Trivia / Beneath the Planet of the Apes

• B-Team Sequel:
  • Franklin J. Schaffner was invited to return to the series, but declined due to a commitment to Patton.
  • Producer Arthur P. Jacobs wanted Jerry Goldsmith back (and Goldsmith, unlike Charlton Heston, wanted to come back), but he was also busy with Patton, so Leonard Rosenman did the movie instead.
• Killed by Request: Charlton Heston didn't hate the first film or his character, but he wasn't interested in doing a sequel. He only participated in the sequel as a personal favor, but he demanded that they kill him off in the first reel. As a compromise, he disappears at the end of the first reel and reappears at the end, to die in the last reel.
• The Other Darrin: Roddy McDowall wasn't available, so David Watson plays Cornelius this time out.
• Real-Life Relative: Along with the wife of the studio president (Linda Harrison, Nova), Beneath had the wife of producer Arthur P. Jacobs, Natalie Trundy, as a female mutant. Trundy returned in the other three, as a veterinarian in Escape and Caesar's wife in the last two.
• Recycled Set: Some of the NYC sets were left over from Hello, Dolly!.
• Wag the Director: Charlton Heston didn't want the original film to succumb to Sequelitis, so he instead rewrote the ending to be the final destruction of the Earth (thus making any possibility of a sequel impossible). (Fox president Dick Zanuck was reluctant in accepting... until the board of executives gave him the pink slip^note caused by years of costly bombs such as Doctor Dolittle and Hello, Dolly! and he asked the filmmakers to go ahead with it) . It didn't work.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Pierre Boulle, author of the original Planet of the Apes novel, wrote a sequel draft called Planet of the Men, which can be seen at Hunter's POTA Archive website (just Google it). It involves Nova and Taylor having a son named Sirius, who eventually leads a human uprising. The apes lose their intelligence and are back to being animals by the end. The last scene has Zaius doing tricks in a cage in a circus.
  • An early concept, if Heston had consented to a bigger part, would have ended with Taylor still alive and helping with a mixed school of ape and human children. The Sequel Hook was a trio of mutant gorillas emerging from a hole in the Forbidden Zone and symbolically shooting a dove.
  • Taylor was supposed to be the main character. But since Heston only accepted a smaller role which ended with Taylor dying, the script was rewritten to feature Brent. Also, Taylor, Nova, and Brent were meant to survive and help establish peaceful relations between the humans and the surviving apes.
  • Makeup for a hybrid child was tested, but dropped due to fears of reactions about the bestiality implication.
  • Orson Welles was offered the role of General Ursus, which he turned down. Ernest Borgnine and Burl Ives were also considered.
  • Burt Reynolds was considered for the lead role of John Brent due to his resemblance to Heston.
• Written by Cast Member: James Franciscus did an uncredited rewrite of Paul Dehn's screenplay before filming along with director Ted Post, since he felt the original script didn't give Brent much depth or explain his actions very well.

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