GW: We’re going to see you in the theaters this summer.
DH: Yes!
GW: In Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
DH: Yes, me and the apes.
GW: I think previously it was called Caesar?
DH: I think it was originally called Caesar: Rise of the Apes. The amount of non-disclosures and things you’re not allowed to talk about is insane. I think there’s a trailer out and stuff. But it looks gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.
GW: In the cast you’ve got James Franco, Tom Felton from the Harry Potter movies …
DH: Lovely guy.
GW: Andy Serkis …
DH: Andy Serkis is amazing, I don’t know how he does it.
GW: John Lithgow …
DH: John Lithgow, I worked with him. John and I worked together, and I worked with Andy. A little bit with James. But honestly, the star of that movie is the director. The fact that he’s gone from making basically small character movies in England to Planet of the Apes — I mean, it’s just so smart of them to say, “Yes, we know we’re going to do all the spectacle, we know we’re going to have all this action stuff, but let’s get a director who’s going to worry about the characters.”
GW: Essentially, is it a prequel?
DH: I really can’t say. I’m just not allowed to. I’m not even sure what they’re giving away and what they’re not. But I think what’s neat about it and why I was very attracted to it — other than the fact, obviously, from a nerd factor, I feel like it’s the coolest thing in the world, I would have played a monkey in it — I just think that it’s actually quite a heart-felt story. Yes, you’ve got all of the action, thriller, suspense stuff that you want in a movie like this, but the core of it is this fantastic story about family, basically.
GW: It’s a fantastic trailer. Is it WETA, I think, that’s doing the special effects?
DH: Yeah, and the stuff they’re doing is incredible. I mean, they’re basically taking the performance capture — and it is performance capture. People call it motion capture, it’s not motion capture, it’s performance capture.
When you’re dealing with someone like Andy, who is so good and so much into the stuff, he’s playing a monkey, an ape, a primate, whatever they want to call it. You get told off if you say the wrong thing. But basically, the amount of work he puts into it and the amount of emoting going is just incredible. I mean, absolutely stunning and the effects are flawless, just from what I’ve seen in the trailer.
It’s so funny because, having done the movie, I now join the hoards of fans who sit back and watch it unfold. So I’m really, really curious to see what they’re going to do with it and how they’re going to promote it. The first one was definitely the sinister trailer, and I’m curious to see where they take the marketing now. If they’re sticking to the script that I read, I think they’ve got not just a great blockbuster kind of a movie. They may have a great movie.
I’m so sick of going to movies and saying, “Oh my God, it was gorgeous but, you know, the plot … whatever.” This is very plot and character heavy and it sounds so silly to say it, they got a really good actor to play the monkey. It’s just smart, it’s smart and you don’t normally associate that kind of attention to stories with these big movies and I think it’s nice to see that they’re trying to do that. My hat’s off to them, for sure.
GW: On a more personal note, where are things sitting on Starcrossed?
DH: Starcrossed? I’m actually in the process now of writing another version of it. We basically did the rounds to figure out how to finance it best. My lovely friends at Syfy have been very cool about it because basically, without their blessing we can’t — you know, it’s theirs. They’ve been fantastic about letting me sell them on some other ideas and some approaches to it. So basically, in my mind — and maybe I’m just a silly, deluded fool — in my mind, we are plowing ahead and we will be shooting.
I just have to get a script now, because originally it was going to be a half-hour [series], then it was going to be webisodes, and then recently when it was sort of reborn again, it became a Web series again. What I love about Web series now is that there’s no longer — while there is a stigma, I suppose, attached to them, there’s doesn’t need to be. The reality is my son watches television on television, he watches television on the iPod, on the iPad, on the computer. It makes no difference to him how you get the content. It’s no longer just one-minute webisodes.
GW: It’s becoming a more viable form to get the product out there, especially if it’s intellectual property that’s brand new — things like Riese.
DH: Yeah! Well, we talked to the Riese guys because they were so smart about that. The way they’ve turned that into a franchise … And now they’re pursuing other stuff, as well.
GW: And Mortal Kombat. They filmed up here.
DH: See, that’s a little different though, because they had like $10 million to do that. I haven’t seen it so I don’t know, but that feels more almost like marketing and advertising. But again, I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know.
I think what I like about this is that it allows you to explore different ways of telling stories. And something that I’m really big on with Starcrossed is that it is not just a series. It’s a Web site, it’s like a portal for fans in that I want them to be involved in the whole process, because without them it’s not going to happen anyways. So I want to see fan fiction, I want to hear who they want on the show, I want to hear about their interactions with sci-fi celebrities, I want to post funny little things. I want it to be a community. I think that’s really important. We should talk to GateWorld about it! There may be something there, we could help each other out.
Basically, I think the key with Starcrossed for me is that it’s going to be very multi-platform. Yes, I’m hoping that there’ll be DVDs available that we can sell and sign and have some great behind the scenes stuff, but the Web site should have that, as well.
I really want people to be able to get involved, and I think the reality is that if people are involved from the beginning then they’re more interested in the project. It’s what we found with A Dog’s Breakfast. Talking to people, from actually building the sites and doing the show, funding, all that kind of stuff … I want to see how we can use that and see if there’s a model that we can set up.
