At first glance, you probably recognise Florida native, Owen Teague, from his role in It, the highest grossing horror movie of all time. We’re not sure if Stephen King had any authority over the casting process (probably not), but before It, he starred in another King adaptation, Cell, alongside Hollywood heavy hitters John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. And now he’s returning to the big screen in one of the most lauded franchises in recent years, nevertheless of all time, Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes, the fourth installment in the surprisingly super successful Planet of the Apes reboot. Taking over from those who’ve played alongside everyone’s favourite talking ape, Caesar (voiced by Andy Serkis) – James Franco, Gary Oldman, Woody Harrelson, just to name a few – Teague is determined to plant his own flag in the post-apocalyptic, Man vs Ape kingdom. And yes, he reveals what it’s like to see yourself as a talking monkey on screen.
Esquire: What drew you, as an actor, to the Planet of the Apes, nevertheless its history?
Owen Teague: I saw Andy Serkis play King Kong when I was six or seven, and that’s what really made me love film and love acting – the possibility of getting to do something like that. But I also have a fascination for great apes, which that movie was responsible for too. So, this was literally the thing that childhood had set me out to do. And then I read the script and saw this was such a fully realised character and world. Quite pertinent to the times we’re living in right now.
Esquire: What can you tell us about the character of Noa?
OT: The movie is a coming-of-age story, and I think it’s safe to say that Noa is driven by wonder. That was the key word, the key feeling for getting him. He’s curious and in awe of the things he’s discovering. But that wonder is not always entirely open-minded. There are conflicting forces within Noa.
Esquire: How would you describe the world he inhabits?
OT: I guess tribal is the right word. It’s definitely not undeveloped. It’s definitely not like they are apes who have suddenly learned to speak. But it is a deeply ritualistic culture that he’s part of. One of the big themes in the film, in my reading of it, is religion – in terms of what do we worship, and what do we place importance on as different groups? There’s a sacredness to Noa’s world, and it’s also kind of isolationist. There’s not a lot of knowledge, but what is known is passed down through generations and kept very close.
Esquire: How do you relate this film to the previous three?
OT: It feels like a separate thing. I mean, it’s definitely related: the Caesar story continues with this story. But it is its own thing.
Esquire: How did you train to physically embody an ape? That seems like quite the task.
OT: First I got to speak with Andy Serkis, and he was really generous in giving me a lot of advice. I guess it was kind of a passing of the baton, but it didn’t feel like that; it just felt like working with a mentor. The other person who was really instrumental in making us into apes, and making this movie work, was [movement coordinator] Alain Gauthier. He really worked with us to create these physical characters and help us believe that we are apes.
Esquire: Noa has a golden eagle as a pet. Did you have to do any training for that?
OT: I didn’t work with a golden eagle because I don’t know where you find a golden eagle! But I did work with some sort of hawk, but I forget what exact species it was. But when we were in ‘ape school’, we thought “Hey, maybe we should work with some birds to get the feel for that,” so we had a day where this falconer brought his bird in, and we had it land on our arm and take off, and worked on hooding it. It was incredible. The emotional bond between a falconer and his bird is really intense and that’s addressed in the film. It’s pretty cool.
Esquire: What was the shoot like for you, working on location in Australia with al lthe performance-capture gear?
OT: Man, this is going to sound ridiculous, but it was the best six months of my life. The beginning was pretty rough because leading the movie is a lot of pressure, and following Andy was scary, especially because I look up to him so much. But, as Andy said to me, after the first week of playing an ape, it starts to feel normal, and you forget that there’s a camera strapped to your head, that you’re wearing all these little dots all over you, and that you’re walking funny. All of that goes away and it’s just like, “Oh, this is totally normal. This is who I’m playing.” All this existential, like, “Oh my god am I going to be able to do this?” drops away and from that point on it was incredibly fun.
Esquire: What is your biggest memory from the shoot?
OT: It was hot. Very hot. Performance-capture suits are not particularly breathable, and you’re covered basically head to toe, so it can really get to you. I feel like I deal with heat pretty well – I grew up in Florida where the air feels like hot soup – and even I struggled some days! But the good part about the suits is that you’re protected. You may be warm, but at least nothing can bite you. I really felt for the rest of the crew, who had to contend with leeches, spiders, snakes, and huge monitor lizards. We had a guy on set whose only job was to deal with Australian nature – which is a pretty big job – and one day all these giant lizards came running out of the bush to get at our craft table. This guy would just stomp up to them, grab them, one hand on the head and one on the tail, pick them up, carry them off set, and toss them back into the bush. Seriously impressive. It’s true what they say about Australia: everything is trying to kill you.
Esquire: Yeah, Australia is just the country of ‘nope’ for me. How was it working with director Wes Ball?
OT: His way of bringing me into the project was to show me the entire storyboard for the film. He took me on a journey and really pitched the movie to me, and I was like, “This is amazing!” From that moment we were on the same page with what the character should be and what the film should be. Wes is so visual. He’s a visionary in the truest sense. He has every beat of the film in his head. He sees it so clearly. But what surprised me about him was his ability with actors, because sometimes when someone is super visual, they don’t really know how to get into the emotional side of the characters.
Esquire: And the obvious question: how did it feel when you first saw yourself on screen as Noa, in finalised ape form?
OT: It blew my mind. Seeing yourself in another body, as another species, is one of the craziest things you can see. Because Noa is me. The animators have captured me with insane accuracy. He also looks exactly like me, which is very strange. I’ve spent so long thinking about him, thinking as him, and now watching footage, that I’ve started to merge my own self-image with the chimp. When I look at my face, I see Noa, and when I look at Noa, I see my face. It’s weird. I don’t mind, though. I kinda love it.
Esquire: Would you like to return as Noa in future films?
OT: I hope we get to do more. I can’t wait to go back and do it all again! Usually when you wrap a film it’s like, “Okay that’s done, I’m leaving, I’m going home, goodbye!” But on this one I didn’t want to leave.
Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes comes to theatres this Thursday, May 9 2024.
