A man who has been in the news only a few days ago, James Franco will star in the upcoming franchise prequel Rise of the Apes, according to the folks at Deadline, via Darkhorizons.com.
Â
The Escapist helmer Rupert Wyatt is directing the film, that previously had Tobey Maguire all but locked to play the lead role - evidently he wanted too much input into the script and bailed, and producers then turned to his Spiderman co-star.
Â
The film is centred on man's messing around with genetic engineering in San Francisco, which basically leads to intelligent apes - who then proceed to own our shit. Franco will play a young scientist heavily involved with the project.
Â
With the Danny Boyle directed 127 Hours, the Irish shot Your Highness, and the recently announced Ricky Stinicky, Franco is a busy man. This big budgeted flick will start shooting in July for a tent pole release next summer.
Â