Heston Does It For The Money

Charlton Heston has been explaining to the press how he was persuaded to don monkey make-up for Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. Talking to Ananova, Heston says that while the script, character and cast were all excellent, money still talks when it comes to persuading legendary actors to do a day's work. 'I have to say it helped a good deal when [producer Richard Zanuck] said there would be a large sum of money involved,' says Heston. 'But Burton is pretty good at his job and I think he's come up with an excellent movie.' Heston goes on to reveal a little of his role in the new movie; 'I get to play a senior ape, a great ape who has rather serious medical problems. In fact, he very soon will be a deceased ape...When you've made The Ten Commandements and played Moses, it's strange when somebody says, "How do you feel about messing around with apes?"' The exact amount paid to Heston is undisclosed, but industry insiders have pinned it far higher than the $1 million picked up by Sean Connery for his spectacularly brief appearance in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.