It seems a long time ago now, that the new Planet of the Apes film was just a rumour tentatively titled Caesar. Now, as if to reassure us that it's actually really happening, the first still of James Franco in Rise of the Apes has arrived online.
The film was originally conceived as some sort of reworking of fourth-original-instalment **Conquest of the Planet of the Apes **(the one with the Che Guevara ape, Caesar, staging the simian revolution that leads to Charlton Heston screaming at the sky, and Marky Mark looking puzzled). The updated thrust is set in present-day San Francisco, where genetic engineers (damn them all to hell) are using apes in their Alzheimers research, until ringleading simian Caesar starts to cause trouble.
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WETA are, for the first time in the franchise, providing photorealistic digital apes, with Andy Serkis stepping into Roddy McDowell's filthy paws as Caesar, performing the mo-cap dance he previously brought to Gollum and King Kong.
None of which is apparent from the still, which shows Franco with a blue-tooth device in his ear, sitting at a desk, looking at a computer. Heck, this could be how he's preparing his Oscar banter, or writing his next novel, if we didn't know better. Ach well...
Rise of the Apes' cast also includes Freida Pinto, Brian Cox, John Lithgow and Tom Felton, and the director is The Escapist's Rupert Wyatt. The monkey business starts in the UK on November 25.