Source: /Film | Chris Petrikin

I should have seen this coming. In what comes as one of the best news reports I’ve heard in quite a while, Andy Serikis (“Gollum” in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) has been cast as “Caeser,” the lead ape in the Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Apes!

Chris Petrikin, 20th Century FOX’s VP of Corporate Communications tweeted this today:

“This is cool: Gollum reteams with Weta. Andy Serkis to star as Caesar in “Rise of the Apes,” portraying chimp who leads the simian revolt.”

For those of you not in the know, not only did Serkis do an incredible job of portraying the unforgettable “Gollum/Smeagol” in The Lord of the Rings,” but he also played “Kong” in Peter Jackson’s big-budget remake of King Kong back in 2005. So it makes perfect sense to not only team up with Jackson’s special effects team WETA, but also to play an ape again. Serkis is such a great actor, particularly in terms of motion-capture acting, and he totally deserves this role in my opinion. With the casting of James Franco and John Lithgow as well, this is shaping up to be quite the film indeed.

Plot Synopsis:

RISE OF THE APES (tentative title) is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

Rise of the Apes hits theaters everywhere June 24, 2011.