Mark Wahlberg plays astronaut Leo Davidson in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes.
Leo Davidson is an astronaut working aboard the United States Air Force space station Oberon. After entering a mysterious electromagnetic storm while searching for a chimpanzee pilot, he reaches a world where intelligent apes dominate human beings.
The film is a reimagining of the Planet of the Apes franchise rather than a direct remake of every plot detail from the 1968 movie. Wahlberg’s character differs from Charlton Heston’s Taylor, the protagonist of the original film, which explains why both names are often recalled in connection with the story.
Burton’s 2001 version also stars Tim Roth as General Thade, Helena Bonham Carter as Ari, and Paul Giamatti as Limbo. The screenplay draws from Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La Planète des singes.