LONDON — Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the latest installment in the science-fiction (sci-fi) franchise, is both a sequel and a prequel, its director, Wes Ball, says.

The action-adventure is the 10^th Planet of the Apes movie and follows the reboot trilogy, which debuted in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and includes the 2014 film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes.

“It’s certainly big shoes to fill,” Wes Ball, known for the Maze Runner movies, said at the new film’s London launch on Thursday.

The movie opens in the Philippines on May 8. “We had to really decide if we had something good here. And I think we do. We have a reason to exist, we’re not just a part four, we’re kind of our own thing. We try to honor what came before, with the previous trilogy, but also the original 1968 movie,” he said.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set several generations after the events of the 2017 film and centers on a young and naive but brave ape Noa (Owen Teague). When his peaceful eagle-raising clan is attacked and his family taken away, Noa sets off to find them. Encounters with an elderly orangutan and the first human he has met, Nova/Mae (Freya Allan), along the way teach Noa difficult truths about the past and bear consequences on his, and the planet’s future.

“It’s unique characters this time, it’s younger characters. There’s a kind of a youthful spirit. It’s a bit more of an adventure. It’s a road movie as we kind of travel across this landscape that’s slowly disappearing, the ruins of our world,” said Mr. Ball.

Like its predecessors, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes uses motion-capture technology to bring the non-human characters to life. The cast spent six weeks in “ape school,” studying under movement coach Alain Gauthier, a former Cirque du Soleil performer and project director.

Actor Andy Serkis, who played lead chimpanzee Caesar in the previous three films, was hired as a special consultant to help the actors approach their characters.

“I’m very proud to, in a tiny way, be associated with its journey and sort of passing on the baton to the next generation and watching them create such an incredible movie,” Mr. Serkis, 60, said. — Reuters

LONDON — After serving “Kenergy” with Barbie, actor Ryan Gosling turns the spotlight on the movie-makers whose job is to shine on screen while remaining invisible in The Fall Guy.

The film is inspired by the popular 1980s TV series of the same name and stars Mr. Gosling as Colt Seavers, a top Hollywood stuntman down on his luck after an on-set accident.

An ambitious film producer (Hannah Waddingham) manages to pull Colt out of his self-imposed post-injury isolation in order to rescue the directorial debut of the love of his life, Jody (Emily Blunt), following the disappearance of the film’s leading man, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

Life starts imitating his art as Colt tries to track down the vanished superstar and lands in the middle of a criminal plot. The stuntman has to put on his best performance both on and off the screen to save Jody’s movie — and himself.

“I’ve benefited from the work of stunt people my whole career. They come in and they take the hits for you and then get none of the credit. That ends here. Hopefully the whole conversation is different after this film,” Mr. Gosling said as he attended the movie’s premiere in London last week.

“It’s completely a love letter to stunt performers and the magic of what they create in movies. It’s a love letter to crews and making films,” added Ms. Blunt.

The Fall Guy, which was shot in Sydney, Australia, is directed by David Leitch, a former stunt double to stars including Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, and director of Bullet Train, Deadpool 2, and Atomic Blonde.

Many of its daring action scenes were shot with real in-camera stunts and during filming Mr. Gosling’s stunt double Logan Holladay set a Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls in a car. The classic stunt sees an apparatus fitted beneath a car that propels it into a series of rolls at a designated speed. Holladay’s 8.5 rolls broke Adam Kirley’s 2006 record of seven in Casino Royale.

“It was a mandate to do some old-school classic stunts and blow them out as big as possible,” said Mr. Leitch. “The record was written in the script. We wrote it in the script to throw down the gauntlet and challenge the stunt team to come with it, and I think they did,” said Leitch, 48.

Stunt coordinator Chris O’Hara was given a “stunt designer” credit on the project in what the creators said was an industry first and an acknowledgement of the multifaceted nature of his job.

“Hopefully it sheds light to the Academy, that maybe someday we might be able to be up for an Academy Award, just like all of our other department heads in the business,” said Mr. O’Hara.

“This industry’s backbone is the action movie. It’s the movie that travels the most internationally. It’s time that they’re celebrated for what they contribute,” added actor Winston Duke.

The Fall Guy’s global cinematic rollout begins on April 24. It opens on May 1 in the Philippines. — Reuters

LONDON — British electro-pop duo Pet Shop Boys say their new album Nonetheless is one of their most melodic from their four-decade-long career, featuring songs about solitude, freedom, and looking for a new bohemia.

The record, which came out on Friday, is the 15^th studio album by the duo — singer Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe — and was written during the various COVID-19 lockdowns.

“It’s one of the most melodic albums we’ve ever made … This may be less dancey than some of our (other) albums but … it’s very warm,” Mr. Tennant told Reuters.

“The lockdowns must have had some sort of influence because the first song’s called ‘Loneliness’ and the third song, ‘Why am I dancing?,’ is about why am I dancing when I am so alone? It was true, I did used to dance by myself sometimes.”

Track “New London Boy” looks back at Mr. Tennant moving to London as a teenager and the uncertainties of young adulthood, while in “A new bohemia” he sings about looking for just that.

“Dancing star” was inspired by famed Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who defected from the Soviet Union in 1961.

“In the ’60s you could feel a freedom, and I think around the world now in a lot of places we see the freedom being rolled back,” Mr. Tennant said.

“We all need to feel the freedom and think about a great dancer like Nureyev who wanted to feel the freedom.”

Other songs envisage the perspective of a bodyguard for former US President Donald Trump (“Bullet for Narcissus”) or focus on German pop music (“The schlager hit parade”).

Asked if he had a favorite, Mr. Lowe said: “You can’t have a favorite child, can you?

“We’ve always been prolific songwriters and that has always been the focus of what we do … and we enjoy doing it,” Mr. Tennant said.

The Pet Shop Boys, who formed in 1981, released their debut single “West End Girls” in 1984 and it became a smash hit with a re-mix a year later. They went on to release singles like “It’s a Sin,” “Heart,” and “Go West.”

“We don’t really examine it … We just go with it,” Mr. Tennant said when asked about the duo’s enduring successful musical relationship.

“We’ve shared … more than 40 years … here’s only the two of us been through it and we have a quite good sense of humor about it because a lot of it’s quite ridiculous … it’s created a sort of bond I suppose.” — Reuters