I'd already started directing short films when we were doing 'Lord of the Rings,' then videogame projects.

I'd already started directing short films when we were doing 'Lord of the Rings,' then videogame projects.

When I first was offered the role on Rise [of the Planet of the Apes], I always played Caesar as a human being within ape skin.

I'm quite contrary. If people agree on something, I tend to gravitate the other way by my nature. I don't like to be told what to do. I think it goes back to school. I like to do things I want to do and I really don't like doing what I don't want to do.

The matter is - we are actors playing roles [in Planet Apes] and they happen to be in this instance apes but there's no difference. In the scenes that we're playing, if we were to block out the scenes as actors in costumes, it would be no different.

That's what I think is the biggest challenge, is just being still and learning how to just be present in that stillness and not over do it, not over act.

I've always thought of acting as a tool to change society. I watch a lot of actors and I see panic in their eyes because they don't know why they act and I know why I act. Whether I'm a good or a bad actor, I know why I do it.