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    How a Village Comes to Life in ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’

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    The director Wes Ball narrates a sequence from his film.In “Anatomy of a Scene,” we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.In this sequence from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” we see how a tribe functions in an idyllic village before threats emerge. The scene follows Noa (Owen Teague), Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) as they return from the ritual of collecting an eagle egg that they will nurture.Narrating the sequence, the director Wes Ball said, “The goal was really just to set up a world that was wonderful, that was ultimately going to be forever changed.”The scene was shot on location in Australia with the principal actors in performance capture gear. Ball said that they shot the sequence twice, once with the actors, and then a second time without the performers. He said he chose the best performance to be digitally dropped into the scene. He also had other performers do their movements on a stage and put them in as background in the scene as well.“It’s an interesting process where I can take all of these different little elements and layer them all together,” he said.Read the “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” review.Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics’ Picks and more. More

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      Andy Serkis and Owen Teague on ‘Planet of the Apes’ Franchise

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      A conversation with Serkis, the star of the earlier films in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, and Teague, the lead of the latest film, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”Noa, the hero of the new “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” is no Caesar, the commanding, Moses-like leader of the Apes, played by Andy Serkis, in the preceding three movies in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise. Instead, Noa, played by Owen Teague, is a young chimp, tentatively poised between boyhood and manhood, intimidated by his father, the leader of the Eagle clan, and respectful of the troupe’s laws.But in “Kingdom,” (due May 10), Noa must face the same kinds of trials that Caesar underwent, and ponder the same moral dilemmas about the relationship between apes and humans, including the enduring question of whether peaceful coexistence can ever be possible. And his quiet brooding and subtle shifts of expression must register via performance capture — a complex process that records the movement and facial expressions of human actors and transforms them digitally into the faces of the apes.A scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” featuring Noa (Teague), Nova (Freya Allan) and Raka (Peter Macon).20th Century StudiosIn a video conversation, the director Wes Ball said setting “Kingdom” some 300 years after Caesar’s death allowed for tonal and narrative continuity with the previous movies, but also offered “the freedom to be brave and do something different. We’re an extension of the Ceasar legacy, but also our own story.”Then, he said, the biggest task “was finding a new Andy Serkis. There was so much anxiety around that idea.” But after seeing Teague’s physicality and facial expressivity in an audition tape, he said, he knew they had found Noa.Luckily, the original Andy Serkis was around to help Teague, mostly known to date for supporting roles, find his leading inner ape. In a video interview, the two men discussed working with performance capture, creating a detailed imaginary world for the characters, and a finding the right balance between human and ape in movement and speech. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More