Late last week we brought you a rumor that Freida Pinto and Don Cheadle were both being considered for roles in Rise of the Apes, Fox's Planet of the Apes prequel that will somewhat inexplicably star James Franco as the young scientist who accidentally gives rise to those damn, dirty apes. Today THR is confirming half of that rumor and adding in a surprising new name; Pinto will indeed play the film's female lead, a primatologist, and John Lithgow will play Franco's father, whose Alzheimer's disease inspires the scientist to start his experiment on apes to begin with.

Lithgow is coming off an acclaimed run on TV's Dexter but his film roles have been a little more scattershot; most recently he popped up for a single scene in the utterly forgettable January romantic comedy Leap Year. Will Rise of the Apes do him any more favors? I know Pinto is probably just happy to be there and continually coasting through Hollywood on her looks (really, does anyone think she's a strong actress?) but I"m hoping for more from Lithgow here.