franchises. I wonder what he thinks of this film, the second attempt to reboot the Planet of the Apes franchise in ten years.

Tim Burton’s 2001 remake, Planet of the Apes, was disappointing critically but tripled its production budget, making it a fairly sizable hit. Usually that would be enough to warrant a sequel, not a reboot. But a reboot is what we get.

The film hews closer to the original series of films than the Burton remake, but updating the concept to go along with the times. Gone is the pardoxical aspect of apes from the future teaching the primative apes and jump starting the rebellion. Now, an experimental drug designed to treat Alzheimer’s is thing that advances the ape’s intelligence. Their treatment at the hands of humans is still what causes them to revolt.

I like this version of the origin better than the original, and the cast is top notch. But, really, is it necessary?

2. The Change-Up (Universal, 2,913 Theaters, 112 Minutes, Rated R): Busy summer for Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. This is the second film this season for both. Third this year for Bateman. They’re quickly becoming this era’s Gene Hackman and Michael Caine.

Ah, a body switch film. Not the most original premise in the world. The most original thing about this time around is the fact that the switch comes into effect due to urinating into a magic fountain. That’s new.

Anyway, Dave (Bateman) is a father of three and envious of the still single Mitch’s (Reynolds) swinging lifestyle. Mitch is envious of Dave’s wife and good paying job. After a boy’s night out and said public urination, the pair wake up to find each other trapped in each other’s bodies. Hilarity, hi-jinx and uncomfortable situations ensue.

You pretty much know what you are going to get in this film. Whether it will be any good depends on Reynolds and Bateman. Both are charming actors (although Reynolds’ hair in this film is quite distracting. I don’t know what’s going on with that) but the true test will how well each actor captures the other’s personality.

While it seems that studios are interested in turning virtually every comic book into a movie, many comic book publishers are making sure that the traffic between comics and the silver screen follows both ways. Today, we’re launching an initiative to cover more of these film properties that get the four-color comic book treatment. We start with a look at Boom! Studios brand new Planet Of The Apes comic.

When writer Bill Willingham introduced readers to a world where the embodiment of fairy tale characters lived in a hidden community in New York City in his comic book series Fables, he did so with a murder mystery. Within the context of a carefully constructed whodunit, Willingham gave readers a tour of this community as they followed Bigby Wolf moving through various layers of Fabletown society on the trail of a murder. It’s an ingenious and effective way to present lots of exposition within the confines of the actual story.

For the opening issue of Boom! Studios’ new Planet Of The Apes comic, writer Daryl Gregory uses a variation of this device. It is some six centuries after the initial revolt of the apes as seen in Conquest Of and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes. Humanity is on the decline, and in the case of humans living in the city-state of Mak they are pretty much confined to one ghetto known as “Skintown”.

The story opens with the assassination of Mak’s ape Lawgiver by a masked human armed with an automatic rifle not seen before. The Lawgiver had two adopted “grandchildren” – the ape Alaya, who now sits on the city-state’s ruling council and the human Sullivan who acts as the unelected mayor of Skintown. Although they grew up together, it seems that Alaya still harbors some prejudice towards humans, which bubbles up after the Lawgiver’s death. She summons Sullivan to her quarters to tell her that she has two days to find the Lawgiver’s assassin or else she will turn loose the ape military to overturn Skintown until he is found.

Gregory has certainly set up an initial story arc, titled “The Long War,” that promises some interesting political intrigue playing out over it’s remaining chapters and beyond. The apes seem to be divided into two political factions – those who want to co-exist peacefully with humans and the Caesarists, who are very much pro-ape and anti-human. Alaya seems to be one of those who would co-exist with humans until her grief over the death of the Lawgiver pushes her towards the Caesarists. The Caesarists seem to be very much in charge and to very much relish that the Lawgiver’s death has given them the opportunity to be more openly abusive to humans. And as we see how humans are treated very much as second-class citizens, we see the irony of the Lawgiver’s final reading from sacred scrolls on the first page of the issue – “… And Caeser sealed the armory of Mandemus. To this day, apes and humans have lived together in friendship, harmony and peace.”

The best of the Planet Of The Apes film series entries have a layer of social commentary in their stories and we can see the beginnings of similar subtext in “The Long War”. Could the ape attitude of holding all humans culpable for the actions of one lone assassin be a comment on how some people blamed all Muslims for acts of terror following 9/11? Outside of the Battlestar Galactica revival, it’s not a subject that has been touched upon too much in popular genre material, so there remains a lot of fertile ground still available to be covered.

Carlos Magno’s art for the book is a treat. His characters are strong and distinguishable and the action clean. His designs for the ape city as well as everyone’s clothing is unique yet still contains a hint of the familiar cloth and leather ape tunics the films are known for.

I do have a minor concern or two about the story though. Chief among them is the younger generation of humans being born mute. I am not sure if this going to be a plot point or if it’s just an attempt to retcon in an explanation of how humanity reached the feral state we see it in the first Apes film. Hopefully this will play out as the series progresses.

