Trivia for
Planet of the Apes (1968) More at IMDbPro »

• Edward G. Robinson was the original choice for the role of Dr. Zaius, and actually filmed a test scene with Charlton Heston to prove to the executives at Fox that make-up could be used to create believable simians. However, Robinson suffered from a weak heart and didn't think he could endure the day-to-day rigors of performing in the ape make-up.
  
  
• During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together, gorillas with gorillas, orangutans with orangutans, chimps with chimps. It wasn't required, it just naturally happened.
  
  
• There is a resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico that claims that the final scene ("Damn you!") was filmed on their beach. This is not true. According to a recent documentary, the scene was filmed on Zuma Beach in Southern California.
  
  
• In the novel, the ape society is technologically comparable to the 1950s or 1960s, with cities, automobiles, televisions, etc., technology left over from the planet's human population. However, the budget could not accommodate the setting, so a more primitive depiction of ape society was used.
  
  
• Although Charlton Heston's character is listed in the credits as "George Taylor", the name "George" is never seen or heard in the film. He is referred to only as "Taylor".
  
  
• In 1968, the movie was originally rated "M" for Mature audience during its initial release ("M" was later changed to "PG" to avoid confusion with the "X" rating). Only during the following theatrical (and drive-in) re-releases was it adjusted to a "G" rating.
  
  
• Allegedly, Jerry Goldsmith wore a gorilla mask while writing and conducting the score to "better get in touch with the movie". The result was the first completely atonal score in a Hollywood movie.
  
  
• Of the five original films, this is the only one that doesn't feature Natalie Trundy (who plays three different parts in the other four).
  
  
• When adjusted for inflation, the movie holds the world record for the highest make-up budget (then £345,542), which represented about 17% of the total budget (£2 million).
  
  
• Charlton Heston was sick during much of the film with the flu. Rather than wait for him to get better, the producers felt that his hoarse voice added something to the character of Taylor.
  
  
• John Chambers' outstanding makeup technique pioneered in the film was based upon one technique he had used during World War II to give disfigured veterans a normal appearance.
  
  
• John Chambers' simian makeup was later used on actor Michael Conrad, who played an ape-like alien in "Lost in Space: Fugitives in Space (#3.20)" (1968). The makeup appliances were left over from "Planet of the Apes."
  
  
• The make-up team consisted of over 80 make-up artists.
  
  
• One of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing 20th Century Fox from committing to the project was their fear over how the ape faces would appear on screen. Eventually they stumped up $5,000 for a test scene to be shot with Charlton Heston playing alongside the made-up Edward G. Robinson as Dr. Zaius. The studio was very excited about the results of this test but still delayed green lighting the film for a further six months. It was only after Fantastic Voyage (1966) became a hit and showed the viability of science fiction as a genre that "Planet of the Apes" was given the go-ahead.
  
  
• One of the first films to have a major large scale merchandising tie-in. Merchandise related to the film included toys and collectibles, action figures, picture and story books, trading card sets, books, records, comics and a series of graphic novels from Marvel Comics.
  
  
• Producer Arthur P. Jacobs hand-picked Franklin J. Schaffner to direct the film, particularly after Charlton Heston's personal recommendation. Heston had worked with Schaffner on The War Lord (1965).
  
  
• This film marks only the second time that a make-up artist received an Academy Award. William Tuttle achieved the same feat in 1964 for 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964). A make-up category was introduced by the Academy in 1981.
  
  
• The fourth astronaut Stewart was originally written as a man.
  
  
• In the original script, the female native humans were all bare breasted. This idea was quashed by Fox as they wanted to secure a PG rating.
  
  
• Two 8-foot statues of the lawgiver were made. One of them ended up in Arthur P. Jacobs' backyard, the other was kept by Sammy Davis Jr. for many years.
  
  
• There are no female gorillas or orangutans in the film. The existence of female orangutans is implied as Dr. Zaius said to Cornelius in the Forbiden Zone, "My granddaughter plays with human dolls."
  
  
• The apes' village is modeled on the work of legendary Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi.
  
  
• The spaceship the astronauts crashland in was re-used in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and the short-lived TV series "Planet of the Apes" (1974).
  
  
• The water pool where the astronauts enjoy a swim was built on the Fox Ranch by producer Arthur P. Jacobs for his adaptation of Doctor Dolittle (1967).
  
  
• The "See No Evil Hear No Evil" gag was entirely ad libbed on the set of the day of shooting. It was kept in because people found it amusing when the film was threatening to get too serious.
  
  
• The apes don't make their first appearance until 30 minutes into the film.
  
  
• Once Roddy McDowall got used to the ape make up, he reportedly became a merry prankster. He usually drove home with his make-up on and shocked some of the other drivers on the freeway.
  
  
• J. Lee Thompson was going to direct the movie, and co-owned the rights with producer Arthur P. Jacobs. He had to back out, though, as he was directing Mackenna's Gold (1969).
  
  
• James Brolin appeared with Edward G. Robinson in the makeup test footage as a character called Mr. Cornelius.
  
  
• The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave a special award for makeup (which at that time was not an Oscar category) to the film for its depiction of the apes.
  
  
• Charlton Heston (Taylor) and Linda Harrison (Nova) are the only actors to appear in both this film and the remake, Planet of the Apes (2001).
  
