Heartthrob actor James Franco takes his first stab at directing with THE APE, a first-time feature about an aspiring writer named Harry Walker. Played by Franco, Harry hopes his still-to-be-written novel will rescue him from his dull job (complete with nagging boss) and his tedious family life, particularly his shrewish wife. Harry decides his only hope for getting any words on the page is to rent an apartment away from it all. But not even a creative mind like his could predict what awaits him there: a talking gorilla wearing a Hawaiian shirt. In order to get his imaginative juices flowing, Harry must accept the gorilla's strange presence and use it as the impetus to begin his masterpiece.