SEARCH FOR 'PLANET OF THE APES' LEADS TO NEIGHBOR ISLES

By Tim Ryan

From Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 06.07.2000

Ask director Tim Burton if his new film--a take on Planet of the Apes--will be part Batman, Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow, and he smiles widely.

"Don't you think Hawaii," Burton said in a weekend interview at the Maui Film Festival, "would be an excellent location for an ape movie?"

Although exact locations for the film--tentatively called The Visitor--have not yet been selected, Burton and Hollywood veteran producer Richard Zanuck last week scouted Maui, Lanai, the Big Island and Kauai for the 20th Century Fox project scheduled to go into production this fall.

Burton said the location selected for the film will have to be "otherworldly," which is the reason he took a long look at Haleakala last Friday.

Zanuck 32 years ago green-lit the original Planet of the Apes movie in 1968.

The film is slated to be Fox's major summer release, opening July 4, 2001.

Zanuck was instrumental in getting the classic first film starring Charlton Heston made, as well as its 1970 sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes. The original film inspired three other sequels--Escape From the Planet of the Apes in 1971, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes in 1972, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes in 1973--and a short-lived television series in the 1970s.

Adapted from the fantasy novel by Pierre Boulle, The Planet of the Apes is the story about an astronaut who crash-lands on a futuristic Earth where evolution has run riot, and walking and talking simians rule over mute and docile humans.

Zanuck earlier this year told reporters he believes technology "will allow us to improve the look and articulation of the apes."

The Ape franchise also has "tremendous marketing potential" because it appeals to young audiences and to those who remember the original movies "like me," Burton said.

The project has been in the planning stages since 1993, with directors Oliver Stone, Chris Columbus and James Cameron, and even actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, considered at various times.

Burton declined discussing the Ape storyline except to say that the film will get a major "re-imagining." He also hinted that he's doing "some tweaking" of the script by William Broyles (co-writer of Entrapment and Apollo 13), but would not elaborate.

"I promise you this, this is not a remake or a sequel," Burton said.

Casting has not been completed, but sources expect the lead role to go to a twentysomething actor. Heston was 44 when the original was made.

The ape effects will be handled by Rick Baker who did Mighty Joe Young--also filmed in Hawaii--How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and Star Wars.

Burton's films include Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Cabin Boy, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, James and the Giant Peach and Sleepy Hollow.