Meet Maya, the heroine of 'Monkey Kingdom'
Director Mark Linfield can spot a movie star when he sees one, even if the star is a toque macaque monkey.
So when Linfield and co-director Alastair Fothergill began shooting Monkey Kingdom, about monkey troops in an ancient Sri Lankan jungle, they zeroed in on a plucky, blond-bobbed female dubbed Maya to anchor the film.
"Maya was clearly spunky and ingenious. She's quite pretty, relatively speaking. She's got this great hair, she's very distinctive," says Linfield. "We knew she was going to be this great leading lady."
The film, which opens Friday nationwide in celebration of Earth Day (April 22), illuminates the complex macaque society.
The 8-year-old monkey was born in the lowest societal class, which didn't even permit her the right to take fruit directly from the fig tree at the center of the clan's home — she had to make do with whatever leftovers fell to the ground.
Monkey Kingdom is an underdog tale of a monkey trying to get by in a rigid society and dangerous jungle setting where she's surrounded by predators.
"if you're born at the bottom of the pile, like Maya, it's a tough life," says Linfield. "I knew if we followed a low-ranking female from the wrong side of the tracks, that over the course of two-and-a-half years of filming, some really interesting stuff was going to happen. And it did."
The film features exuberant scenes of macaques repeatedly jumping into water from rocks for pure enjoyment and playfully interacting with a village dog. It also follows Maya and fellow lower-class monkeys raiding a local village for food. There's even rare footage of swimming macaques searching for food underwater.
But much of the film is survival and intrigue.
Like a simian Game of Thrones, it follows the macaque characters — including an imposing alpha male at the top of the fig tree (called Raja) and a privileged, spoiled trio of upper-level females. Meanwhile, the troop fights to secure its prized home from competing monkey bands.
"If you look at the research, you see these epic coalitions and soap operas in this world," say M. Sanjayan, a Disneynature ambassador and senior scientist at Conservation International. "And it happens that this follows one character who does all the right things at the right time to make this film possible."
Maya also gives birth to an offspring (Kip), complicating matters after her mate (Kumar) is kicked out of the troop.
"At the beginning of the movie, she's on her own. That's hard enough," says Linfield. "Then she has an infant, and suddenly it's even more trouble. Maya is like any other mum, trying to do the best for her kid."
By the end of filming, Kumar had returned to earn alpha male status and Maya had improved her fortunes. She was picking figs from the tree, no longer living on leftovers. Her advancement bodes well for Kip's future.
"Maya made the best of a bad lot," says Linfield. "She's done great for herself."
"And she endears herself to us onscreen by being scrappy," adds Linfield. "I think that's the word you use in the U.S."