There were few surprises more welcome and fun than “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” the “Planet of the Apes” pseudo-prequel that was released, without much fanfare, in the summer of 2011. The movie, which chronicled the early days of the ape revolt, was instantly (and rightfully) heralded as one of the best films of the summer. Work was quickly started on a sequel, which would re-team original “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” director Rupert Wyatt with that film's star, wonderful wizard James Franco. However, things -- as they tend to do in Hollywood -- ended up chaning, and Wyatt was replaced with “Cloverfield” director Matt Reeves, with Franco no longer part of the movie.
With today's announcement that Judy Greer, the talented actress who has appeared in everything from “Arrested Development” to “The Descendents," has joined the cast as Caesar the ape's motion-captured ape love interest, Cornelia (a riff on the original film's Cornelius), we thought we'd rundown who else is in the sequel, currently titled “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and scheduled for release on May 23rd, 2014.
In the human roles, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” has a pretty solid roster -- Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Jason Clarke (“Zero Dark Thirty”), and Kodi Smit-McPhee, who Reeves worked with on the sorely underrated vampire movie “Let Me In.” However, as with most things “Planet of the Apes”-related, their roles are currently shrouded in mystery. (What little has been gathered about the plot suggests that it is set at least 15 years after the events of the first movie.) Andy Serkis, who so memorably portrayed Caesar in the original film, will be back in his motion-captured role for a second time.
“Side Effects” writer Scott Z. Burns, original “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” scribes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and (most recently) Mark Bomback (who has done everything from “Live Free or Die Hard” to “Race to Witch Mountain”) have all contributed to the “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” script. Shooting starts in April in Canada. Rise!
[via Vulture]
RELATED: 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Almost Had a Really Sad Ending
↧