Was film director John Landis really in one of the Apes movies?
Yes. John Landis appeared in Battle and is listed in the credits as “Jake’s Friend.” Shortly afterwards, he directed his first film, the no-budget “missing-link” spoof, Trog, which featured make-up artist Rick Baker as the title character. Baker later went on to the create Oscar-winning make-up effects in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes and Landis’ An American Werewolf in London. He also created the make-up for the Tim Burton-directed Apes film. • Is it true that Planet of the Apes was written by Rod Serling? Yes, the screenplay for the first film was written by Rod Serling, creator of the Twilight Zone. In fact, the storyline for Planet could almost be a two-hour episode of Sterling’s famous show. Sterling also submitted several story ideas for the sequel, but all of them were rejected by the studio (see the Starlog article, “Planet of the Apes Revisited”). • Whatever happened to Linda Harrison, the girl who played Nova? While most of the Apes actors went on to, or c
