Owen Teague was in a messy situation when he got the confirmation call!
The actor spoke to Entertainment Weekly and shared the story of finding out about being cast in the Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes. According to Teague, he received the best news in the “worst place” possible.
Owen Teague shares his reaction to being cast in the film
The actor revealed the "completely out of [his] own body with joy and shock" he experienced when he learned about his casting while driving on the New Jersey Turnpike. He revealed that he was driving on the bridge from Staten Island to New York, where there was no way to “pull over.”
So, he had the most awkward interaction, “They're like, 'You're going to be in the next Planet of the Apes,' and I was like, 'Oh, that's — How much [is the toll]? That's amazing!'" he told Entertainment Weekly.
The actor who played the young chimpanzee Noa took his inspiration from Andy Serkis’s portrayal of the role in the 2005 King Kong film. Teague revealed that Serkis was a big part of his motivation for pursuing acting. “The fact that I get to do this is insane. It's such an honor," he said.
What is Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes about?
This movie is a continuation of the Serkis trilogy and picks up 300 years after the events of the 2017 War for the Planet of the Apes. In this era, the Apes rule the world and live in isolated colonies while humans are mere feral creatures.
When an ape named Proximus Caesar decides to hunt and enslave apes from other colonies, Noa teams up with mysterious human Nova(Freya Allen) to fight for a place where humans and Apes can coexist.
Teague revealed that he went to sanctuaries and interacted with chimpanzees, and it “helped” him play the animal better. "That helped me get more in the body with the voice instead of how we talk as humans," he told the outlet.