Sanctuary was very savvy with that and ended up with a TV series with it. I would really, really like something that works on the Web. I would love that because to me, that is the future of stuff. I would love to see stuff that could be developed for the Web and live and breathe and thrive on the Web. And if there’s a television angle to it, fantastic. Obviously, that’s beautiful — but I think the Web thing, there’s the potential there for it to live longer than the television shows, than whatever else it incorporates.
GW: Any message for fans?
DH: Yeah … “I’m sorry,” “I’m going to miss you.” [Laughter] God, I don’t know.
Look, I think the fact is that the people who brought you Stargate are all off doing other things now. So there will be that comedy, there will be those type of characters back, so you can look forward to that. Again, a lot of the people involved in science fiction, myself included, are working to do stuff so we’re going to need them. Hopefully, we’ll be able to give them something else to watch and be a part of.
I’m right there with you David. I could not get interested enough to watch SGU either. I agree too that there should be more Atlantis/more Stargate.
Wow, do I miss SGA when I read this! Good luck to David on both his movies (Apes and Whistleblower).
I’ll watch. I saw Riese and I’m currently watching Mercury Men, and really ejoying both. I say as long as it is good they will watch. Good Luck.
Just saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes awesome movie and David was great in it! One of my favorite movies this year!!
ohh the barcelona mckays! nothing comes close to acting like that hah.
as we know SGU was not to everyone’s tastes some liked it. some if not more hated it. however i think its unfair that the whole Stargate franchise should get trashed because of SGU and the actions of 1 network. i personally liked all the Stargates but to be honest my favorite was Atlantis and i think as a fair compromise that may suit everyone is that this is where it should pick up again Atlantis still has alot to offer and is far from finished. Atlantis in my opinion should be the main show but could on occasion have… Read more »
You may “agree with” David in that you “could not get interested enough to watch SGU either” but I’m not sure David would agree with you since he said no such thing in the interview!
In the same spirit I agree with David that Obama is a feeble joke, and Glee is awful.
I miss SGA so much, especially David and Joe. I really wish someone would pick SGA up again, but I’ll just have due w/the dvds and David’s new movies. Going to see Apes this weekend w/gf.
I’m sorry, but based off of what information we have on the Atlantis movie that never got made, I’m glad we didn’t get more Atlantis, because chances are you people would have complained about the quality of the show as much as you complain about SGU.
I’m a huge fan of sg-1 and atlantis, not realy a fan of unvirse. but i watched it all sence 1994 when the movie came out. I think that stargate was a much better series then any of the star trek shows, and i can’t believe the whole idea of stargate is going to be gone. i realy think they should do another SG like sg-1, and atlantis, with new characters to love. and new everything to not bring in new fiewers like the failed atempt in SGU. but to bring back the old viewers. but all in all, i… Read more »
if they brought atlantis back the ratings would be through the roof. it could do another 5 seasons easy. and bring in better ratings then the shows they are running now. im sure most of the actors would come back and do it. i dont think they are doing anything important right now.
@stargater I dont mean to correct you but Smallville beat SG-1’s record for longest running Sci-Fi show. But I agree with you they should bring stargate back. And by back I mean finish off the story. We deserve a ending.
And to those trying to find a quality show to watch, I’ve gotten attached to the new show Suits on USA. Very very good show
@stargater actually said longest ‘syfy series in history’. While this was likely not meant to be so specific, it does bring up an interesting point. Has any other show from the network currently known as Syfy made it through as many episodes as SG1? I can’t think of any.
Ofc it would be great if they bring back SGA but ronan(jason momoa) is make the new Conan film atm and has just finished making a TY series called Game of Thrones, and it both of theses he has gotten him self really buff’ed up and well built and looks alot different from ronan.
In my opinion they should make try to get more epsiodes out of SGU, as syfy ended the show far to soon as most people was starting to come around and enjoying it.
If the group doesn’t mind hearing another opinion, I would like to say that I also would like to see SG1 or SGA come back. Those of you who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms can well imagine what it was like during the period between the cancellation of the original Star Trek series and the first Star Trek movie. I do feel; that we fans must be somewhat realistic. Do to issues involving, personal schedules and life goals (not to mention budgets), it might not be possible for the original cast to reassemble. I think it might better to assemble a… Read more »
@syfygtefan – Unfortunately, the studio that acquired MGM (and the Stargate franchise along with it) is not really interested in it right now. It has been shelved until further notice. It likely won’t see the light of day again until someone decides it’s time to ‘reboot’ it.
I keep hoping to see some type of SG show but I’m afraid the “Jon Benjamin has a Van” stardoor episode is as close as we’ll get for many years.
This goes out to the creators and producers of the stargate franchise.The main reason as to why stargate sg1 and staragate atlantis were successful was due to the fact the shows were focused into the unknown and showing all the various possibilities in which us humans are capable of creating.for example i viewed the ancients as future humans of this earth with increadibly advanced DNAs reaching their pinnacle of the evolution.infact right now there are very many things which the SGA AND SG1 were directly revealing, the idea of ancient’s consiusness becoming energy that no longer requires a physical body.the… Read more »
All I would like is one SGU movie. Ultimately, the series ended in the best way it could given the circumstances. And it’s self reflective writing was bittersweet. As much as the crew tried to control Destiny and avoid the neverending attacks, there was nothing that could be done but wait for them to subside and hope for the best. But as Camille reminded us, “the journey ‘is’ the mission”, therefore there is nothing to lament, only gratitude for what was, and the destination is not important.