Strictly to be filed under unconfirmed, Bloody Disgusting are reporting that Don Cheadle and Frida Pinto have both been offered roles in **Rise of the Apes, Fox's in-development Planet of the Apes reboot.
If true, they'd join the already-cast James Franco in director Rupert Wyatt's prequel, formerly known as Caesar and based to some extent on the fourth movie in the original series, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. It's set in present-day San Francisco, where genetic engineering experiments lead to the creation of intelligent apes, and an eventual war for supremacy.
No clue as to who Cheadle and Pinto might play. Scientists? Politicians? Either way both are interesting choices, bringing dramatic chops and blockbuster cred (and in Pinto's case, hotness). Cheadle's CV takes in Hotel Rwanda and Iron Man 2. Pinto likewise, went straight from Slumdog Millionaire to Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and will make her FX blockbuster debut in Tarsem Singh's Immortals.
Is this an indicator of the sort of quality and tone the film is aiming for? We certainly suspect something intriguing from the director of The Escapist, and the "serious" allegorical and political sci-fi potential of Pierre Boulle's concept hasn't really been tapped for decades.
The script is by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, Peter Chernin is producing, the digital apes are by WETA, and a release-date of June 2011 is already locked.