- "He spoke! Your Ape. He spoke."
- Rodney to Will Rodman about Caesar[src]
Rodney was an employee at the San Bruno Primate Shelter, run by John Landon. John's son, Dodge, bullied both Rodney and the ape inmates. Rodney believed that Dodge was cruel to the apes, but was too afraid of Dodge's position to question orders. Adding to this, Dodge rudely ignored Rodney's advice on how to treat them.
Biography[]
Working at the San Bruno Shelter[]
At some point, Rodney took up employment at the San Bruno Primate Shelter, working as a guard and caretaker to the apes. While working, he was constantly mistreated by his boss' son Dodge Landon who also worked there, leading to some tension between the two with the latter being the abusive one. Unlike Dodge, Rodney was kinder to the apes, never seeking to harm them or take joy in their suffering as he knew it was wrong to treat them horribly.
Rise of the Planet of Apes[]
Caesar's Arrival[]
Rodney is first seen when Caesar is brought to the Primate Shelter and suffers his first hand abuse by Dodge's hand after throwing food in his face and laughing at him. Rodney took no part in the abuse and only watched as Dodge took his anger out on Caesar by spraying to the wall with a water hose. After Dodge was done Rodney asked if they should take the apes clothes lest he would no doubt have a hard time interacting with the other apes of the shelter. Dodge explained he wanted this to happen as it will teach the ape who is boss around there.
When Dodge brought visitors to the shelter on a tour and abused the apes, Rodney tried to speak against this, but Dodge threatened to hurt him if he did anything. The two guards then saw one of Dodge's friends get grabbed by Caesar who secretly stole his knife. Later on, Dodge even blamed Rodney for stealing his cookies (which were actually stolen by Caesar); becoming verbally abusive in his accusation.
Ape Rebellion[]
When Caesar was in the playground when he was not supposed to be, Rodney was ordered to get a tranquilizer gun. Rodney saw Caesar and Dodge fight, while attempting to shoot Caesar. But after Caesar spoke by shouting the word "NO!", Rodney was so traumatized that he found himself unable to shoot Caesar and could only watch as Caesar knocked Dodge out and continued talking to the apes. Rodney, then snapped back to reality when seeing Caesar take the unconscious Dodge to the ape cells where he would free the others from their cages. Rodney ran in the room to find the apes liberated and staring at him. Seeing he was outnumbered Rodney attempted to flee, but a group of chimpanzees captured him and beat him until Caesar stopped them, knowing Rodney to be a kinder human than Dodge, he got the battered man to his feet and calmly locked him in his own cage instead.
Rodney then witnessed Dodge die via electrocution following a confrontation with Caesar and the apes, deeply scaring him. The apes then escaped the shelter leaving Rodney in his cage while trapped he may have been exposed to the residual of the fatal ALZ-113 drug while in the cage overnight, but was ultimately freed by Caroline Aranha. Will Rodman asked Rodney how the apes had escaped from the facility; Rodney only stated that Caesar spoke, still traumatized by seeing talking apes that he could not explain anything else. Will, Caroline and John later watched the CCTV recording of the apes escape.
Personality[]
Rodney was shown to be a meek but good-hearted person. Additionally, unlike Dodge, Rodney treated the apes with respect and never harassed them. However, was too scared of Dodge's position and power to question his treatment of the apes. He also showed horror when Dodge aggressively hosed Caesar.
Trivia[]
- Listings on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) prior to the movie's release gave this character's name as "Roy".
- According the trivia page on IMDb, Rodney was named in honor of original ape actor, Roddy McDowall (although his given name was "Roderick").
- In one scene, Rodney watches a brief clip from The Agony and the Ecstasy on television. This 1965 20th Century Fox film featured original Apes actor Charlton Heston, composer Jerry Goldsmith and cinematographer Leon Shamroy, and producer Richard D. Zanuck met aspiring actress Linda Harrison at the premier of the movie.
- In a deleted scene on the Blu-ray release, Rodney tends to Caesar and Rocket after their confrontation resulting in them being tranquillised. Rodney tells Caesar that he cannot take the restraints off him and offers the chimp a cookie instead. This kindness may explain why Caesar chose to only imprison him during the rebellion, rather than letting the apes kill him.
- Though his ultimate fate is unknown, Rodney likely died during the Simian Flu Pandemic.