Bloody Disgusting is reporting that offers have been made to both Frida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2) for Twentieth Century Fox's "Ceasar" , seemingly the earlier title for what is now Planet Of The Apes: Rise Of The Apes(tentative title). Catchy eh? James Franco will play the lead in the Rupert Wyatt directed prequel described as an origin story. No word as yet on who Chaedle and Pinto would play.
It's set in present day San Francisco and deals with the aftermath of man's experiments with genetic engineering that lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. Franco will play a driven scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes.
I'm not sure I like the change in direction there, but then again after Tim Burton's travesty I don't blame them for going in a different direction. I still don't see what would have been wrong with continuing on from where the original films left off with an updated sequel, although I guess they did kind of take thing full circle. All we know aside from this is that The Apes will be created using CGI by WETA Digital, instead of the costumed/made up actors of the previous installments. Apparently they will employ “..
the groundbreaking technologies developed for AVATAR” and
“will render, for the first time ever in the film series, photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors.”
Principal photography is set to begin on July 5th 2010, and the film has an announced release date of June 24th 2011.
Follow RorMachine on
Twitter
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.