Just yesterday Dwayne Johnson spilled a few plot details about RAMPAGE, and now Warner Bros. has officially announced the start of production on the video-game adaptation which finds a trio of genetically altered alpha predators destroying everything in their path. Dwayne Johnson took to Facebook today to share a photo from the set of the Brad Peyton film which shows Johnson standing alongside Jason Liles, who plays the rare albino gorilla named George who is the best friend of Johnson's character.
Along with the photo, Dwayne Johnson commented:
In our story we have three animals who fall victim to evil genetic editing, rapidly changing every strand of their DNA so they grow, evolve and mutate. Everything becomes amplified.. their size, strength, speed, agility.. and violent aggression. One of the animals infected – a rare Albino gorilla named, George, is my best friend.
George, is played by 6'9 Jason Liles, pictured here. Jason has been studying gorillas for months now preparing for this motion capture role. Gorillas movements, body language, and all emotions – joy, pain, sadness, love, aggression etc. It's insane when you get around this man and how he's able to embody a gorilla. This is the most fascinating advanced VFX/motion cap process I've ever worked with in my career.
We have the best mo-cap team in the world (WETA Digital) working on our RAMPAGE MONSTERS and you'll get a taste of this new technology in the upcoming WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES as well as James Cameron's AVATARS. With all the cool advanced technology in our movie, the #1 thing you're gonna experience when you watch it, is FUN. Because when my best friend, George no happy, then me no happy. And when me no happy.. bad people become our lunch.
Warner Bros.' press-release confirms much of the cast of RAMPAGE, which includes Naomie Harris (MOONLIGHT), Malin Akerman (Billions), Jake Lacy (Girls), Joe Manganiello (True Blood), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead), P.J. Byrne (THE WOLF OF WALL STREET), Marley Shelton (SOLACE), Breanne Hill (SAN ANDREAS), Jack Quaid (THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE) and Matt Gerald (Daredevil). Also included was the official synopsis for RAMPAGE, which pretty much lines up with what Dwayne Johnson revealed the other day.
Primatologist Davis Okoye (Johnson), a man who keeps people at a distance, shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent, silverback gorilla who has been in his care since birth. But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry transforms this gentle ape into a raging monster. To make matters worse, it’s soon discovered there are other similarly altered alpha predators. As these newly created monsters tear across North America, destroying everything in their path, Okoye teams with a discredited genetic engineer to secure an antidote, fighting his way through an ever-changing battlefield, not only to halt a global catastrophe but to save the fearsome creature that was once his friend.
RAMPAGE is set for an April 20, 2018 release.
