Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes star Kevin Durand describes how his new villain Proximus Caesar connects to the original trilogy.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes serves as both a sequel to the Planet of the Apes Trilogy, and a soft-reboot of that reboot, which moves the timeline ahead centuries to what Earth has become since the Apes achieved dominance.
As such, there are some definite direct ties between the Apes Trilogy about Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) rise to power, and this new story about how Caesar’s legacy gets twisted by time, (mis-)interpretation, and in one case, manipulation.
“Proximus Caesar” is the name of the villain character in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – a sly bonobo monkey who builds himself a kingdom of enslaved apes. Proximus comes to learn enough about the history of the world to understand that remnant human technology is one of the most vital resources left to be found. However, like any cult leader, Proximus wears Caesar’s legacy like a mask, pushing select views while disregarding the larger message of co-existence and peace Ceasar desired. However, Proximus is more conniving and cunning than Caesar, not to mention a physically powerful ape in his own right, making him arguably the most formidable antagonist the series has had.
Actor Kevin Durand (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, FX’s The Strain, Legion) provides the motion capture and voicework for Proximus Caesar. During the press junket for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, we had to ask how much of the first Planet of the Apes Trilogy Durand looked at, to get a better sense of where Proximus fit, exactly, in between the past and future of the franchise.
“I honestly, when they wanted me to audition for this I was like ‘Oh my god! Why would you touch that?’ The [Apes] Trilogy was my favorite trilogy of all time. But then when I got the words, and saw the character, I was like ‘Oh my god, this is so delicious.’ I was like ‘I gotta start figuring this out.’ I mean ‘Kevin,’ the actor, was a big fan of the series, but to create a character within that didn’t really matter, finding out what happened in the previous stories.”
Indeed, a big part of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes story is how time bends the perception of history. The First Act of the film is largely centered on protagonist Noa (Owen Teague) learning that his tribe of “bird master” apes is just a tiny part of a larger world and that the history and nature of humans is different than everything he was taught.
In that sense, conveying the deeper theme of director Wes Ball (Maze Runner Trilogy) and writer Josh Friedman’s (Terminator: Dark Fate) story didn’t require Kevin Durand to recap the Planet of the Apes Trilogy so much as study the teachings that Caesar left behind after it:
“As a matter of fact, I needed to know what Caesar’s words said, and what they meant to me as Proximus,” Durand explained. He added that Proximus’ twisted version of being Caesar “doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m lying; it’s just like the bible in interpretation – there are so many interpretations. So 300 years pass; his [Proximus’] interpretation is ‘These words are going to move us into the future; this is what is going to help us to evolve.’ And, ultimately in this film, get to this information before the humans can, or else we’ll end up back in cages.”
The best movies are built on the backs of compelling antagonists, and Durand certainly achieves that with Proximus Caesar.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now in theaters.
