John Lithgow,Freida Pinto join Apes

John Lithgow and Slumdog Millionaire heroine Freida Pinto are coming on board Rise Of The Apes,Foxs prequel to its Planet Of The Apes franchise.

John Lithgow and Slumdog Millionaire heroine Freida Pinto are coming on board Rise Of The Apes,Foxs prequel to its Planet Of The Apes franchise. Directed by Rupert Wyatt,the movie,which will go on floors this summer in British Columbia,focuses on a scientist James Franco who has been working on a cure for Alzheimers 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 Francos Alzheimers-stricken father,while Pinto will be seen as the movies female lead,a primatologist.

Zombieland director eyes Babes comedy
Ruben Fleischer,who became a hot commodity in Hollywood after directing the surprise hit Zombieland,is developing an action comedy at Columbia. Babe In The Woods,written by Mike White The School Of Rock,centers on a female freshman from the Midwest who arrives at Yale and becomes a target of the New Jersey mob. Columbia is working on a Zombieland sequel,and also recently acquired the directors latest project,action comedy 30 Minutes Or Less which stars Danny McBride,Aziz Ansari and Jesse Eisenberg.

Michael Shannon to play baddie in thriller
Michael Shannon,who received an Oscar nomination for his role in Revolutionary Road,will play the villain in Premium Rush,a thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The Columbia project centres on a New York bike messenger,Gordon-Levitt who picks up an envelope at Columbia University,only to be chased throughout the city by a dirty cop Shannon desperate to get his hands on it.
Jamie Chung who will be seen in the upcoming Grown Ups is in negotiations to play Gordon-Levitts ex,a fellow daredevil bike messenger,who helps him outwit the cop. David Koepp wrote the script with John Kamps and is directing it. Shannon appears in current box-office flop Jonah Hex and is part of the ensemble cast of HBOs Boardwalk Empire.

Johnny Depp off for more adventures in Pirates
In the next Pirates Of The Caribbean,Johnny Depps seafaring character Jack Sparrow will face a woman from his past and board another buccaneers ship,the studio behind the film said recently. The Walt Disney Co revealed those story elements for the new film as it announced that production has started.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the fourth movie in the franchise,which to date has earned more than 1 billion at U.S. and Canada box-offices. It will hit theatREs in 3-D on May 20,2011. In the movie,Depps popular Sparrow character will run into a woman from his past,played by Oscar winner Penelope Cruz,Disney said. She will force Sparrow onto the Queen Annes Revenge,the legendary pirate ship run by Blackbeard,who will be played by Ian McShane.
Once on-board,Sparrow will need to keep an eye out on both Blackbeard and Cruzs character.
Both McShane and Cruz are new cast members on the latest Pirates movie,taking the place of head-liners Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.
Bloom,among other things,has a wedding on his agenda. The 33-year-old actor recently got engaged to Victorias Secret model Miranda Kerr.