For obvious reasons, the humans tend to take a backseat in the Planet of the Apes movies. But they're still pretty important, especially when the title of the next movie is War of the Planet of the Apes. On one side of that war will be the dominant ape leader, Caesar (Andy Serkis), and now director Matt Reeves has found the first human fighting on the other side.
According to Deadline, East Los High star Gabriel Chavarria has been cast in the film, taking one of the two human lead roles. Chavarria's character is described as being similar to James Franco's in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, so maybe he'll be more like a mentor figure. Not much else is known about the particulars of the plot, but here's what Reeves had to say last year about the direction he's headed...
“The first one is sort of how [Caesar] goes from humble beginnings to becoming a revolutionary,” says Reeves. “In ‘Dawn,’ he really rose to occasion of becoming a leader in really challenging and difficult times. The notion of what we’re after with the third is to sort of continue that trajectory and see how he becomes a seminal figure in ape history. He almost becomes sort of like an ape Moses. A mythic status… We’re trying to play out those themes and continue to sort of explore it in this universe. Exploring human nature under the guise of apes.”
This will be the biggest role of Chavarria's career. Besides his central role in Hulu's East Los High, Chavarria has appeared in feature films such as A Better Life and Freedom Writers. He recently finished shooting a role in Low Riders opposite Demian Bichir and Eva Longoria.
War of the Planet of the Apes opens July 14th 2017.
