Trivia / Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

• California Doubling: The opening scenes showing apes being processed at Ape Control were filmed on the newly opened campus of the University of California at Irvine.
• Dawson Casting: Roddy McDowall, Age 44, as Caesar, Age 20. It helps that he is in make-up and sounds younger than he actually is.
• Executive Meddling: The original ending had the apes slaughtering all the human characters (even MacDonald, who was one of the good guys) after Caesar announces that, once humanity had nearly wiped itself out in an inevitable nuclear war, apes would step in and take over, subjugating whoever was left. Studio objections led to a partially re-shot ending, where (following a Little "No" from Lisa), Caesar reconsiders and instead says that, while the apes would still take over, they'd treat humans with some measure of compassion. Whether this improves the movie or not is a matter of debate.
• Focus Group Ending: The movie was always going to end with the apes beginning their takeover, but originally, Breck was going to be beaten to death—a definitive demonstration about the circle of hatred. However, following a preview screening, the ending was slightly changed, with a few editing tricks and Roddy McDowall dubbing in new dialogue.
• Looping Lines: The original cut does not have the last few of Caesar's lines, instead ending with his shout of "That day is upon you NOW!" and both Breck and MacDonald being killed. Roddy McDowall was asked to dub a few more lines to try and lighten the film's dark tone. This is why those lines are spoken over an awkward extreme closeup of Caesar's eyes, so they wouldn't have to worry about his mouth matching them.

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