(Cover) - EN Movies - The bosses of Rise of the Planet of the Apes refused to use real life simians because it would be cruel.

Because the film, which is a prequel of the hugely successful franchise, focuses on scientists using monkeys for experiments, the director on the forthcoming blockbuster felt it would be "ironic" to use real life apes in the movie. Instead they used the sort of performance capture technology used on Andy Serkis in The Lord of the Rings films where he famously portrayed Gollum - and King Kong. Andy also stars in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

"We had a choice: we could use live apes or we could use performance capture technology," director Rupert Wyatt told Collider. "There was no way we could put actors in simian suits and pull it off. We immediately set about exploring both options, and we very quickly put to bed the idea of using live apes for all sorts of reasons. I personally think it would have been a bit of an irony to be telling the story of our most exploited and closest cousins, and use live apes to tell that story. I think it would have been a cruel twist."

Instead Andy donned the performance capture suit for the movie. And he believes the technology will enhance the picture more than if he wore time consuming make- up used in the previous releases in the series.

"A motion capture costume is actually a very liberating costume," he explained. "The alternative is to wear a suit with fur and have layers of prosthetics on your face, like the actors did in the original Apes movies. For me, I find that much more restrictive performance capture allows you to just play intention without being encumbered in any way." (C) Cover Media