John Lithgow and Freida Pinto have signed onto Rise of the Apes, Rupert Wyatt’s upcoming prequel to Planet of the Apes for Fox, says THR.com  They join James Franco, who portrays a scientist who has been working on a cure for Alzheimer’s that is
being tested on apes. The test subject named Caesar evolves
rapidly, and the scientist takes him home to live with him and
protects him from cruel doctors.  Lithgow will play Franco’s Alzheimer’s-stricken father. Pinto is
the movie’s female lead, a primatologist. 
Filming begins this summer in British Columbia.

Lithgow is coming off an acclaimed stint as the villainous Arthur Mitchell on Dexter.  He was also recently seen in Anand Tucker’s Leap Year, with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode.  Pinto got her break in Slumdog Millionaire and will be been seen in Miral with Willem Dafoe, Tarsem Singh’s Immortals and American Empire.