NOA'S ARC

CAESAR'S STORY MAY BE DONE AND DUSTED, BUT AS HIS CREATORS RICK JAFFA AND AMANDA SILVER TELL US, THERE'S STILL PLENTY OF TERRAIN TO EXPLORE IN - KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES 

- IAN BERRIMAN

THE REBOOTED PLANET OF THE Apes franchise has been running far, far longer than the original film series did. Okay, that's largely down to the slower pace of production when you're replacing human actors with CG creations, rather than glueing prosthetics onto them... Still, it's no mean feat that the revival is well into its twelfth year, with a fourth entry - designed to kick-start a fresh trilogy - in cinemas shortly.

Two people who've been there from the beginning right back to the original pitch in 2006 - are husband-and-wife writing team Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. As the scriptwriters of 2011's Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, they created Caesar, the chimp who, in the wake of the spread of a virus that both devastates human society and elevates apekind, strives to find a way for the two sides to peacefully coexist.

CAESAR LATER

They've been helping to shepherd the franchise as producers ever since - racking up script credits on first Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and now Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes. There aren't many writers who can boast such longstanding involvement in a blockbuster franchise. How do the pair reflect on that? "We just hung in there!" Silver tells SFX, with a laugh. "And it's not easy with these franchises, because the movies are so expensive and so big. It's kind of a wild ride."

"It's felt kind of natural, to be honest," adds Jaffa, "especially with the first three movies, because Caesar was so important to us. He became part of our family really, and not to sound too weird - sort of grew up with our kids, so it was important to us to stay with that. Luckily we've been able to do other things, so it's not just apes and their travails. But it's been quite an adventure for us as well. I feel like each one of these movies takes about three years off my life!"