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An aspiring novelist looking for a quiet place to finish his breakthrough novel finds that inspiration can come from the most unlikely of sources in the directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker James Franco. All Harry Walker (Franco) needs to escape his unfulfilling job and his ho-hum home life is one unqualified hit: one best-selling novel to kick-start his rocket to stardom. In order to write, though, Harry needs privacy. When Harry gets the idea to rent an apartment so that he can focus on his writing, it seems that he may have found a means of beating his writer's block -- until a talking gorilla in a gaudy Hawaiian shirt shows up. At first viewing his pushy primate pal as little more than yet another in a long line of creatively stifling distractions, Harry soon discovers that "The Ape," can help him realize his dreams of becoming a truly great writer -- but will the toll that his newfound friend takes on Harry's sanity be worth the price of a Pulitzer Prize?