Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy is considered to be Clint Eastwood’s finest work as an actor. He portrayed three different characters in every movie, who are also referred to as the ‘Man with No Name.‘ The director is known for using extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots in his movies, which has served as an inspiration for many filmmakers. One such name also includes the director of the 2022 film Matt Reeves, who shared that he took inspiration from the Western expert Sergio Leone for his 2017 sci-fi film, War for the Planet of the Apes.
Matt Reeves Inspired From Clint Eastwood’s Dollars Trilogy Director
Matt Reeves took over the Planet of the Apes franchise after the director of the 2011 film, Rupert Wyatt, had to withdraw from the sequel due to production and scheduling issues. The sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes became a box office hit and was among the highest-growing films of 2014.
It also landed an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects. Reeves continued working on the series, and the threequel, War for the Planet of the Apes, was released in 2017. Grossing $490 million at the box office, the Andy Serkis starrer received rave reviews from critics.
During an interview with Dan of Geek, the filmmaker shared that he used an Alexa 65 large-format camera rig in order to give it an extended visual style that is consistent with the story. And he shared that the work of the director of Clint Eastwood’s Dollars trilogy, Sergio Leone, has been a huge inspiration for him.
“I wanted the movie to be, like, a widescreen movie like a David Lean movie or a [Sergio] Leone movie,” he said before adding, “and see the apes against the landscape of the planet.” The filmmaker further explained how he wanted to represent several elements with the 2017 film.
Matt Reeves Wanted the 2017 Film to be an Epic-Scale Movie
Matt Reeves has shared that he studied the work of several directors before filming the 2017 movie, and he learned a lot from Leone’s 1986 film Once Upon a Time in the West. He shared that he was very affected by the “alternated wide shots with these super tight close-ups” in Leone’s movies. The Cloverfield director also shared that he was looking forward to developing the threequel more like a classical and Western film. Reeves said,
“What I’ve been excited about from the beginning was the idea of taking cutting edge technology and mirroring that with traditional forms, with the idea of myth, and a really classical story.”
He stated that he wanted the audience to experience a kind of timeless story that felt very rooted but with apes taking the lead in the whole story. “And so on this one, I wanted it to be a very epic-scale movie, but still very intimate,” the filmmaker said.
War for the Planet of the Apes is available on Prime Video.
Source: Dan of Geek
