20th Century Fox president Craig Baumgarten was impressed with
Adam Rifkin's filmmaking with
Never on Tuesday. In 1988, Rifkin was brought in the studio to
pitch ideas for films. Rifkin, being a fan of the 1968
Planet of the Apes felt it was best to continue the film series. "Having
independent film experience, I promised I could write and direct a huge-looking film for a reasonable price and budget, like
Aliens."
[11] Fox commissioned Rifkin to write what amounted to a sequel, "but not a sequel to
the fifth film, an alternate sequel to the first film."
[11] He took influences from
Spartacus, with the storyline being "the ape empire had reached its
Roman era. A descendant of Charlton Heston's character named Duke would eventually lead a human slave revolt against the oppressive Roman-esque apes, led by General Izan. A real
sword and sandal spectacular, monkey style.
Gladiator did the same movie without the ape costumes."
[11]
Titled
Return to the Planet of the Apes, the project was put on fast track and almost entered
pre-production.
Rick Baker was hired to design the
prosthetic makeup with
Danny Elfman composing the
film score.
Tom Cruise and
Charlie Sheen were in contention for the lead role. "I can't accurately describe in words the utter euphoria I felt knowing that I, Adam Rifkin, was going to be resurrecting the
Planet of the Apes. It all seemed too good to be true. I soon found out it was."
[11] Days before the film was to commence pre-production, new
studio executives arrived at Fox, which caused creative differences between Rifkin and the studio.
[11] Rifkin was commissioned to rewrite the script through various drafts. The project was abandoned until
Peter Jackson and
Fran Walsh pitched their own idea, with the apes going through a
Renaissance. In the story, the ape government becomes concerned over the new art works, the humans are revolting and the liberal apes shelter a half-human, half-ape from the gorillas.
Roddy McDowall was enthusiastic about their proposal and agreed to play the
Leonardo da Vinci-type character they had written for him. However, the executive Jackson spoke to was not a fan of the series and seemingly unaware of McDowall's involvement in the series, and Jackson turned his attention back to
Heavenly Creatures.
[12]