James Franco Had No Idea That He’s In ‘Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes’

James Franco fans can catch the extremely busy actor on the big screen in the upcoming sci-fi flick Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Oddly enough, that’s news to him.

For those who don’t vividly recall Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Franco played Will Rodman in director Rupert Wyatt’s reboot of the classic franchise. The sequel takes place years after a virus wipes out a large portion of the human population, though this isn’t stopping the filmmakers from working a James Franco cameo into the follow-up.

However, Franco apparently had no idea that he makes an appearance in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Although the movie is presently headed to theaters this summer, apparently no one bothered to tell the guy that he’s actually in the flick. Welcome to Hollywood, James.

News of Franco’s unexpected cameo arrived courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. In its summer preview issue, the publication revealed that Rodman will pop up courtesy of a video he left behind. Fans were no doubt surprised to learn that James Franco was in the sequel, though the man himself was probably more shocked than anyone.

“Wait, I have a cameo? I didn’t know that. You know, I don’t even think they asked my permission to do that,” he explained to the magazine.

Franco previously explained that he was going to take a small role in the sequel back when Wyatt was still attached to the project. Unfortunately, his participation in the follow-up seemed to fall through once the filmmaker backed out.

The actor told MTV News last year:

“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.”

Obviously the good folks at 20th Century Fox found a way to move forward with a James Franco cameo without bothering to ask James Franco. Fans of the actor can see how the whole thing plays out when Dawn of the Planet of the Apes hits the big screen on July 11. Are you looking forward to the sequel?