Simian Skin-Color Variations Are Raising Eyebrows

By Jack Mathews

From Daily News (New York), 07.27.2001, Friday Sports Final Edition

Funny, you don't look chimpanzee.

The line is not said in Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes," but the thought occurred to me when I saw the heroine, a lipstick-wearing chimp named Ari. She looked simian, even with a Bliss makeover, but compared to the other chimps, her light-skinned features seemed to mark her as another species.

"No, she's a chimp," says executive producer Ralph Winter. "I'm not sure why she's light-skinned. I think [makeup artist] Rick Baker was trying to make her as individual as possible."

Since Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) has a crush on a white human (Mark Wahlberg), audience members may wonder if she has been color-coordinated for the occasion. Some people have already commented on the fact that the two nicest apes in the movie are almost Caucasian, while the meanest ones - chimps included - are also the darkest.

Winter says there was no good-and-evil, black-and-white makeup design. Each of the major actors had a look tailored to his or her looks, and Baker apparently thought light skin allowed more of Bonham Carter's personality to show through. And not all light-skinned chimps in the film are good.

In a showcased cameo, Charlton Heston appears as a dying elder and dedicated human hater, filling his evil son Thade in on the history of the species. His heart is black but his face is white.