James Franco will star in Rise of the Apes, the upcoming prequel to Planet of the Apes.  Earlier today, we reported that Franco had signed on to the comedy Ricky Stanicky.  According to Heat Vision, Franco will play a scientist who has been working on a cure for Alzheimer's that is being tested on apes. The test subject named Caesar starts to evolve rapidly, and the scientist takes him home to live with him and protects him from cruel doctors.  It is unknown how the events of Rise of the Apes led to Planet of the Apes.  We also don't know why the maniacs took out the Statue of Liberty.  It's a perfectly good statue.

WETA is handling the digital effects and all of the apes in the film will be CG and (hopefully) photo-realistic.  Filming is set to begin this summer with director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) at the helm.  Rise of the Apes is slated for a June 24, 2011 release date.