Planet of The Apes (2001 Film) - Cast

Cast

• Mark Wahlberg as Capt. Leo Davidson: United States Air Force astronaut who accidentally opens a portal to another world inhabited by talking human-like apes. Leo leads a rebellion as leader of the humans. Wahlberg dropped out of Ocean's Eleven in favor of Planet of the Apes. Matt Damon was eventually cast in his role. Other actors who were in contention for Leo Davidson wanted to see the script before signing a contract. Wahlberg signed on after a five-minute meeting with Burton. Due to his past association modeling underwear, Wahlberg did not want to wear a loincloth, which Heston wore in the original film.
• Tim Roth as General Thade: A sadistic chimpanzee military commander who wants control over the ape civilization. Thade also intends to marry Ari, but she dismisses him. Roth turned down the role of Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone because of his commitment to Planet of the Apes. Alan Rickman was eventually cast as Snape. Roth rewrote some scenes to give his character a more frightening presence.
• Helena Bonham Carter as Ari: A female chimpanzee who protests the way humans are treated. She helps Leo lead the rebellion, and also forms a romantic attraction towards him.
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Colonal Attar: A gorilla military officer and Thade's closest associate and second-in-command. Djimon Hounsou turned down the role because of scheduling conflicts with The Four Feathers.
• Paul Giamatti as Limbo: A comical orangutan who works in the trade business of human slaves. Limbo is caught in the conflict between humans and apes and tries his best to simply survive. Giamatti took inspiration from W. C. Fields for his performance. While his prosthetic makeup was being applied, Giamatti watched episodes of Ultraman and various Japanese Godzilla films.
• Estella Warren as Daena: A curvaceous female slave who, along with Ari, forms a romantic attraction with Leo.
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Gen. Krull: A gorilla and former military leader whose career was destroyed by Thade. Krull became a servant for Senator Sandar and assisted the humans in their rebellion.
• Kris Kristofferson as Karubi: Daena's father. Karubi is killed by Thade when trying to escape. Kristofferson immediately agreed to be cast. "The director Tim Burton is a hero of mine. I have eight kids and we've seen all of his films from Pee-wee's Big Adventure to Sleepy Hollow many times."

Small roles include David Warner (Senator Sandar), Lisa Marie (Nova), Erick Avari (Tival), Luke Eberl (Birn), Evan Parke (Gunnar), Glenn Shadix (Senator Nado), Freda Foh Shen (Bon), and Chris Ellis (Lt. Gen. Karl Vasich).

• There are also cameo appearances of Charlton Heston (uncredited) as Zaius, Thade's father, and Linda Harrison (the woman in the cart). Both participated in the two original films in the series, Planet of the Apes (1968) and Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), respectively as George Taylor and Nova.

• Jonah as Pericles (uncredited): A chimp student trained by Leo at the US Air Force space station training other chimps and orangutans to fly space pods. He is launched on a mission through an electronic storm. He was not shot in many scenes. He mainly interacted with Leo and at the ending scene with Ari.