The original Planet of the Apes rode on the then-groundbreaking makeup effects and a shocker ending. The 2001 “re-imagining” tried to right on action and special effects. The latest version of the Apes story is going to live or die on pure acting. Andy Serkis is playing Caesar, the chimpanzee who learns to talk and may or may not rise to dominate humans. Spoiler alert, the movie’s called Rise of the Apes and it stars James Franco as… the human. (The part he was born to play, baby!)
More after the jump…

Little-known Hollywood funfact: Andy Serkis is 3-feet tall.
The first set pic from Rise Of The Apes has made its way online showing James Franco and Freida Pinto walking along with Andy Serkis. Not entirely certain what is going on in this scene, but it seems that James Franco's character is trying to impress Pinto by taking his helmet-wearing brother to Chuck E. Cheese. Just kidding. Of course this is Serkis in a mo-cap suit for his performance as the chimp Caesar in the upcoming film. It really does look like a still from Rain Man or "How's Your News?" though. (JustJared)
See the full pic after the jump….

It's time once agin to gather round the computin' box and gather some freshly-branded casting news. YAWWWWW!!!!FAST FIVE – will be gaining one Ludacris and one The Rock according to Twitter all-star Tyrese Gibson. “Major shouts to Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, & Dewayne [sic] “Rock” Johnson!! “Fast & Furious Five” Let’s get em again!!” Yes. He misspelled The Rock's name but please keep in mind, he typed this with his ab muscles. Impressed, now? (Collider)RISE OF THE APES – has cast Brian Cox to play a villianous dean general Robert McKee owner of a primate research facility. When reached for comment, James Cromwell said, "Aw, dammit." (/Film)MONEYBALL – "Parks and Recreation" shoeshine man, Chris Pratt, will spend his hiatus from the show portraying a catcher whose hurty elbow leads him to become a batting phenom. Just like Rookie Of the Year (note: nothing like Rookie Of the Year.) (Collider)

Andy Serkis will be suiting up in weird, wirey crap once again to play Caesar, the chief chimp in charge of the Rise of the Apes. This should be a breeze for Serkis having worked extensively with motion capture to portray Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the 25-foot gorilla in King Kong, and Captain Haddock in Spielberg's Tintin.I'm really interested to see what WETA comes up with for this film. Now that I know it will be Serkis making raspberries and throwing his poop around (generally known as pulling a Kiefer Sutherland), I'm much more interested. But what of Hollywood's animal actors? It looks like they will be completely frozen out of this production. I just don't have the heart to tell Buckaroo. He's already blown his anticipated earnings on that lavish banana hill.Poor bastard. (via Cinema Blend)

They finally made a monkey out of ol' John Lithgow. Empire Online is reporting that the actor has been confirmed for the upcoming Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Apes. The film costars James Franco and Frida Pinto.Despite the misleading headline and hackneyed primate references, Lithgow will not be playing an ape. Instead, he has landed the roll of the protagonist's Alzheimer's stricken father, which is a lot like playing an ape, since both apes and Alzheimer's patients have been known to throw feces. You think I'm making a crass joke, but I'm serious. I saw it first hand with my uncle Bobo.

We've previously reported that James Franco would be mandhandled by damn, dirty ape paws in the Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Apes. Today, there are more casting rumors floating around. Bloody Disgusting reports that offers have been made to Don Cheadle and Freida Pinto to join the fight against the CGI simians. There's no specifics offered about which roles the actors are being offered, but their presence alone should be enough to excite audiences. This project looks like it's really shaping up. And judging by this advance artwork I found, it's going to be a little bit of a madcap romp.

Collider is reporting that James Franco has signed on for Rise of the Apes, the upcoming prequel in the Planet of the Apes franchise. Franco is slated to play a scientist who, while working on a cure for Alzheimer's, befriends one of the test chimps known as Caesar. Caesar begins to learn at an astounding rate after being injected with a new anti-Alzheimer's drug. Franco's character takes pity on the intelligent creature, and informally adopts the animal in order to keep it safe. Big mistake.While it's far too early to judge the film, it has been reported that all of the apes will be the product of CGI rather than the traditional makeup and costumes worn in previous Ape films. And while I can't be certain, it would seem that this reboot pisses all over the grave of Ricardo Montalban by eliminating his character and altering the ape origin story. If Montalban was still alive, I'm pretty sure he'd protest by flinging his poo at James Franco. But he can't because he's dead, so I guess it really doesn't matter.Rise of the Apes hits theaters on June 24, 2011, baring some sort of monkey Apocalypse.

Variety reports FOX will release prequel Rise of the Apes on June 24, 2011, with Rupert Wyatt confirmed to direct. In a lie I just made up, he promised me he wouldn't cast Marky Mark or Helena Bonham Carter in any of the roles. Oooo Burton burn. Rise of the Apes is "an origins story set in present-day San Francisco. The film is a reality-based cautionary tale, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy." When you play God with monkeys you get talking monkeys that can do math and read. Those skills alone make them superior to the average American!Peter Jackson's visual effects company WETA Digital will handle all of the effects on the film. They will render, for the first time ever in the film series, photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors. Hmmmm, interesting (strokes sparse-haired chin). I hope they consider intermixing some practical effects as well. You really can't beat the realism of the apes in Congo.Stop playing God, Dylan Baker!!!