I am – Hercules!! James Franco, key supporting player in the “Spider-Man” saga and star of such Judd Apatow projects as “Freaks and Geeks” and “Pineapple Express,” is negotiating with 20th Century Fox for the (presumably) human male lead in “Rise of the Apes.” The sci-fi thriller, about geneticists who create intelligent simians, is said to be a sort-of remake of the excellent and haunting “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” (the one with the most Montalban). My completely uneducated guess is Franco will play an ape-loving scientist whose unpleasant death sets the apes on their course to wrest control of the planet from the puny humans. I believe Franco would be suited to such a role. Rupert Wyatt (the well-reviewed British prison caper “The Escapist”) directs from a screenplay by Amanda Silver & Rick Jaffa ("Eye For An Eye," "The Relic"). The project will utilize motion-capture CGI simians from WETA Digital. Fox plans to release it June 24 of next year. Find all of Deadline Hollywood’s exclusive on the matter here.