- Caesar. I'm sorry. This is my fault. This has to stop. This isn't the way, you know what they're capable of. Please come home. If you come home, I'll protect you.
- Will to Caesar.
William "Will" Rodman is the deuteragonist of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He is the son of the late Charles Rodman, the adoptive human father of Caesar and the boyfriend of Caroline Aranha, the adoptive human father-in-law of Caesar's wife Cornelia and the adoptive human grandfather of Caesar's two sons, Blue Eyes and Milo. Will was the Yale educated scientist who was responsible for the creation of ALZ-112, the so-called cure for Alzheimer's Disease. Like Robert Franklin, Will was one of the rare employees at Gen-Sys Laboratories who actually did care for ape test subjects, such as Bright Eyes, and did not simply see them as experiments. Will tried to record and communicate the results of Bright Eyes' successful completion of the Lucas Tower. When Bright Eyes attacked employees trying to lure her out of her cage, Will was explaining the effects of ALZ-112 on Bright Eyes to Jacobs and the board members of the lab company, specifically on her eyes. Bright Eyes was shot by a security guard despite Will trying to stop him from shooting her. Franklin decided to give Bright Eyes' offspring to Will. Will did not want to look after the young chimpanzee, but had no choice.
He raised Caesar in his home and acted as a father-figure to him. Will's father, Charles, who was living with him, grew attached to Caesar and helped raise him. Will noted Caesar's growing intelligence - a result of the effects of the ALZ-112 inherited from his mother - at age 3, when Caesar memorized 24 English words. It was not until Caesar was eight that Will admitted that his true mother had died in the lab, after Caesar asked if he was just a pet animal to Will during a trip to the Muir Woods Park. Caesar later attacked Will's neighbour, Hunsiker, to prevent him from further threatening Charles, which forced Will to put Caesar into the San Bruno Primate Shelter. Caesar desperately wanted to return to Caroline and Will when he was locked inside the facility, but could not. Will later tested the ALZ-113 drug, which was stronger than ALZ-112, at the Gen-Sys Laboratory, but Will's father, Charles, passed away before he could get the results of the tests. Will himself would presumably later die during the pandemic of the Simian Flu that he unintentionally created because of his research. His good intention to find a cure for Alzheimer's had caused the fall of the humanity and the rise of the Ape Empire ruled by his adoptive son.
History
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
At the beginning of the film, Will is seen experimenting on Caesar's mother, to show his boss what Caesar's mother has been capable of doing because her newly found brainpower. Upon having a rough attack from Caesar's mother (Bright Eyes), he finds a small ape in the same room the mother is in which made him see the real reason for her rampage. He reluctantly takes the young ape as his own to his house, where he is facing problems of his own concerning his father. Will would then go back to work where he was told by his superior Steven Jacobs that he was scrapping the ALZ-112 project even though they were very close to a breakthrough. This act caused Will to steal some canisters of the drug and secretly use it to tend to his ailing father who not only got better but improved in his intelligence as well. Over the years, he noticed that Caesar inherited ALZ-112 and high intelligence from Bright Eyes.
Raising Caesar
Five years later, he has kept Caesar as his own and met a kind, beautiful veterinarian named Caroline who upon Caesar's insistence goes on a date with will starting a relationship not long after. Caroline, noticing Caesar would one day need open space suggest taking him to a place he'll be comfortable in the Red Muir Woods which would become Caesar's favorite place to visit. One day, on a picnic in the Muir Woods Will was questioned by Caesar about his true origins after seeing a dog on a leash. Will decides to show Caesar the truth about his origins and tells him about his Mother whom he got his intelligence from.
Caesar's Capture
Will's father's dementia has returned and Will decides to leave but accidentally gets in his neighbor's car and ends up crashing it. Afterwards Charles gets into a confrontation from his angry bitter neighbor Douglas Hunsiker. Caesar, seeing the situation, intervenes and a Hunsiker for supposedly attacking Charles. In the ensuing chaos Caeser bites off the man's finger and is soon captured and dragged to a primate shelter. (for apes in captivity)
The Ape Rebellion
During this time, Will tries to get Caesar out of the primate shelter, but learns of his father's fate. At the time Will went to his job, his employee Franklin rushes to his house to warn him of the illness from the ALZ-113 experiment in the lab. Later on, Will tries to take Caesar home but the ape refuses. Caesar then breaks all the apes out of captivity and locked up in different areas of San Francisco, which soon leads to a war on the Golden Gate bridge.
