Brian Cox has been cast in the Planet of the Apes prequel: "Rise of the Apes." Cox is in final negotiations to play the villainous owner of a primate sanctuary who runs the facility without compassion for the animals that live there. So he will play the main villain of the film.
Set in present day San Francisco, the origin story deals with the aftermath of man's experiments with genetic engineering that lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.
A chimp named Caesar (Serkis) leads the uprising among the apes after having been raised by Lithgow and Franco's father-and-son scientist characters.
Starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow and Andy Serkis, "Rise of the Apes" comes to theaters June 24th, 2011.