RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES 2 (Andy Serkis Speculates)

• RISE OF THE PLANET OFTHE APES ON BLU RAY!!

The Apes have finally been released on Blu-ray DVD!! Wantmore good news?? Andy Serkis has been talking about the sequel that is in theworks…

Andy Serkis Playin Caesar in a Oscar worthy Performance

The big question is whether James Franco or Freida Pintowill survive the virus that ravaged the world at the very end of the film (forthose who missed that, it can be found in the end credits). Unfortunately,Serkis was not sure about the fate of Will and Caroline. "As yet, whoknows?" he said. "No one really knows the nature of the sequel forsure. It's all being evolved as we speak. I don't even think there's a scriptat this point. But I'm deeply excited to see where it all goes. We allare."

Director Rupert Wyatt has hinted that the sequel will playlike "Full Metal Jacket with apes." And while Serkis, a pro atkeeping productions a secret, shied away from going into details about that, hedid have this to say: "Obviously at the end of Apes, it's perfectly set upfor the ascendancy of the species. Where we go from there should be ratherextraordinary."

A lot of people have noticed some of the bread crumbs thatwas left in the film that has hinted to the sequel, especially the Icarusflight which goes missing (the same vessel from the original 1968 classic).It's a very, very minor subplot in the film – a blink and you'll miss it sortof thing. Serkis, who was eager to acknowledge this little in-film cookie,wasn't exactly sure how that will play out in the sequel. "All I know isthat I'm in it, which is good," he said, jokingly. "But I'm notexactly sure the avenues they will pursue. But that is one element they made aneffort to include."

While Rupert Wyatt seems hard at work on the sequel, Iquestioned Serkis about sitting in the director's chair one day, to perhapshelm his own Apes sequel. "Well … at the moment we're hoping that Rupertis directing. He did such a great job on the last one," Serkis said."We're certain he's going to return, but who knows? Down the line, maybe.Directing is certainly an area that I'm deeply interested in. I have my ownprojects I plan to work on once The Hobbit is done. Plus I'm setting up aperformance capture studio in the UK called The Imaginarium. And we haveprojects lined up that I'm going to be directing for them."

Jamie bell Playing Tinitn and Andy Serkis playing Captain Haddock

Some of these projects do include feature films, but,interestingly enough, Serkis also gave us a taste that might appeal totheater/dance enthusiasts. "What I'm really interested in developing islooking at performance capture in the live performance arts," he said."It would be fascinating to have real-time avatars projected onto a screenduring theatrical performances or dance routines. That's an area that's prettymuch untapped."

So, if Serkis doesn't eventually step into the director'schair for an Apes sequel, he's got plenty of interesting work up his sleeve.You can see him next in The Adventure of Tintin, opening Dec. 21 2011, and TheHobbit, opening in December 2012.