Reinventing one of the most acclaimed and beloved works of Pierre Boulle – the classic novel Planet of the Apes, Tim Burton hired the actor’s actor Paul Giamatti to play the role of an orangutan “human-trader”, Limbo. For Giamatti, it was the dream role to be cast as an ape in Burton’s 2001 remake.
Recalling his experience during the recent THR roundtable, Paul Giamatti opened up about how passionate he was to play the role of an orangutan. Calling Planet of the Apes (2001) his dream job, Giamatti stated how clearly he asked his agents to not screw up his role by telling the studio he wants to play a human.
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Paul Giamatti Desperately Wanted to Play an Orangutan
Back in 2001, when Tim Burton announced his decision to reinvent Pierre Boulle’s classic novel Planet of the Apes, into a now-infamous remake movie, Paul Giamatti was hired for a role alongside Mark Wahlberg. And you’ll be stunned to know that although Giamatti’s agents wanted him to appear in human roles in the film, the actor was desperate to be an orangutan.
Recalling his role Paul Giamatti opened up about the time, during the recent THR roundtable. The actor recalled how his agents wanted him to show his face in the acclaimed project because it would have boosted his profile. But unfortunately, Giamatti was hell-bent on playing the role of an ape in the movie.
“No, that was the strange fulfillment of a deep dream. To be an ape in the Planet of the Apes? If that had been it for me, I would have died happy. I couldn’t believe I was going to be able to play a talking orangutan!”
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Opening up about how it was his dream role to portray an orangutan “human-trader” – Limbo, Paul Giamatti apparently made it clear to his agents how desperately he wanted that role. Unwilling to play boring human-like roles always, the acclaimed star wanted to experience what it feels like to play an orangutan.
Paul Giamatti Threatened His Agents Over His 2001 Role
During the recent THR roundtable, Paul Giamatti revealed the conversation he had with his agent. The actor claimed that he had to convince the agency to land him the audition for the role of Limbo. Apparently, the actor convinced his desperation to his agents by threatening them about burning the agency in case they told the studio to offer him a human role.
“My agents were like, ‘Don’t you want to be a human so they can see your face?’ And I was like, ‘If you tell them I want to be a human, I’m going to burn the agency.’ Who wants to be the human?”
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Speaking with the esteemed group, which consisted of Colman Domingo, Mark Ruffalo, Andrew Scott, and Robert Downey Jr., Paul Giamatti noted how Planet of the Apes was one of the biggest highlights of his career. And till date, he takes pride in playing the role of the orangutan Limbo, in that often-maligned film.
Perhaps, prompting his tongue-in-cheek threat worked wonders for Paul Giamatti as he eventually landed the role in Tim Burton‘s 2001 remake. Later on, during the roundtable conversation, the actor opened up about his other memorable roles and recalled appearing in Howard Stern’s biopic Private Parts.
