James Franco Says He's Likely Not In 'Planet Of The Apes' Sequel

James Franco said he is unlikely to return to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes following the exit of the sequel's director Rupert Wyatt.

"I was going to be a small part of the next one," he told MTV. "There was a moment when Rupert Wyatt was going to direct the second one. A lot of the human characters that were in the first movie were dead in the sequel that Rupert was going to direct…"

Franco said there was an opening for his character to make a return to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but changes at the Fox studio made it unlikely he'll reprise his role.

"There was one scene, between Caesar and my character, maybe even just like on a video that was left behind," said Franco, adding, "but then a lot of things happened, like [former Fox co-chairman] Tom Rothman who was a big part of the first movie, left. Now Rupert's not a part of it so I don't know. My guess is I won't be in it. Nobody's talked to me since Rupert left."

Not that James Franco is in need of things to do. At the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, two of his co-directorial efforts, kink, a documentary about fetish website kink.com and Interior. Leather Bar, described as the "lost 40 minutes from 'Cruising' as a starting point to a broader exploration of sexual and creative freedom," will debut. He is also starring in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Lovelace at the festival (this will be quite a racy Sundance for Franco apparently). And a quick look at his IMDb page lists about a dozen projects in various stages of completion.

And just to keep things interesting, Franco recently signed with a small Minnesota publisher to debut a collection of his poetry set for April 2014. According to The Guardian poetry editor Jeffrey Shotts described Franco's written work as a "series of portraits of American successes and failures from within Hollywood … But they are also smart and highly aware notes of caution of what can happen when the filmed self becomes fixed and duplicated, while the ongoing self must continue living and watching."

Franco published his first poetry, Strongest of the Litter earlier this fall.

[Sources: Digital Spy, MTV, The Guardian]