James Franco's change of fate in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

James Franco’s character was originally supposed to die at the end of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes , the effects team has revealed.

Fox’s president of post production Ted Gagliano told the Visual Effects Society’s annual get-together that Franco had even filmed a death scene for his character Will.

According to Gagliano, the filmmakers changed their minds at the eleventh hour and Franco flew from North Carolina to California over the weekend of 4 July to shoot an alternative goodbye with Andy Serkis' ape Caesar.

“We shot for three hours and [ Franco ] was back on the plane,” he said.

Gagliano revealed the change at a seminar on the way Hollywood is expecting post-production teams to turn work around in increasingly short time scales.

He also told the audience that X-Men: First Class was supposed to finish principal photography in December 2010 but filming continued until April 2011, leaving just a three-week post schedule to deliver the final effects for a 2 June opening.