With Howl, Your Highness, 127 Hours, and East Pray Love all awaiting release, we haven’t seen too much of James Franco recently, however he’s planning to be very busy in the next year or so. Only a couple of days ago, it was announced he was heading back for another guest run on American TV’s long-running soap, General Hospital, following an 18 episode stint he did earlier this year.
Franco supposedly took the role as research for an upcoming film, and it loosk like we might now know what part that will be. Deadline reports Franco will star in Ricky Stanicky, about two pals who invent a fake friend, just so they have someone to blame if their spouses ever call them on their BS. However understandably the wives insist on meeting Stanicky, and that’s where Franco comes in, playing an actor the guys hire to pretend to be their fake friend.
Ricky Stanicky’s not all Franco has on his plate, as Variety reports he’s beaten out a slew of other hopefuls to land the lead role in the upcoming Planet Of The Apes prequel, Rise Of The Apes. Loosely based on Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, the movie updates things with scientists working on genetically manipulating primates to make them smarter, which goes a bit far when they start to rebel. Franco will play ‘a young, driven scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes.’
The film, which will use CGI rather than men in suits to create the Apes, will be directed by Escapist helmer Rupert Wyatt, from a script by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, and is set for release June 24th, 2011. It’s likely Franco will make Apes before Ricky Stanicky, as while Fox already has a July shooting start locked in for its monkey movie, Stanicky is still in the financing and dealmaking stage.