The prequel and franchise reboot of sorts “Rise Of The Apes” has added two more to its colony. John Lithgow and Freida Pinto are set to join James Franco in the film that is set to shoot this summer. Pinto was previously rumored to have been offered a role along with Don Cheadle for the film, but it appears the latter actor either hasn’t signed on yet or the role has gone to Lithgow.
In the film, Franco will play “a scientist who has been working on a cure for Alzheimer’s that is being tested on apes. The test subject named Caesar evolves rapidly, and the scientist takes him home to live with him and protects him from cruel doctors. Lithgow will play Franco’s Alzheimer’s-stricken father. Pinto is the movie’s female lead, a primatologist.”
Lithgow is coming off his Golden Globe winning turn as the villain during last year’s season of “Dexter,” while Pinto continues to build on her post-“Slumdog Millionaire” success with her turn in Woody Allen’s “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger,” coming out later this year. She is currently filming Tarsem’s sword and sandals film “Immortals” in Montreal.
“Rise Of The Apes” will be directed by Rupert Wyatt (“The Escapist”) and is set for release on June 24, 2011. Oh yeah, this isn’t the first time James Franco has brought home a monkey in a film either; he went down a similar path in “The Ape” back in 2005 which he wrote, directed and starred. You can see the results of that venture below….