SO I just saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes last night, and I have to say, if they can think up a different look for Shift the Ape ( whcih I'm sure they will. he'd have to like wisened and wethered with time), then Andy Serkis ( Gollum in LOTR) would be a good choice for Shift.
Not only is he not an "A-list name", he is a brilliant voice actor-His Screwtape voice for the Focus on the Family audio drama sounded nothing like Gollum in LOTR, so he could give Shift a different voice easily. Couple that with his the motion capture techniques used for LOTR and we could have an awesome Shift the Ape.
But then again if he did take the part that would be the third ape he played after Kong and Ceaser. Then before you know it, he's being typcasted as a monkey, so maybe not.