Tom Felton & David Oyelowo in Fox's now titled CAESAR: RISE OF THE APES?

We can add a few more names to 20th Century Fox's Planet of the Apes prequel, which unless a crappy intern is in charge of the studio's twitter, is now seemingly titled Caesar: Rise of the Apes. Which seems odd as it hints that Caesar is now the franchise focal point and not the 'Apes' - which is a bad commercial movie (title's mean more than you would think in a film's wide-reaching appeal), but narratively probably suggests we are set to follow Caesar's path over the course of a number of films. Tom Felton, the kid who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series will play the son of Brian Cox's evil owner of a primate sanctuary for apes. Cox is the main villain of the prequel who hates those damn dirty apes and runs the facility cruelly, without compassion. Felton's character is listed as co-owner of the facility, and despite him playing a decent baddie, we expect him to be against his father's methods. According to Bloody Disgusting, an offer is out to former Spooks actor David Oyelowo(he had a memorable turn as Dr. Jungu in The Last King of Scotland) to play Steve Jacobs, a member of the facility's board of directors who announces phase 2, clinical trials. This may or may not be the same part Don Cheadle was offered several weeks back. James Franco leads as the scientist responsible for the ape uprising and who initially takes Caesar (aka the first super intelligent ape that rises against the humans) home to protect him for his rival doctors. Franco€™s desperate desire to cure Alzheimer€™s is in the hope to end his father€™s suffering from the diseaase (John Lithgow). WETA vet Andy Serkis reunites with the company that transformed him into Gollum and King Kong and will motion-cap Caesar, marking a shift in the series as it moves into CGI rather than man in suit apes. Freida Pinto, whose career is blossoming post-Slumdog Millionaire (she was a focal point in Woody Allen€™s You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, and has worked with Julian Schnabel and Tarsem Singh since) is also on board as a primatologist. Shooting begins in Canada this month under the direction of Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) from a script by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (The Relic), €œApes€ is due in theaters in June 2011.
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Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.