Brian Cox (Red, Zodiac, Trick ‘r Treat) is set to reunite with The Escapist director Rupert Wyatt for 20th Century Fox’s Rise of the Apes, reports TheWrap. Cox is in final negotiations to play the villainous owner of a primate sanctuary who runs the facility without compassion for the animals that live there. James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow and Andy Serkis star in the “Planet of the Apes” prequel that Wyatt is directing from a script by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa. Described as an origin story, “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. In theaters June 24, 2011.
