SUITS APT TO SPANK BURTON'S 'APES'

By George Rush and Joanna Molloy

From Daily News (New York), 08.06.2000

Tim Burton's "reimagination" of Planet of the Apes may be too kinky for execs at 20th Century Fox.

Studio suits are said to be frowning over a sex scene Burton is dreaming up for co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter.

The trouble? Wahlberg is playing a human--a version of Charlton Heston's astronaut who crash-lands in a world ruled by talking simians. Bonham Carter is believed to be playing an ape who maintains primates and humans can live in peace.

"Helena's character becomes Mark's love interest," an insider tells us. "Tim Burton thinks their relationship should evolve into lovemaking. The studio guys think it's too weird and unnatural. They think audiences will recoil. I think Tim is in for a battle."

Heston and co-star Kim Hunter confined their affection in the original movie to a tender caress or an awkward kiss. But Val Kilmer and catwoman Fairuza Balk went further in the remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau. And what about Gene Wilder and that sheep in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex?

Burton's office did not return a call. A Fox source says: "We're not commenting on the script or the cast."