Whilst Serkis may or may not be flexing his vocal chords, John Lithgow and James Franco certainly will, as they’ll be heading up the film’s human cast. Franco will play genetic scientist, whose search for a cure for Alzheimer’s leads him to experiment on Caesar and his pals.
The reason behind his vocation? His poor old dad is a sufferer of the disease. Lithgow will play said patriarch, and the actor has been raving about the project via his Twitter account.
 
Lithgow announced the news with the following message, sounding rather endearingly like an awestruck teenager on his first acting gig: “(The film is) Rise Of The Apes, an extremely smart prequel to Planet etc… (I’m playing) James Franco's dad, how cool is that?
 
After revealing that his work on the film would be finished as quickly as the end of July, Lithgow went on to gush that, “after a day of pre-production in Vancouver, my head swims. Everything suggests Apes will be completely amazing, and Franco’s a peach.”
 
Sounds like the chemistry’s in place for some heartstring-yanking father-son moments, as Franco realises his attempts to cure his Pa have put the whole species at risk…