Andy Serkis’ Incredible Transformation Into Caesar for ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’

Since his extraordinary performance as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Andy Serkis has become a master of disguise – computer-generated, that is – and therefore a go-to actor when it comes to performance capture. Moreover, his portrayal of Ceasar, leader of the ape colony in the latest Planet of the Apes movie franchise, probably represents his best work.

With so much (too much?) CGI being used nowadays, it can be difficult to realize how much of an actor’s performance actually remains in the final appearance of his/her digitally produced character. Which is why 20th Century Fox released the video, below, with the aim to give us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the team of the epic saga managed to transform Serkis into a very expressive Ceasar by translating every bit of his emotions into computer-generated imagery.

The results are mind-blowing.

War for the Planet of the Apes is the third chapter of the Planet of the Apes reboot series. It was directed by Matt Reeves, who already oversaw the sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, back in 2014.

The film will be set 2 years after the events of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, as Caesar and his tribe are still at war against humans. After his wife and son are killed by soldiers, Caesar will wrestles with his darker instincts in order to face ‘The Colonel’ (Woody Harrelson), an iron-fisted soldier whose only wish is to destroy him and his clan.

Whether or not there will be more movies in the franchise remained a mystery up to last October when it was officially announced that a fourth film is in the works.“It might be three films, it could be four. It could be five,” said Andy Serkis before the news broke. “Who knows? The journey will continue.” 

War for the Planet of the Apes is coming to theatres on July 14.