Don Cheadle And Freida Pinto In Talks For ‘Rise Of The Apes’ Roles

Something about prequels really infatuates Hollywood. What do you do when you ground a franchise to death and fail at rebooting it? Start from scratch, of course. That’s what Fox is aiming to do with the upcoming ‘Rise of the Apes’ which already has James Franco as the lead and Rupert Wyatt directing. Now, looks like two more members might join the cast.

Bloody Disgusting reports that Fox has offered Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2, Hotel Rwanda) and Freida Into (Slumdog Millionaire) roles in ‘Rise of the Apes’. No word on what roles they would play, though. We have the official plot synopsis of the movie now:

RISE OF THE APES (tentative title) is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

We know Don Cheadle is a fine actor, but I’ve yet to see Pinto shine. She was adequate in Slumdog Millionaire and nothing stand-out really. It’s just the film’s fame that is getting her here, but maybe she has got more in her than that. ‘Apes’ could be the movie to show that.

The film is set to release June 24th 2011.