James Franco Explains Why He Chooses To Do RISE OF THE APES

James Franco could’ve chosen other gigs. I think he’s a solid actor, probably still far from Oscar great but once gain, he could’ve chosen many other gigs out there and yet he’s in Fox’s Planet Of The Apes prequel, RISE OF THE APES. Why? Franco told screenjunkies exactly why..

“When I first heard about it I thought, ‘Well, hmm, I don’t know. Those masks have cult value but…’”
“Then I found out that that’s not how they’re doing it, that it’s actually all of Peter Jackson’s Weta people doing CG and that I’ll be working with Andy Serkis who played Gollum, and it was the DP from Lord of the Rings, Andrew Lesnie. I was such a big fan of those movies and I am interested in new ways of performing and new ways of filmmaking so I thought why not? I had this opportunity and try it out. “
“I play a nerdy scientist in that so I’m not an action hero at all. I saw 127 Hours as an opportunity to have an unusual acting experience and I honestly felt the same way about Rise of the Apes.”

That set photo above showed Andy Serkis in his mo-capture suit playing Caesar, the ape that will revolt. Serkis is no stranger to the technology, the man was Gollum and King Kong, both for director Peter Jackson. If there was an Oscar category for best performance in mo-capture, Serkis would’ve won it a long time ago and he would’ve won more than once.
But did it feel weird for Franco to be working with a man in a ridiculous lookin’ suit, walkin’, talkin’ and behavin’ like an ape?

“When I got to do the scenes with Andy Serkis, it was actually really interesting because he plays a chimpanzee, a real chimpanzee. There’s no way we would ever get scenes that we did with a real chimpanzee. Because Andy’s so good at that behavior so it’s like acting opposite a real chimpanzee with great acting instincts. It was cool, it was new, new for me.”

RISE OF THE APES stars James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, and Andy Serkis in mo-capture technology as CAESAR the ape…

James Franco as a human scientist pivotal in the war between the humans and the apes. Freida Pinto will play Caroline, a primatologist, while John Lithgow will play the father of Franco’s character.
“CAESAR (Serkis) leads the uprising among the apes after having been raised by Lithgow and Franco’s father-and-son scientist characters”
Brian Cox will play the owner of a primate sanctuary who runs the facility that abuses the apes that live there.
Tom Felton plays Brian Cox‘s son, co-owner of an ape facility.
Scripted by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa
To be directed by Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist)
Production starts July 5th, 2010 and according to previous info, Fox will release the movie on June 24th, 2011.

Unlike Charlton’s movies or Burton’s version,… Thanks to Peter Jackson’s visual effects house WETA digital, this new take will render photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors

RISE OF THE APES is produced by Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark.