Rise Of The Apes first image

james franco

James Franco is everywhere at the moment – including in the first image released from upcoming Planet Of The Apes prequel Rise Of The Apes .

Donning savvy, techy headgear, Franco is here shown busily working away in his lab, where we presume he’s carrying out his experiments in search of a cure for Alzheimer’s.

Which is the launchpad for the prequel’s plot, in which Franco’s scientific experiments lead to the creation of a super-smart sentient ape (played by Andy Serkis).

With its clean, unfussy trappings, this first look at Rise is certainly enticing, if nothing completely earth-shattering. Expect more ape-oriented imagery to crop up as the film’s release crawls closer.

Franco, lest we forget, is set to host the Oscars this Sunday alongside Anne Hathaway. He’s also up for a Best Actor gong for his performance in 127 Hours.

Rise Of The Apes opens 25 November.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.