Franco Cast in 'Rise of the Apes' and Greengrass Turns to 'Treasure Island'

Plus Emma Watson and Logan Lerman join forces

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Thursday, May 20th 2010 at 10:54 PM

Franco Rises with the Apes: And here I thought James Franco was managing his career quite well following the horrible Spider-Man series of films with films such as Milk and Howl and solid comedic performances in Pineapple Express and Date Night. So why would he want to star in 20th Century Fox's Rise of the Apes? Sure, it's a payday, but it seems like such a large step backwards in his career.

The prequel to Planet of the Apes is set in present day San Francisco and deals with the aftermath of man's experiments with genetic engineering that lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. Franco will play a driven scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes. Rupert Wyatt is directing the feature, which begins filming on July 5 for a June 24, 2011 release. [Variety]

Watson and Lerman Have Perks: Emma Watson (Hermione in the Harry Potter franchise) and Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) have been cast in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, an adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's book which is narrated by a shy and unpopular teenager who describes his life by writing a series of letters to an anonymous person and explores the awkward times of adolescence, including drug use and sexuality. Chbosky is penning the adaptation and will also direct with Lianne Halfon, Malkovich and Russell Smith producing at John Malkovich's Mr. Mudd. [Variety]

Robinson Penning Abrams's Heist Project: Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams) is set to pen the script for J.J. Abrams's untitled heist project set up at Paramount. The film is based on a Wired magazine article titled "The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist," by Joshua Davis. Borys Kit at Heat Vision describes the film saying it tells the true story of an unprecedented diamond heist in Antwerp, Belgium, and the crew that pulled it off. In early 2003, a small group of Italian thieves circumvented 10 layers of security to access a vault beneath the Antwerp Diamond Center and make off with a purported $100 million in diamonds, gold and jewelry (the actual value remains a mystery). [Heat Vision]

Greengrass Directing Treasure Island: Back on April 1 we learned Paul Greengrass would direct a remake of Fox's 1966 sci-fi thriller Fantastic Voyage for James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. Now we learn that's no longer the case and he is taking on Treasure Island for Warner Bros. The film is described as a stylized adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel. The project is now out to screenwriters and as for Fantastic Voyage, Fox is expected to begin courting other directors. [Deadline]

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