Movie Scene
Creating a character from inside a monkey suit

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, playing the good-guy silverback gorilla Krull in Twentieth Century Fox's "Planet of the Apes," managed to incorporate his martial arts skills into the role.

Tagawa was on hand with son Calen at the May premiere of the film "Pearl Harbor," in which he portrayed an aide to Adm. Yamamoto. Tagawa's latest film is Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes." Advertiser library photo

"After Tim Burton cast me, he devised a new draft of his film," said Tagawa in a long-distance interview from Los Angeles earlier this week. "But when Michael Clarke Duncan came aboard, we had a talk and Tim made him Attar and created for me this new character, Krull, an aging servant ape in the household of Ari, played by Helena Bonham Carter. He was to be an old ape, maybe in his 60s, and her guardian, but Tim listened to my ideas of creating a back story, to make Krull more interesting. In the end, there was more depth to the part."

Tagawa said his background in martial arts movement helped shape and define the character and its on-screen posture. And he's eager to share this knowledge through his recently formed Mu Hawai'i Conservatory, by giving classes in Hawai'i that will enable actors and athletes, in particular, to understand how the body is important in movement and stance. And, presumably, acting.

"Tim told me two things, that he appreciated my movement in my acting, and that I do a lot of acting in my eyes," said Tagawa. "I've played so many bad guys in my time, it's my way of tackling a role; bad guys don't normally have a lot of lines, so you learn to project with little dialogue."

Playing an ape was no easy task, Tagawa said.

There were four hours of makeup time daily, with uncomfortable and restrictive facial prosthetics, and grueling, exhaustive shooting schedules of 14 to 18 hours. And no overtime pay.

Yet he's pleased with his work and with the filmmaker's empathy.

"This is definitely a director's movie," Tagawa said of Burton's visionary imprint throughout the film. "While it is not a typically dark Burton film, it's certainly one that is visual, with a uniform look and his touch."

Burton is known for creating imaginative, exceptional landscapes for his actors, in a rich body of works that include "Beetlejuice," "Batman" and "Batman Returns," "Sleepy Hollow," "Edward Scissorhands," "Ed Wood" and the animated "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas."

"I think Tim Burton is one of those guys, like me, that played alone with his toys as a kid," Tagawa said. "He has a keen sense of style. And he's highly visual, choosing actors that can hold their own."

The movie, with a $140 million budget, had a late start. And down-to-the-wire filming that meant Tagawa had to shoot additional scenes as recently as two weeks ago.

"They just needed some extra stuff; it wasn't a big deal. Had to do with the fact that the film got a late start," said Tagawa.

The Burton "Planet" arrives on a wave of nostalgia but is definitely a film resting on its own merits, said Tagawa. "A lot of fans will appreciate the new movie, which will be compared to the first one, but they are entirely different, when you consider the French and American viewpoints (the original source is the novel by Frenchman Pierre Boulle)," said Tagawa. "The original film was talky and philosophical; the new version has little talk and a lot of action and adventure. I think it's the 'Star Wars' version of 'Planet of the Apes,' with all new characters, except an astronaut."

The screenplay is by William Broyles Jr. ("Cast Away," "Apollo 13"), in collaboration with the team of Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal ("Mighty Joe Young," "Mercury Rising," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"). Much of the film was filmed in the Mojave Desert and at a Los Angeles sound stage.

Tagawa also played the Japanese officer Lt. Cmdr. Genda in the Disney/Touchstone film "Pearl Harbor."

"When I first heard about the project, I said, 'Oh, no, we can't get out of the century without doing a Pearl Harbor movie,'" he said. "But when I read the script, I was surprised and pleased with the Japanese parts, which were done with some respect. The (principal) characters were not enemy-like. I was ultimately glad to be part of it, but I think the movie was misnamed; subliminally, you think of the (horrors of) war; the film was set against the war but it was really about two boys from Tennessee, about three people in love (the lads fall in love with same woman), who happened to get bombed."

And Tagawa offered an inside scoop about "Planet" and its promotional images. "That's my face superimposed on Michael Clarke Duncan's body, on posters and billboards and on bus advertising promoting 'Planet,'" he said. "I guess I'm still the ultimate bad guy. I was told I have a ferocious ape face."