The studio has jump-started its planned redux of the sci-fi classic by tapping original producer Richard Zanuck to produce an updated big-budget remake with Tim Burton directing. Fox has also announced this week that the film will start production in the fall in time for a summer 2001 release.
For Hollywood vet Zanuck, it feels a little like déjà vu, or as Charlton Heston's astronaut discovered, he's come full circle. Zanuck was the one responsible for pushing through the original 1968 Heston vehicle and its sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes during his tenure as Fox's president of production in the '60s and '70s.
"For me to come back into this, I feel like I'm in a time warp," Zanuck tells the Hollywood Reporter. "I initially put this into production when I was at Fox 30 some years ago. The idea was so intriguing to me then, and I think we can do better now because technology will allow us to improve the look and articulation of the apes."
Zanuck says the William Broyles script still needs some revisions, but it comes tailor-made for Burton. "Tim Burton is somebody who I admire and have tried to get for a lot of my previous projects but was never able to do it," Zanuck adds.
The Oscar-winning producer says Broyles' draft features a strong humanistic storyline, stunning visuals and a 25-year-old male lead. He will sit down and hash out the details with Burton once he concludes his Oscar producing chores with partner-wife, Lili Fini Zanuck.
The updated Apes has gone through a tortured evolution. The project intitially got off the ground in 1995 when Oliver Stone announced plans to reincarnate the franchise. According to Entertainment Weekly, Stone's take would have had Arnold Schwarzenegger traveling back in time to to save the human race from war-mongering apes.
When Stone dropped out, the project looked headed for extinction until a series of A-list directors took interest. The project went through several incarnations, with such notable directors as Home Alone's Chris Columbus, Clear and Present Danger's Phillip Noyce, and the King of the World himself, a pre-Titanic James Cameron attached at the helm.
The Apes remake adds yet another chapter to Zanuck's long history with Fox. His father, Daryl F. Zanuck, was studio chief during Hollywood's heyday, while the younger Zanuck rose quickly to become head of film production, holding the post for eight years. Zanuck and his wife later went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy.