Trivia / War for the Planet of the Apes

• Billing Displacement:
  • Toby Kebbell is listed fourth in the credits, despite playing Koba in only two of Caesar's nightmare scenes. He is credited before Terry Notary (Rocket) and Karin Konoval (Maurice) despite the latter two playing more plot-important characters.
  • While Cornelia is about as plot-important as Koba overall, she appears only minimally as the character is killed early on, though actress Judy Greer is billed as one of the main supporting actors.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Well-known vegan and animal rights activist Woody Harrelson plays the psychotic Colonel who has dedicated his life to wiping out the apes.
• Throw It In!: There are many pieces of improv in the film, mostly from Woody Harrelson as The Colonel:
  • His shooting of Ape Elder was suggested by Harrelson, who felt he had to kill one of the Apes onscreen early to be taken seriously as a villain.
  • Twice, he touches Caesar's head, both times an improv between Harrelson and Serkis.
  • His "Famous Opposing Generals" speech was another suggestion, including the bit about Caesar "not being much of a reader." The writers wrote it into the script.
  • He also felt it was important for McCullough to relive the moment he killed his son, instead of just allude to it. Again, the scene was written at the actor's suggestion.
  • One for Bad Ape and Steve Zahn, and showcasing the beauty of performance capture technology: When Bad Ape charges off to grab food for Caesar and company, Zahn actually fell. Performance capture on-set meant that in addition to the slip, the set props would react to it as well, the kind of spontaneity you can't get from a purely-CGI character.
• Typecasting:
  • Once again Woody Harrelson plays a vengeful survivalist in the post-apocalypse who has a dead son.
  • Andy Serkis returns to his role as Caesar, not just a CGI Motion Capture character, but another super-ape.
  • And Aleks Paunovic, once again, plays a treacherous strongman.
• What Could Have Been: An indirect reference to Malcolm and his family from Dawn was cut from the conversation between Caesar and the Colonel at Caesar's cage. According to the film's director Matt Reeves, Malcolm was killed by the Colonel, trying to persuade him that Caesar and the apes could be trusted.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Ty Olsson, the actor who portrays Red, was also Police Chief Hamil from Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Though you probably won't recognize him behind a gorilla.
  • Devyn Dalton, who played Cornelius, also played Cornelia in Rise, before getting replaced by Judy Greer in Dawn and War.