Andy Serkis, who was instrumental in bringing the on-screen version of Gollum (also known as Sméagol) to life in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, reflects on the technology that helped him achieve it.
Gollum, a central character in the films, is the result of both Serkis’ performance and computer-generated elements via performance capture and CGI. In a recent interview with The Times, the actor, who is currently filming “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” explained that he “never really cared” about people associating him with his arsenal of digitally altered characters. (Serkis also lent his talents to playing Kong in “King Kong” and Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy.)
“Because this technology is so misunderstood. I was evangelical. I talked for hours about how performance capture works and watched eyes glaze over, but life is too short. I calmed down. Now I just think, ‘Do you understand? Great,” he said. “Performances like Gollum are written by an actor, the same way a prosthetics team designed John Hurt in ‘The Elephant Man.’ But, for some reason, a performance under a physical mask is more understandable to some than this one, which is a digital mask.
In May, Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson weighed in on the motion capture conversation, saying the growing debate over AI in movies is one of the reasons Serkis hasn’t — and likely never will — win an award for his role as Gollum.
“A lot of the current environment, everyone is so worried about AI…I don’t think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope of winning awards,” he said at the time. “Which is a little unfair, especially in the case of Andy Serkis where it’s not an AI-generated performance. It’s a 100% human-generated performance.”
Serkis returns as the character in “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” which he also directed. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on December 17, 2027. The ensemble also sees the return of Ian McKellen (as Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo), and Lee Pace (King Thranduil), in addition to new cast members Kate Winslet (Marigol), Jamie Dornan (Strider), Leo Woodall (Halvard), and Anya Taylor-Joy as an elf.
Serkis’ memoir, “My Pressures: The Oddly True Story of Andy Serkis,” was released Tuesday.
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