Glenn Shadix, who played the unctuous and pretentious interior decorator Otho in Tim Burton’s 1988 comedy Beetle Juice has passed away earlier this morning at his Birmingham, AL condo falling a fall.

The Birmingham News quotes Shadix’s sister as saying, “He was having mobility problems, and he was in a wheelchair… It looks like he fell and hit his head in the kitchen, and that’s the cause of death.”

Shadix exhibited a flair for quirky, dark comedy that Burton capitalized on in his supernatural comedy, casting the heavy set actor as a decorator whose absurd plans for redecorating a home distresses the spirits of its deceased former owners. Shadix would reteam with Burton twice more – providing the voice for the Mayor of Halloweentown in The Nightmare Before Christmas, which Burton produced and the 2001 remake of Planet Of The Apes.

He appeared in numerous films and television roles, including the dark comedy Heathers, Demolition Man, Sleepwalkers and Dunston Checks In. After retiring from films a few years ago, he relocated back to his native Alabama to be closer to family.

Some photos of location shooting in San Fransisco for the upcoming Planet Of The Apes reboot, Rise Of The Apes has surfaced. They’re nothing terribly spoilerish. They are pictures of actor Andy Serkis and a stunt double in motion capture suit and the actual computer-generated ape characters will be based on their on-set performance. Serkis is an old hand at this kind of acting having performed Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy and Kong in Jackson’s King Kong remake.

The first two photos are Serkis’ stunt double working on a shot where his character Caesar is crossing a street. Is that a circus truck in the background of the first shot?

The third photo briefly popped up on line a few weeks back before Twentieth Century Fox sent out a flurry of take down notices. We’ll see how long this one lasts. It shows Serkis (Note the mini-cam rig on his head used to capture his facial performance) with James Franco and Frieda Pinto, who play scientists that helped develop the strain of intelligence apes that will one day usurp the rule of the planet from men.

Rise Of The Apes will be in theaters on June 24, 2011.

James Franco is reportedly in talks to headline Twentieth Century Fox’s Planet Of The Apes reboot, Rise Of The Apes. Franco will play a scientist in contemporary San Francisco who gets caught between humanity and a batch of genetically-altered intelligent apes. Fox has recently fast-tracked the film, which will be directed by Rupert Wyatt, for a June 24, 2011 release. Cameras are scheduled to begin rolling July 5th.

Rather than use humans in makeup, this new version will utilize apes created through computer imagery and animated via motion capture performance. Peter Jackson’s WETA Digital will be providing the work.

Fox has been making a priority of restarting their Planet Of The Apes franchise for some time now. But instead of making a direct remake of the classic 1968 film – we saw how well that went for Tim Burton in 2001 – the studio has been keen on starting off with an “origin story” of sorts, showing exactly how apes came to rule over humans, but without the time travel and pre-destination elements of the franchise’s Escape From The Planet Of The Apes and Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes. After many attempts, it seems as if studio brass are happy with the script from Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa to finally pull the trigger.

Via Deadline.

The on-again, off-again Planet Of The Apes reboot in development over at Twentieth Century Fox is looking like it is back on again.

Director Rupert Wyatt has been brought on board to oversee the project’s development, replacing writer/director Scott Frank, who left at the beginning of the year.

Currently titled Caesar, the film will tell the story of the first chimpanzee to gain sentience enough to lead rebellion against humans, thus leading to the conditions seen in the classic science-fiction franchise. Although the original series had its own version of how Earth came under the dominion of apes, this new film would allow for the possibility of charting a new franchise of pictures.

The project came to the studio originally by writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver under the title Genesis: Apes. Reportedly, their original drafts as well as Frank’s work on the film all contained powerful political allegory which made the studio nervous. I am afraid that Wyatt may have been brought in to tone down the politics, which is a pity, because political and social commentary was very much an important element in the original Apes series and a new Apes movie would seem a little empty without it.

Back in November 2008, we told you about a plan at 20th Century Fox to reboot their Planet Of The Apes franchise that sounded very intriguing. Titled Caesar, writer /director Scott Frank was working on the project for Fox, which would have relaunched the series starting from the original series’ fourth film, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes. The idea was originally brought to the studio by writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver under the title Genesis: Apes.

Unfortunately, CHUD is now reporting that Frank is now off the film and it looks like the project is dead.

Back when we first reported on the project, I felt that the concept was a bit edgy for Fox executives’ tastes. In this proposed story, a scientist meddling with chimpanzee DNA accidentally creates a chimpanzee with human livels of intelligence. Once he discovers that the chimp can talk, he takes him home to be raised by his wife, who is unable to bare children of her own. Several years later, his adoptive mother is attacked and in the act of protecting her, accidentally kills her assailant. He is then taken to labs where, although he is as sentient as a human, he is tortured and experimented on. Although initially rejected by the other apes at the laboratory, he eventually inspires them to revolt and overthrow human society. Where the original Conquest had a two decade gap separating its 1971 audience from the film’s fascist government of the future year 1991, this version was set in the present and it may have presented some themes that might be a little hard to take without the fictional setting.

