The trades are reporting that James Franco has beat out numerous young Hollywood stars to grab the lead in 20th Century Fox’s Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Apes.

The movie will be set in present-day San Francisco where scientists are deep into the God-playing realms of genetic engineering, which leads to the creation of a highly-intelligent species of ape who eventually rise up and rebel in an attempt to gain supremacy over humans. Franco will be playing a “driven scientist, who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes.”

Franco first broke out in Freaks and Geeks (which also introduced us to other future stars like Seth Rogen and Jason Segel), and has gone on to do a lot of different genres in his career. He’s appeared in the Spider-Man franchise, dramas like Deuces Wild, The Great Raid, Flyboys, and Milk, and maybe most-notably as the immensely-popular stoner Saul in 2008’s Pineapple Express. He’s even starred in 23-episodes of the long-running soap opera General Hospital; not many recognizable stars take jobs like that on.

The casting of Franco certainly helps this project to sound more intriguing, and it is hoped that it will be great. On the other hand, we can’t forget that the plan is to have Weta Digital create CGI apes for the film, instead of the usual makeup/costumes we’ve seen. Still, there is the chance that the CGI will be phenomenal and will work perfectly for this particular storyline.

Rise of the Apes will be released June 24, 2011

[Source: Variety]