Freida Pinto Talks “Rise of the Apes” Role

It’s official without an official announcement being made: Freida Pinto has been cast in the Planet of the Apes reboot, Rise of the Apes, where she’ll join fellow cast members James Franco and John Lithgow. Earth’s Mightiest had the opportunity to catch up with the actress ever so briefly to discuss the film.

Pinto, who has just wrapped production of Tarsem Singh’s Greek Gods adventure Immortals and who became an instant star with Slumdog Millionaire, reflects on what she looks for in the characters she chooses to play, and her general feelings about Rise of the Apes.

The film deals with a scientist (James Franco), who, in his attempts to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, which his father (John Lithgow) is suffering from, attempts genetic experimentations on an ape named Caesar, inadvertently sets into motion a series of events that will result in the downfall of humanity. Pinto plays a primatologist named Caroline.

“What I try to do with my characters is to bring something different to all of them. Sometimes just being yourself can bring out the uniqueness of whatever it is. For Rise of the Apes, I auditioned for it without reading the entire script. I don’t remember when it was that I watched Planet of the Apes, but it was ages ago. When I read what the story was about – and the idea of the film is out there – I really thought that, yes, it was a big budget film and all of that, but it really had a soul in the kind of story that they really wanted to put out there. It’s a battle between humans and apes with humans trying to make themselves superior by exploiting another animal.”

“I just thought that there was a lot of soul to it. When I read the script, finally, after auditioning, I found myself even more drawn to it. I also like films with a lot of animals in it, and what happens to animals really does break my heart.”

Rise of the Apes is scheduled to reach theatres in June of 2011.