It’s not surprising that the film is dead at Fox. Even though risk aversion seems to be the watchword for all the studios, Fox practices it as a religion. While relaunching a classic series is typically seen as a safe move, such a radical reinterpretation of the Planet Of The Apes concept probably outweighed the easy sell of a new Apes film in the minds of the studio brass at Fox.

Will the studio continue to look for a way to bring a new Planet Of The Apes film to the big screen. My guess is very probably. Unfortunately, it will probably not be as interesting as this version promised to be.

1. Twilight: New Moon (Summit Entertainment, 4,024 Theaters, 130 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Well, this film is finally here. The Twilight franchise is known to inspire strong reactions from people. Whether you are a”Twi-hard” who screams at the mere mention of Robert Pattinson’s name or a San Diego Comic Con goer who thinks the film “ruined” the con for you, you either love or hate the franchise.

I have to admit, I kind of lean towards the latter. I haven’t seen the previous film so I’m not basing it on personal experience. It’s just that there is nothing in the concept that appeals to me.

It’s not that I don’t believe a vampire romance can’t be good. The themes of undying love in this context are ones to be explored. But Twilight seems to examine it in the silliest way possible. It is more melodrama than drama.

Let me just show you what I mean. This is the plot description for the film of at IMDB:

Last time we see saw Bella Swan she was narrowly escaping the clutches of the evil vampire James while finding love with ”vegetarian” vampire Edward Cullen. Bella and Edward’s lives have been full of nothing but love and bliss however, it all changes one fateful day. On Bella’s birthday, her new found friend and sister of Edward, Alice, decides to throw her lavish party, complete with balloons, ribbons and cake that could feed an army. All is well until Bella accidentally cuts her finger whilst opening a present. The result is that Jasper Hale, the newest addition to the Cullen clan, succumbs to his blood lust and attacks Bella. Edward decides that while he and his family are around, Bella’s life will always be at risk. So he decides to leave her for her own good. Bella feels her life is over. Enter Jacob Black, a member of the Quilite tribe who manages to bring some joy and meaning back into Bella’s life. However as the two become closer, Bella discovers Jacob has a secret of his own- he’s a werewolf. As if that wasn’t bad enough Bella can’t seem to get the love of her life, Edward out of her mind. With new dangers, new friends and new enemies, Bella finds herself choosing between holding on to the past or accepting a new future. But what and more importantly who will she choose?

Vegetarian Vampire? Does this mean he only sucks the blood of vegetables? And. unless Bella was opening presents with a chainsaw, I doubt that a paper cut could generate enough blood to be visible, let alone cause a feeding frenzy. And of course the vampires competition for the girl’s heart would be a werewolf. It’s the next sexiest supernatural creature. You don’t expect Bella to be locking lips with a zombie, do you?

I’m sure any “Twi-hard” who stumbles upon this post will take me to task for dissing their beloved Twilight. To them I say, tell your friends, the site could use the extra hits. Other than that, I say I am happy you found something that you love so unconditionally. It just doesn’t have the same effect on me.

2. The Blind Side (Warner Brothers, 3,110 Theaters, 128 Minutes, Rated PG-13): I seriously think that Tim McGraw is being type cast. Between this movie and Friday Night Lights, he is cornering the “cinematic father figure to football stars” role.

One of the most touching stories to come out of the 2009 NFL Draft was that of Michael Oher. He was a homeless African -American youth taken in by white couple who rose to become a first round draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens.

A story like that seems a natural for a movie adaptation. And here that adaptation is. But is it a good film? I’m not sure.

The trailers seem to indicate that the film might be overdosing on the sentimentality a little bit. And the first few ads I saw made Oher look lie a Rain Man-esque simpleton, which is well-spoken interview leads me to believe that he is not. So, in the place of an inspiring story, we appear to be getting a sappy tearjerker.

3. Planet 51 (Sony/Columbia, 3,035 Screens, 91 Minutes, Rated PG): I have to admit, I love this concept. It’s an alien invasion movie where we are the aliens. Instead of a bunch of little green men invading our planet, a human astronaut lands on a planet of little green men.

Now, the concept isn’t all that unique. Planet of the Apes had a similar plot up to the twist ending. But it does seem to be one that lends itself to CGI animation fairly well.

Of course, a good concept is nothing without the proper execution. This could be an awful film (although I find it hard to believe that any film that stars John Cleese and Gary Oldman, even if only as voice actors, can be completely bad).

Although, I have to say, I love the fact the alien’s family pet looks like the alien for the Alien franchise. That’s a nice touch.