Tony Winner Lithgow Lands New Film Role | Playbill

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News Tony Winner Lithgow Lands New Film Role Two-time Tony Award winner John Lithgow will star opposite James Franco and Freida Pinto in "Rise of the Apes," the upcoming prequel to the "Planet of the Apes" film series, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Rupert Wyatt will direct the Fox feature, which is scheduled to shoot this summer in British Columbia from a screenplay by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa. Lithgow will play the Alzheimer's-stricken father of a scientist (Franco) who is working on a cure for Alzheimer's and helps raise his test subject, Caesar. Although plot details are unclear, the film is reportedly set in modern-day San Francisco and will focus on the event that leads to the future dominance of apes over humans, as seen in the classic films from the 1960's and 1970's.

Lithgow won Tony Awards for The Changing Room and Sweet Smell of Success and Tony nominations for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Requiem for a Heavyweight and M. Butterfly. Other stage credits include Mr. and Mrs. Fitch, All My Sons, Mrs. Farnsworth and The Retreat from Moscow. Television credits include "3rd Rock from the Sun" (three Emmy Awards) and "Dexter." Film credits include "Dreamgirls," "Kinsey," the "Shrek" films, "Footloose" and "Terms of Endearment."

 
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