That was one of the key things - when you asked the story about the writing of the story - one of the things we wanted to make sure was that it grew out of.

It's that we're experiencing emotion through photo-real apes, and that's really holding a mirror up to who we are. It's interesting, because as we're showing the movie now, we're getting a lot of response about things [people] think are very topical. And the intention is never to approach it from the outside-in, which is to say, "Ah, this is going on, let's draw that in."

That was one of the key things - when you asked the story about the writing of the story - one of the things we wanted to make sure was that it grew out of.

What I thought was so great about Rise [of the Planet of the Apes ] was that it wasn't a retelling; it was an entering of the universe at a different point. So it's Planet of the Apes. We already know the ending. There's no mystery in that! It becomes Planet of the Apes. So it's not about what is at the end; it's about how did we get there? And that enabled something that was totally fresh, which was an ape-point-of-view movie.

My main interest in being a director, and the most important thing to me, is that world with the actors.

There's a thing when you're always working on something you really love, and this one we loved so much, it feels like you have a secret, and you can't wait to let people in on the secret. But at the same time, there's that moment where, "What if they get the secret and they think the secret is stupid?!"

I think there's a level at which you think that there's a reason that you're being singled out, that you're being chosen. As a kid, I was always mistaken for a girl. Before you reach that age where your sexuality starts to display itself, kids can look very androgynous, and I guess I leaned more toward the feminine. All those things were very hard, growing up, because you're trying to create an identity, and you're feeling shameful about the one that you're making. So, I identified with it a lot.