This 1996 Entertainment Weekly article has a timeline of the various unproduced versions -- including all kinds of directors who passed through the project (including Peter Jackson). The common thread was that Schwarzenegger was supposed to star in the two different, unproduced scripts:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,292533,00.html
First, Terry Hayes was assigned to write RETURN OF THE APES, a script for producer Oliver Stone that Schwarzenegger signed on for in the early '90s. Arnold even went so far as to approve Philip Noyce, who was set to direct this version before the plug was pulled.
The script had many fans -- and as you can see in this 1996 EW article, was very close to being made:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305006,00.htmlIn the wake of Junior's disappointing gross ($24 million in its first three weeks), Arnold Schwarzenegger's getting back into action. Production sources say he's in discussion with Twentieth Century Fox to star in the revamped Planet of the
Apes, the $60-70 million sci-fi epic being executive-produced by Oliver Stone. The Schwarzenegger deal supposedly hangs on the availability of Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger), whom the star wants as director. But Noyce's services are committed until Jan. 15 to Paramount, for which he may direct the big-screen version of The Saint. Another inside production source, however, says the casting ''looks good,'' and adds that, ''Arnold is interested no matter who directs.'' Schwarzenegger's agent did not return calls.
In this Apes — neither a remake of Fox's 1968 Charlton Heston cult treat, nor a faithful adaptation of the original 1963 Pierre Boulle novel — Ah-nuld would play a geneticist who travels back in time to an ape-dominated society to save the human race from extinction. A draft of a script by Terry Hayes (The Road Warrior) includes a few nods to the original (an appearance by a female ape scientist named Dr. Zora, reminiscent of Kim Hunter's character, Dr. Zira, in the first film) but is much heavier on action, depicting several bloody battles between predatory apes and primitive human tribes. An expected standout of the movie will be the animatronic costumes, crafted by Jurassic Park's Stan Winston, which promise to be more lifelike than the original movie's.
Fox hopes the movie will create a hefty new Apes franchise, complete with sequels, merchandising, and eventual TV spin-offs. The '68 movie yielded four feature sequels, a short-lived TV series, an animated series, and memorabilia that now has some kitsch value on the collectibles market.
Here's the full script itself:
http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/Ret ... e_apes.txt
...with a synopsis here:
http://planetoftheapes.wikia.com/wiki/R ... f_the_Apes
After that project fizzled, BATMAN writer Sam Hamm wrote a script for Chris Columbus, reworking some elements of the Hayes script but also bringing it closer in line with the original source material (which Hayes' version bore almost no relation to). Again, Schwarzenegger was involved.
Hamm's script -- with a twist ending very much in line with the 2001 Burton picture (you wonder if it wasn't handed over to that movie) -- is here:We tried to do a story that was simultaneously a homage to the elements we liked from the five films, and would also incorporate a lot of material [from Boulle's novel] that had been jettisoned from the earlier production," Hamm said. "The first half of the script bore little resemblance to the book, but a lot of the stuff in the second half comes directly from it, or directly inspired by it
http://www.scifiscripts.com/scripts/POTA_Remake.txt
...with a synopsis here:
http://planetoftheapes.wikia.com/wiki/P ... creenplay)
Interesting stuff...though ultimately, the current APES movies wouldn't have been possible back in the '90s, so it all worked out for the best. However, I think the Hayes version would've been crazy but may have been the more interesting route of the two...it's unfortunate they didn't go through with it.
