Steve Zahn was ‘naive’ going into War for the Planet of the Apes

Actor Steve Zahn was not prepared for the “exhausting” physical aspects of portraying a chimp in his new movie War For The Planet Of The Apes.
The Sahara star plays Bad Ape, an escaped zoo chimpanzee, who joins forces with Andy Serkis’ ape leader Caesar to fight the humans.
Steve admits he had no idea how tough it would be to work with motion-capture technology to bring the animals to life onscreen, and he ended up having to do a little extra homework in between shoots to really master the great ape’s moves.
“It’s physically the hardest job I’ve ever done,” he confessed on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. “I went into it – I was naive – I thought, ‘Oh, I’m gonna act in a little room with a tennis ball and we’re not gonna be on the mountain and whatever.’ (But) when you’re doing motion capture, you have to be an ape. They (filmmakers) can make you look like an ape (with computer graphics), but they can’t make you be one.”
After his first few days on set, Steve decided to seek out videos of the animals online to study so he could really ape their behaviour.
“It takes a long time (to master an ape’s actions),” he continued. “For two weeks I worked out with Terry Notary, who plays Rocket, who’s kind of our coach onset, and it was exhausting. I’d go back to my apartment and watch YouTube videos of chimps at a zoo, and I was fascinated with the little guy in the corner who didn’t do anything, and how that differed to like, us (humans) sitting there… And to get that to be second nature was difficult, and then to play a character (was even more of a struggle).”
Co-star Woody Harrelson, who plays the ruthless colonel engaging in the battle of survival with the apes, recently admitted he was in awe of Serkis’ acting skills after witnessing the motion capture technology expert work his magic on the film.
“Andy Serkis (is) probably one of the greatest actors I’ve ever worked with; incredible,” he gushed.
War of the Planet of the Apes is the second sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which rebooted the franchise with Serkis as its star.