In Burton’s “Apes,” Wahlberg plays Leo Davidson. Like the original film’s lead George Taylor (Charlton Heston), he’s an astronaut who crash-lands on a planet full of, well, talking apes. Unlike Taylor, Leo wears his white astronaut spacesuit throughout the film, though it definitely takes on damage and dirt discoloration.
What did Wahlberg do with this costume? He gifted it to Peter Jackson, who directed him in 2009’s “The Lovely Bones.” Cornish learned this while he was working with Jackson on an unrealized script for a “Adventures of Tintin” sequel. As they wrote, a package arrived at the door. Cornish recalled:
“Me and Peter Jackson were working in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. There was a knock on the door, and somebody came in carrying a space suit, and it was Mark Wahlberg’s space suit from ‘Planet of the Apes.’ It was a gift from him to Peter Jackson, because Peter’s obsessed with apes and monkey movies.”
“King Kong” is Jackson’s favorite “monkey movie” — he cashed in his capital from “The Lord of the Rings” to remake it. However, “Planet of the Apes” has a place in his heart too.