In the end, he and Caroline witness the battle on the bridge and after getting past police will watches as the apes depart to Muir Woods. Will steals a police car and follows after them and after reaching his destination he rushes through the area. However, once he got to the woods, he calls for Caesar but his shouting attracts the unwanted attention of Koba who nearly kills him. Luckily Caesar rescues him and helps the scared Will to stand up. Will tells Caesar he's sorry for everything and begs Caesar to come home with him knowing that the humans would soon find him and the other apes and says he'll protect Caesar if he comes. Caesar, now being capable of speech, looks upon his fellow apes and realizing he wants to live in true freedom hugs and whispers into Will's ear "Caesar IS home". Will, shocked and perhaps happy about Caesar talking realizes that this is indeed their last farewell, so he respects Caesar's wishes and allows him to live with his own kind. Will watches Caesar with the other apes climb to the tops of the Redwoods and is left proud of Caesar for finding his true place in the world.
Dawn of the Planet of the Ape: Firestorm
Will is mentioned a number of times but never actually makes a physical appearance. Will is seen in a flashback that relates back to Rise when he and his team begin experimenting with the ALZ-113 on Koba. The flashback being told from Koba's perspective. In a scene, Caesar wonders what Will and Caroline are doing now that he is no longer a part of their lives.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
As of this film, Will has been believed to be dead for a number of years but there is no direct evidence given to prove this. Will is indirectly mentioned several times throughout the film. The first time is when Maurice and Caesar are talking about the birth of Caesar's youngest son, Cornelius when Maurice asks if Caesar misses the humans. Caesar admits he does, which relates back to his childhood, growing up with Will. Later in the forest, Ellie indirectly mentions Will by saying that the Simian Flu was created by scientists in a lab, though it is unclear if she actually knew Will was responsible for the virus' creation. After Caesar tells the humans to leave, after finding out one of them had a gun, Malcolm comes to his home and tells him that not all humans are like Carver, Caesar is shown to have become deep in thought, probably thinking of Will and how he treated him like a son. These words have him put aside his distrust and allow Ellie to give Cornelia medicine and results in Caesar letting the humans stay for one more day. When Caesar is shot by Koba and Malcolm's family find and rush him to the city he directs them to his old family home where the family learn of his past and his reasons for being kind to them. Later on, Blue Eyes (the oldest son of Caesar) would find his father alive and he would discover through a framed portrait that his father had been raised by humans hence the reason for his sympathy and compassion towards them. Blue Eyes would slowly think of Will as a grandfather due to him raising Caesar from infancy and to adulthood. While at the residence, Caesar also found an old recording of Will and himself and watched it sadly.
Legacy
Years after Will's apparent death,( Not yet confirmed) Blue Eyes, Caesar's oldest son would visit the Rodman Residence and while watching over his wounded father would discover that a picture of Will and his father Caesar learning he was raised by humans hence his reason being compassionate and sympathetic to them. Blue Eyes would then consider Will as his grandfather in a way due to him raising Caesar from infancy to adulthood.
Personality
Will is a kind yet desperate man. As the sole carer of his Alzheimer's stricken father other than his nurse, Will learned to juggle his responsibilities along with his workload. After adopting Caesar, Will became a single parent showing his paternal and (over) protective side. Will is also seen to be selfless as he put the well-beings both of Caesar and Charles before his own. When it came to his work, Will was said to be the star of Gen-Sys before taking in and raising Caesar. His star status was revoked by Jacobs when Will failed to show up for work everyday in order to raise Caesar and care for his father after the nurse quits and to focus on making sure that the ALZ-112 worked accordingly.
