You know this movie, and chances are that you loved this movie -- except for that one role that almost ruined it all. Miscast Roles is where Movieline and its readers swap out those roles to make it right.
One of last year?s surprise critical and commercial darlings, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, wowed audiences, stoked many an awards-season debate and revitalized an important science fiction franchise — all while still managing to appeal to moviegoers unfamiliar with the original 1968 film (or that film's 1963 source novel). As chief chimp Caesar, Andy Serkis?s performative collaboration with the motion capture geniuses from WETA was a great spectacle, presenting viewers with a gorgeously rendered CGI-animated character.
Yet one consistent flaw in Rise left me scratching my head: James Franco?s weirdly aloof performance as scientist Will Rodman. The film presents Rodman as an Alzheimer?s disease researcher who claims to have found a cure that necessitates extensive animal testing and, subsequently, brings about a race of intelligent, self-aware chimpanzees, as well as the titular ?rise? of the primate-centered culture in which the rest of the series is based. Imagining Franco as a brilliant researcher even in the best of performances would be, let?s face it, a bit of stretch. But add the fact that this character is motivated by a desire to cure his own father of the debilitating effects of the disease in question — not to mention Rodman's somewhat unhealthy attachment to the first subject of his animal tests — and you?ve got a complex emotional palette that seemed to flat-out confuse Franco.
A much better choice for this role would have been the expressive Mark Ruffalo, an actor capable of communicating exactly what was needed of the Rodman character in this story. This is not…
Garcelle Beauvais Genelle Frenoy Georgianna Robertson Georgina Grenville Gina Carano Gina Gershon Gina Philips Gisele Bündchen
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