The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes cast attended six weeks of 'ape school' to prepare them to do mo-cap for the first time ever

Alongside the launch of the new trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, actor Owen Teague has revealed the research and training process that had to be undertaken to tackle the physical new role – including six weeks of ‘ape school’ and some intriguing animal encounters. Which was quite the challenge given that the cast were mostly new to motion-capture performance work.

“It was fantastic,” enthuses Teague, speaking exclusively to GamesRadar+ about the extended pre-shoot training required to portray his young chimpanzee Noa. “We had this movement teacher, Alain Gauthier. Well, that was his title – but he was much more than that. He helped us create these characters. He worked with us to get the physicality down, but he also helped us make these characters our own and find their voices. It was a blast.” 

“We started with exercises to get in touch with our bodies and build strength because we're doing very physical stuff in this movie,” continues the actor. “And then we started getting our characters on our feet. We started speaking. Alain helped with everything.”  

Going into specifics of the exercises, Teague adds, “Alain would lead us through extended improvisations, where he would give us an activity to do as our characters. I remember the first time we did it. It was so magical for everyone.” 

“We were all sitting in this room and we were passing a rubber ball back and forth as apes,” the actor continues. “It was a very simple activity. Soon enough, one of us starts making a game out of it and another takes that and turns it into something else. Pretty soon, we're running around the room chasing each other, climbing on stuff and swinging around – and this goes on for an hour.” 

“Finally, Alain brings us out of the exercise and says, ‘You guys just did that without breaking for an hour. Now you're feeling it.’ It was incredible. We would have those kinds of experiences every day.” 

Other research methods used involved up-close and personal encounters with