The Bearded Trio

by Patrick and Paul Gibbs Karin Konoval (Copyright Gordon Dumka , 2017) A s we conclude our interview with Karin Konoval, the actress who  has portrayed Maurice, the wise and venerable orangutan in the Planet of the Apes prequels, we're going to delve a bit deeper into the character himself, as well as the journey that was his creation. Karin drew inspiration for Maurice from Towan, a male orangutan who lived at the Woodland Park Zoo, and who passed away at age 48, making him the oldest orangutan in North America. Ms. Konoval (who holds a BFA in English) was asked to write a piece for the Jane Goodall Institute, which was published in June of this year to coincide with the release of War For The Planet of the Apes, which has emerged as one of the most critically acclaimed films of the summer . Patrick - You've played this role now for three films, spanning the better part of a decade, and the character has really evolved, if you'll excuse the pun, since the fir

Karin Konoval (Copyright Gordon Dumka , 2017) by Patrick and Paul Gibbs Breakfast of Chimps (Photo Copyright Patrick Gibbs, 2015) T hroughout our lives, which we (being twins) have mostly shared, we have had two equal passions: one of them, as anyone who follows our reviews and other musings for The Bearded Trio can tell, is the cinema. Ever since seeing  Raiders of the Lost Ark  for the first time in 1981, a darkened theater has been our happy place, and that love has taken us on many adventures, both in the theater and behind the camera. But even before that, we had another obsession, which is equal, if not greater: primates. Apes and monkeys are probably the only thing people who really know us might think of before thinking of our obsession with film, and those who know us well have (in some cases, grudgingly) grown to get use to constantly running across things such as the photo to the right. As such, it should come as no surprise that we grew up with a fondness