Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one of last year's biggest hits at the box office, taking in over $480 million worldwide. The upcoming sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will not feature one of the original stars, James Franco. Here's what the actor had to say, revealing he planned on stepping in for a cameo appearance before director Rupert Wyatt left the project, and was replaced by Matt Reeves.

"I was going to have a small part in the next one. 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. But there was one scene, between Caesar and my character, maybe even just like on a video that was left behind, 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."

We reported in October that Mark Bomback (Jack the Giant Slayer) is rewriting the screenplay, which was previously worked on by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Scott Z. Burns. Fox has set a May 23, 2014 release date for the sequel, although it isn't known when production may begin.