The graduates of "Ape School" went through a transformation to teach themselves how to best portray primates in the new movie Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. While switching into character was unique for the actors, it was actually reverting back to human behavior that felt more strange.

In a new interview with CBR's Kevin Polowy, actors Kevin Durand and Peter Macon addressed their roles in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Durand plays the villain, the bonobo Proximus Caesar, while Macon plays Raka, a wise orangutan who serves as an ally to Owen Teague's Noa. When asked about the weirdest part of going through Ape School to transition into character, Macon explained how it was more difficult to go back to human behavior at the end of the day.

"I think the weirdest thing was to come back to being a human," as Macon said. "You know, you spend your day... we'd be in there six, seven hours, and just living in this [other mindset]. [...] Sometimes longer! Because Alain Gauthier, our movement coach, would [teach us] it's part of the process too to go back to being a human, so that you can sort of feel the difference in your body, and then go back to being an ape, and go back to being a human. So, transitioning back to being a human at the end of the day, and walking up the stairs, it just didn't feel right."

"So, transitioning back to being a human at the end of the day, and walking up the stairs, it just didn't feel right."

Meanwhile, Durand frequently broke out into character throughout the entire interview with Polowy. The actor joked that he's "still in it" when talking about the "Ape School" training that was done for the primate actors. Durand also shared how he has taken his ape persona home as well, much to the enjoyment of his youngest child.

"My wife begs me to stop," Durand said. "My children, at first, my eldest was like, 'No.' But, my little one was kind of scared, and fascinated."

Demonstrating how he'd spoken to her with his Proximus Caesar voice, Durand added, "Within ten minutes, we're ape-ing around. We would play together, and it was so much fun. She would talk to me like I was Proximus."

The official synopsis for the movie reads, "Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesars reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike."

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now playing in movie theaters.

Source: CBR

Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Actors Had Trouble Reverting Back to Human - CBR