Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto is joining actors James Franco and John Lithgow in 20th Century Fox’s Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Apes.

Directed by Rupert Wyatt, Rise of the Apes follows a scientist’s (Franco) attempt to protect an ape named Caesar from the doctors using him as a test subject in Alzheimer’s research. What follows sets the stage for a simian revolution.

Pinto has been cast as a primatologist. Lithgow will play Franco’s father and Alzheimer’s patient.

The film goes into production this summer in British Columbia.

Pinto is currently wrapping director Tarsem Singh’s (The Cell) swords-and-sandals fantasy Immortals.