He’s back! Heat Vision reports that legendary actor John Lithgow, who won a Golden Globe last year for his role on “Dexter”, is returning to the big screen again in Fox’s Rise of the Apes, the Planet of the Apes prequel being directed by Rupert Wyatt. A few days ago it was rumored that Don Cheadle and Freida Pinto had both been offered roles as well, and now it’s confirmed that Freida Pinto has indeed joined the cast. Pinto will play the female lead, a primatologist named Caroline, while Lithgow will play the Alzheimer’s-stricken father to James Franco’s scientist character, who’s trying to work on a cure for his father’s disease.

Rise of the Apes is set in contemporary San Francisco and follows a young scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes. Franco has been testing his Alzheimer cure on apes, but one of them, named Caesar, starts to evolve rapidly, so he takes him home to live with him and protect him from the “cruel doctors,” thus starting the inevitable ape revolution. Shooting starts up in Vancouver next month and Fox has set a June 24th, 2011 release next summer. Lithgow, who’s been in everything from Terms of Endearment to Footloose to Harry and the Hendersons to Cliffhanger, hasn’t been seen in much recently, but is on the rise again after making a comeback in “Dexter”. This a fantastic cast so far, keep ‘em coming!

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