Variety is reporting that the casting for Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is continuing today with the addition of Keri Russell, who joins a stellar cast that already includes Jason Clarke, Kodi-Smit McPhee, Andy Serkis and Gary Oldman. That’s quite an impressive list of talent if you ask us.
Taking place fifteen years after the events that occurred in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the Mark Bomback scripted film will see Russell as the female lead. No other specifics on her role were announced but we do know that the film will focus on “a group of scientists struggling to survive in a ruined world while Caesar attempts to control his burgeoning ape civilization.” With that in mind, we can only assume that Russell will be one of the scientists.
It’s great to see that Reeves is getting so many solid actors on board for this one. The human characters were one of the weakest parts of Rise so it’s good to see that they are looking to correct that issue with this one. Hopefully the casting won’t end with Russell and we’ll get one or two more quality actors added to the cast.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I didn’t love Rise, I thought it was vastly overrated and aside from Andy Serkis’ performance and the effects used to create the apes, I really don’t think the film got too many things right. That being said, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is already shaping up to be a lot better and with names like Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke in the cast, things are looking very promising for the sequel.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes arrives on May 23rd, 2014. What do you think of Keri Russell joining the cast? Are you excited with the casting choices that Reeves has made so far? Let us know in the comments below.
