Almost 33 years since the original Planet of the Apes movie was first screened comes the latest adaptation, starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter. Making brief appearances are Linda Harrison and Charlton Heston from the original. Rumours also abound that George Clooney will also star...

Tim Burton is directing this summer's most hyped movie, scheduled to be released in the States on 27 July. Details of the movie are being kept a closely guarded secret, but rumours have it that the basic plot follows that of the original, although the character names have been changed: after crash-landing on an apparently alien world, astronaut Leo Davidson discovers the dominant species are simians - apes and monkeys. On this planet the human race are seen as little more than primitive beasts - a nuisance to the planet's dominant species. The fact that Davidson can converse with the apes soon wins him a number of allies, including the relatively attractive Daena, her father Karubi, and Ari, a chimpanzee who has long championed for humans to be treated fairly. As the brutal General Thade closes in on Davidson and his newfound companions, the stranded astronaut must make his way through the barren "Forbidden Zone" to learn the ancient and terrible secret history that spawned the planet of the apes. Click here to view the trailer for the movie.

Thrills and spills ape-plenty

Behind the scenes

Rick Baker, make-up artist on the new Planet of the Apes designed and created the primates' make-up for the movie in a mere four months, although looking back with hindsight he claims he should have asked for a year. "I'd originally planned to take some time off after working on both The Nutty Professor II and How the Grinch Stole Christmas until Tim [Burton] called me up and ruined my plans," laughs Baker.

Baker, the recipient of five Oscars, had already created the primate effects for a number of films, including Greystoke, Gorillas in the Mist and Mighty Joe Young, and was an obvious choice to get the job done well.

How did Baker set about making sure that he didn't just emulate the effects created in the original movie by John Chambers? "[In the original movie] they had a design for the gorillas and the chimps and the orangutans, and they pretty much did the same make-up on everybody," said Baker. "The sculptures were basically the same. It's just that the proportions of the face that they put it on made it look different. I really wanted to make them individual characters as much as possible, and give them more mobility. And have them be able to show their teeth."

There were a total of three tiers of masks, depending on how close the camera was to the actors. The main ape actors - like Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter - got the most realistic masks. Actors who only got within a few feet of the camera got the next most realistic and finally there were slip rubber masks for the extras. "There was more to making the masks than design and construction," explains Baker. "The way I'm doing the make-up, the person has to have the right kind of face for it to work. The masks have more in common with the original movie's apes than you'd think. They're made from the same materials they used in the first film. It's just applied differently."

2001's box office hit?

20th Century Fox has stressed that the new movie will not be a sequel to the 1968 classic, nor a remake. Although the plot follows the original pretty closely - so we'd say that was a remake!

So what else can we tell you about the movie? Well...

• Richard Zanuck, who headed Fox's production department in 1968, has been drafted in as producer.
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  Former super-model Estella Warren plays the daughter of the human rebel leader (played by Kris Kristofferson). Warren was given a non-speaking role to spare her an arduous acting challenge.
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  Tim Roth spent two-and-a-half hours in make-up each day, while Helena Bonham Carter endured four hours.
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  In a bid to ensure the ape actors looked the part, they spent a month-and-a-half learning how to move and behave as primates do. They also had to endure being fitted with prosthetic teeth and arm extensions to create the desired look.

The movie opens later in the year, but from what we have seen so far it looks like Planet of the Apes could be this years box office hit. It just remains to be seen how good the Tomb Raider movie will be.

Darren Rea