Monkey Business

Know any professional gorillas? Then Peter Elliott is your man. The star of The Legend Of Tarzan, Gorillas In The Mist, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and Wild Things is currently crafting Jungle Book, which comes to the Oxford Playhouse on Tuesday.

But you couldn’t come up with a more bizarre day job if you tried. Because not only is Peter an animal film star, but he’s also a movement director currently working on a £125 million Hollywood blockbuster, as well as starring in his own Italian gorilla soap opera. I kid you not.

Squeezing Jungle Book into the equation, he has taught the entire cast of the Rudyard Kipling classic to act like primates before disappearing back to America. “Never a dull moment,” he laughs.

“But it’s not the career you can do on a youth apprentice scheme,” he smiles, “but then this was never a plan as such.”

In fact, Peter “fell into” animal movement, having completed three years at drama school before landing a part in Greystones. “In those days they didn’t have movement directors. They had stuntmen and dancers so it’s not surprising the animals were never very realistic. But as I worked as a method actor I approached it like I would any part and I went and lived with the chimps in Africa,” he says, before adding, “they are really dangerous animals actually and I did get mauled a couple of times.

“But it’s a continuous process so I keep doing my research. I’ve been to Africa about 50 times now and have been studying primates for 30 years so I’m always learning something new. I can watch monkeys for days. And I’ve done science programmes and documentaries as well,” he says.

So who do you call when you want to stage a musical predominantly starring primates? Only one way to go. “Of course the animals in Jungle Book can’t be 100 per cent realistic and yet there are things you can do. The audience still needs to recognise the movements of a tiger, monkey or wolf and it’s a great, fun show,” Peter says. “So I train the cast and then return every 5-6 weeks for a brush-up course. I train the baby and then let it go,” he smiles.

“But there’s a big difference between Jungle Book and Gorillas In The Mist,” he says, having of course starred as one of the gorillas in the legendary adventure film, fooling many of the cast who thought real animals were being used. “We didn’t burst into song and dance then,” he smiles. “but the 20 ape characters were expected to carry half the movie – it was a big risk and with it came a whole new genre of film.”

Since then Peter’s been employed to show how early man walks and how alien creatures would perform, as well as running his own Italian sitcom. He stars as a talking gorilla, an idea which took off after a Campari advert.

“I always laugh when people ask what I do, because everyone else does, so I beat them too it – that’s what happens when you do something weird for a living. But it’s actually very serious. They employ me because when you’ve got a £175 million movie you need it to be realistic.

“But it does mean I’m away from home a lot, sometimes up to six months of the year, which is hard for my family, because I’ve got three kids,” he says, before grinning. “You could say I’ve got my own microtribe.”

* The Jungle Book runs at the Oxford Playhouse until Saturday. Call the ticket office on 01865 305305 or book online at oxfordplayhouse.com