Relationships
Notes
- It is speculated that Will and Caroline have died from the virus by the events of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, as James Franco and Freida Pinto were not asked to reprise their roles. An article by USA Today stated that Will (and possibly Caroline; not mentioned) died from the Simian Flu; but there is no direct evidence given to prove this. According to an article in Collider from late April, producer Dylan Clark revealed Will and Caroline were never supposed to survive the end of Rise and that Will's death was a way of punishment for beginning the downfall of man via the ALZ-113.
- Despite knowing about Caesar's increased intelligence, it can be presumed that Will never really understood how truly sentient Caesar was until he spoke to him in the woods in Rise.
- It is unknown how Will managed to make Casear not appear too intelligent when in public.
- It is unknown how Will was able to hide the fact that he stole Caesar from gensys over the years, or it can be presumed that nobody asked how Will got Caesar. Most people probably thought he was Will's bought pet, or possibly Will managed to somehow forge illegal documents which stated Caesar was his pet.
- If Will and Caroline did not die from the outbreak of the ALZ-113 (Simian Flu), it can be assumed that they were caught in the crossfire of the virus outbreak that was mentioned by Dreyfus which lasted four years before the battle caused the humans to turn on each other. Much like Armando in the original films, Will most likely never got to see the kingdom that Caesar created from the ground up, let alone meet Caesar's own thriving family consisting of his wife (Cornelia) and his two sons.
- Will makes a cameo in a flashback appearance in Dawn. He is seen on a video camera at the old Rodman house with a then young Caesar, teaching him how to sign "Caesar, you are home".
- Ellie made an indirect mention to Will when she said that the Simian Flu was created by humans.
Trivia
- The name "Rodman" is a tribute to Rodman (Rod) Serling, writer of the first Planet of the Apes screenplay. Perhaps coincidentally, it is also a partial anagram of Armando, which, seeing as they both raised their own Caesar, is a further link between the 2011 reboot and the original films.
- Tobey Maguire, Shia LaBeouf and Bobby Campo were considered for the role of Will.
- An earlier version of the script indicated that "Will" was short for "Wilson Rodman", a reference to the other writer credited on the original movie, Michael Wilson. In the same script, Will's father often addresses Will as "John", but Will reminds him that "John is gone". After his father's death, Will looks at an old photo showing his father with two teenage sons. Later, Will goes to the primate facility after Caesar has taken over and, believing Caesar to have murdered Robert Franklin, decides he has to kill Caesar to prevent further bloodshed. However, Cornelia eats the poisoned cookie Will offered to Caesar and dies before the apes reach the Golden Gate Bridge. Later, after discovering that it was Koba who killed Franklin, Will goes to the redwood forest to negotiate a peaceful outcome with Caesar, but the police renege on their agreement with Will and follow him in order to shoot as many apes as possible. Will takes a bullet intended for Caesar, and dies in his arms as the apes ambush the police and slaughter them.
- In the original filmed climax to the movie, this plot was modified so that John Landon follows Will into the forest with a shotgun and Will gets shot protecting Caesar. Landon is then killed by the apes and Koba takes Landon's gun. A test audience was shown this ending and reacted negatively, and so a different ending was shot on July 4 weekend, 2011, in Griffith Park, with a slightly more positive feel.[1]
- "Will" was also the name of the main character in a failed mid-"90s" Apes movie project named Return of the Apes, which producer Peter Chernin had also been involved in.
- Will is similar in a number of ways to Dr. Susan McAlester from the motion picture Deep Blue Sea. Both are dedicated scientists who desperately work to achieve a miracle for Alzheimer's Disease and are inspired and heavily driven because of afflicted family members; both use animals to achieve a means to an end in attempt to cure Alzheimer's but cause the animals to become hyper-intelligent and cause them to revolt against their creators (in the case of Dr. McAlester she used genetically modified mako sharks, rather than an already existing miracle drug); both had fathers inflicted with advanced stages of Alzheimer's that eventually claimed their lives.
Image Gallery
References
- ↑ Rise of the Planet of the Apes Q & A Podcast - The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith (December 13, 2011)