‘War of the Planet of the Apes’ cast Woody Harrelson as human bad guy
War of the Planet of the Apes, the next installment in 20th Century Fox’s rebooted Planet of the Apes film series, added a new cast member this week as Fox confirms that director Matt Reeves has cast Woody Harrelson as one of the “human villains” in the new film.
Andy Serkis will be reprising as the ape Caesar in the film and the film isn’t expected to begin production until October. The THR reported the news of Harrelson joining the film, “Plot details are being kept secret, but Harrelson will play a character called the Colonel.”
“Reeves, who directed 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, has returned as helmer for the new project, which is titled War for the Planet of the Apes. Mark Bomback also is back as screenwriter and Chernin Entertainment as the producer. Dylan Clark is also producing,” they added.
Gabriel Chavarria has signed on for an undisclosed role, one that the THR says will be “small” but other reports say that Chavarria landed one of the two human lead roles.
Screen Rant offered great insight: “Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes did not rely on a clear-cut “good vs. evil” conflict to propel the story; everyone from the ape Koba (Toby Kebbell) to human Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) was portrayed as being morally ambiguous, yet at certain time sympathetic, in their actions and motivations. Ideally, that trend will continue with Harrelson in War of the Planet of the Apes, especially as the actor has long shown that he can shine when playing characters who are neither proper heroes not flat-out villains, either (with recent examples including his work on the Hunger Games films and True Detective season 1).”
Official plot details for War of the Planet of the Apes have yet to be revealed, though Reeves has said that the film will examine how Caesar becomes “a seminal figure in ape history” – an “ape Moses,“ as the director put it.
The movie’s title also signals that its narrative will encompass major themes as it examines the human vs. ape conflict on a larger scale.
[…] added Woody Harrelson and Gabriel Chavarria playing new human characters. Harrelson is playing the new villain known as the Colonel while Chavarria is the new human lead with a role that has been likened to that of James Franco’s […]