10 Things You Didn't Know About 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. The Apes Were All Played By Mimes
One of the most famous scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey is the opening set-piece, in which a tribe of apes in prehistoric Africa are shocked by the arrival of a huge and mysterious black monolith.
When crafting this now-iconic sequence, Kubrick had to find someone to choreograph the sequence, and auditioned many actors, dancers, and even comedians to do the job.
Eventually, Dan Richter was hired for the job, and he decided to cast 20 other mimes to be the apes in this scene.
Much like how Kubrick wanted to create the most realistic depiction of space as possible, he also set out to give an extremely realistic portrayal of apes. Therefore, Richter and all the other mime artists extensively studied the movements of real apes.
This ended up being successful, as legend has it that this is why the film was not nominated for Best Make-up at the Academy Awards, as the Academy thought that the apes were actually real.