  
• Ingrid Bergman turned down an offer to play Zira, a decision she later deeply regretted.
  
  
• Charlton Heston kept a diary while the film was in production. After filming the scene where Taylor and Nova are forcibly separated, he wrote that he was feeling like hell while shooting because of his illness, and felt even worse "every time that damn fire hose hit me".
  
  
• Several other productions were delayed due to the fact that many of Hollywood's top make up artists were working on this film.
  
  
• All the Ape actors and extras were required to wear their masks even during breaks and in between shots because it took so much time to make them up. Because of this, meals were liquefied and drunk through straws.
  
  
• Roddy McDowall, being an experienced actor recommended to his companions in makeup that they should frequently add tics, blink and make assorted facial gestures to add a sense of realism and keep the makeup from appearing "mask-like".
  
  
• The movie's line "Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape." was voted as the #66 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
  
  
• Early scenes in the movie where the spaceship crash-lands in a lake on an unknown planet were filmed at Lake Powell. It straddles Utah and Arizona and was formed by a dam on the Colorado River.
  
  
• The rifles used by the apes are remodeled American M1 Semi-automatic Carbines, primarily used during the Second World War.
  
  
• Linda Harrison, who plays Nova, was having an affair with producer Richard D. Zanuck at the time of production. In the year of the film's release, Zanuck divorced his first wife and married Harrison. The couple were married for 9 years and had 2 children.
  
  
• Turning down the part of Zira was one of Ingrid Bergman's greatest regrets. Much surprised at how well the finished film turned out, she later confided to her daughter Isabella Rossellini that in hindsight the film would have been an ideal opportunity for her to "disregard her regal bearing". She also regretted missing the opportunity of working with Charlton Heston.
  
  
• Michael Wilson was brought in to do a rewrite of Rod Serling's screenplay. Wilson's contribution is most evident in the kangaroo courtroom scene, Wilson being an embittered victim of the blacklisting McCarthy witchhunts of the 50s.
  
  
• This film contains Charlton Heston's first nude scene.
  
  
• Director Franklin J. Schaffner deliberately used odd, skewed angles and hand-held cameras to create a disorientating effect, much like what Charlton Heston's character experiences in this brave new world.
  
  
• Make-up designer John Chambers spent many hours watching the apes at Los Angeles Zoo, studying their facial expressions.
  
  
• John Chambers had a background in medical prosthetics and facial reconstruction, and was able to use that knowledge to create his extremely convincing ape make-ups.
  
  
• Jerry Goldsmith employed a ram's horn as part of his innovative score.
  
  
• Make-up designer John Chambers's honorary Oscar was presented by Walter Matthau and a chimpanzee in a tuxedo.
  
  
• Charlton Heston was always producer Arthur P. Jacobs' first choice for the part of Taylor.
  
  
• Producer Arthur P. Jacobs enlisted several journalists to play background apes. This was a clever way of ensuring that they would write about the film.
  
  
• Early in development, Blake Edwards was attached as director.
  
  
• Marlon Brando was approached at a very early stage about taking the lead.
  
  
• According to rumor, Pierre Boulle greatly preferred the now-classic ending that Rod Serling came up with for the film. It is very different from the ending in Boulle's original novel.
  
  
• Except for the beginning fade in and ending fade out, and the lap dissolves in and out of the main credits, this film is edited entirely with cuts.
  
  
• Shortly after the astronauts have crash landed Taylor is asked where he thinks they are, having no idea he sarcastically responds, "We're some 320 light years from Earth on an unnamed planet in orbit around a star in the constellation of Orion." In the original novel the story takes place on a planet in orbit around the star Betelgeuse, which is in the constellation of Orion.
  
  
• Of the original five 'Ape' films, this was the only one that showed the Fox logo before the film.
  
  

• SPOILER: The final scene with Taylor coming across the Statue of Liberty was suggested by Rod Serling.
  
  
• SPOILER: The torch of the Statue of Liberty in the end scene was actually a large miniature of a devastated version of the actual torch. The skeletal remains of the torch appear as "set decoration" in the final episode of "Lost in Space: Junkyard of Space (#3.24)" (1968).
  
  
• SPOILER: There was an attempt by censors to have the final scene edited for profanity but Charlton Heston was able to argue that his character was actually asking God to damn those responsible for the destruction of the world to hell, rather than simply using the Lord's name in vain.
  
  
• SPOILER: For die-hard fans who want to visit the filming location of the classic final scene, it is a secluded cove on the far eastern end of Westward Beach, between Zuma Beach and Point Dume in Malibu, CA. Ignore the wide curving beach by the car park and clamber over the rocks to the east until you get to the quiet, often deserted, little beach surrounded by cliffs. (The Statue of Liberty was an optical effect skillfully achieved with a matte painting blended into a still existing rock structure.)
  
  
• SPOILER: When Cornelius and Zira are showing Taylor the map of the Forbidden Zone, you can see the coastlines on the map strongly resemble the current New York, New Jersey and Connecticut shorelines (once you take into consideration the 2000 years of a post-nuclear apocalyptic worlds dramatic land mass shift). Although the Hudson and East Rivers are gone, you can clearly identify on their map Long Island, Long Island Sound, Lower NY Bay, Staten Island & the Atlantic Ocean.
  
  

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