Before Andy Serkis redefined the limits of modern special effects technology with his stunning performance as Caesar in the current the book was then loosely adapted into a film five years later by director Franklin J. Schaffner, with a screenplay written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, the creator and host of The Twilight Zone. The film follows astronaut Taylor (Charlton Heston), having departed from Earth in 1972, crash landing two-thousand years later on a planet governed entirely by a race of intelligent apes, with humans being reduced to a mute and primitive state.
The original film was a huge success, grossing over six times its budget at the box office and leading to a total of four different sequels, released between 1970 and 1973. Multiple different properties tried to cash in on the success of the burgeoning franchise, with attempts such as an animated series, a live-action television series, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
In that period of time between the 1980s and Tim Burton's reboot, several famous filmmakers were attached to direct different versions of an Apes reboot. And one of these filmmakers was none other than James Cameron himself, hot off the heels of The Terminator.
How James Cameron Almost Rebooted Planet Of The Apes
The original five Planet of the Apes films were so popular that they achieved a state of near-permanent syndication on US television, causing 20th Century Fox to become interested in reviving the property. Serious pitches for an Apes reboot began in the late 1980s, with dozens of up and coming as well as famous directors given the opportunity to share their ideas. Some of the big names reportedly attached include Adam Rifkin, Peter Jackson, and Oliver Stone (with a truly bizarre pitch that involved time travel back to the Stone Age as well as a Biblical code that predicted the apocalypse).
However, around 1996, Fox turned their attention to James Cameron, asking him to write and direct a new vision for the franchise. Cameron turned down the director's chair, as he was Lord of the Rings director turned down their offer, afraid of potential studio interference as well as Cameron's notorious hands-on presence as a director. From there, Cameron convinced sci-fi filmmaker Peter Hyams to direct the project, showing him a couple of minutes of stellar make-up tests from legendary special effects artist Stan Winston.
James Cameron's Planet Of The Apes Introduced An Ape Caligula
Cameron's idea for the film was for it to exist within the canon of the original sequels, taking place long after Caesar's conquest of planet Earth. The only basis that fans have for what Cameron's film would have looked like is an anonymous leak from 1998, reported by the Planet of the Apes Fan Club (via the Wayback Machine) claiming to have read the treatment for the film. There's very little to corroborate this report, but it's been treated as the defacto source on Cameron's Apes plan for over 20 years at this point.
The leak suggests that the film would have opened much like the original, with vintage footage depicting Taylor's spacecraft crashing on Earth two thousand years in the future. However, the film would then diverge, taking place thirty years later and featuring a new group of astronauts from the 90s landing in the ape-dominated future.
Because of Caesar, science has flourished in this new future, with chimpanzees leading technological advancement. However, the balance of power between the other types of apes is in flux, with the aggressive gorillas controlling the military and police force, orangutans presiding over politics and legality, and a new faction, the gibbons, being the artists and aristocrats. Above this hierarchy is the newly elected Prime Minister of Ape City, a half-chimp/half-gibbon descendant of Caesar that sees himself less as an appointed official and more as entitled royalty. This mindset leads him to be cruel and perverted, with a grandiose sense of self-importance similar to the crazed Roman emperor Caligula. The leaks seem to imply that this descendant of Caesar's would have been the primary antagonist of the film, recontextualizing Caesar's role as revolutionary and peacemaker in the later entries to the original canon.
Charlton Heston Would Have Returned In Cameron's Reboot
Aside from reusing actual footage from the first film, the leaked outline also suggests Cameron planned on bringing back Charlton Heston's Taylor in a significant role. The film follows the exploits of a new group of astronauts discovering and exploring Ape City, where they were set to stumble upon an old and eccentric orangutan, who tells them he's met astronauts in the past. He tells them that one of these astronauts (whom he describes as a "real gun nut") survived, taking one of the human women from Ape City with him out into the wilderness of the Forbidden Zone.
Of course, when our protagonists investigate, they discover that the survivor hiding out in the woods is none other than Taylor, having survived his experiences in Ape City only to father several children with the local human women of the area. These children grow up to be intelligent like him, establishing an inherent conflict between Taylor's family of smart humans and the oppressive apes who seek to keep humans subjugated.
Why James Cameron's Planet Of The Apes Didn't Happen
For a while, it seemed like Cameron's vision was highly favored by the studio and the pre-production process was moving forward. In an interview back in 1998, Roddy McDowall, who played several major characters in all but one of the original Apes films, commended Cameron's decision to return to the original canon instead of rebooting the series. And in November of that same year, it was rumored that Cameron had finished the first draft of the script for the film, setting it on track for filming to begin sometime in 1999.
However, like many of the previously failed pitches, studio interference from 20th Century Fox got in the way. Unsatisfied with his choice in director, Fox fired Peter Hyams in December. This decision soured James Cameron to the entire project, and he dropped it shortly afterwards, leading to Schwarzenegger bowing out as well. Cameron then went on to direct his incredible career and filmography, it's hard for fans not to wonder just how unique Cameron's vision for Planet of the Apes could have been.
