Andy Serkis, who played an instrumental role in bringing the on-screen version of Gollum (also known as Sméagol) to life in “The Lord of the Rings” franchise, is reflecting on the technology that helped him do so.
Gollum, a central character in the films, is the result of both Serkis’ performance and computer-generated elements through 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 has also lent his talents to play Kong in “King Kong” and Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy.)
“Because this technology is so misunderstood. I used to be evangelical. I’ve talked for hours about how performance capture is acting and watched eyes glaze over, but life’s too short. I calmed down. Now I just think, ‘If you get it? Great,’” he said. “Performances like Gollum are authored by an actor in the same way a prosthetics team engineered John Hurt in ‘The Elephant Man.’ But, for some reason, a performance underneath a physical mask is more understandable to some than this, which is a digital mask.”
In May, “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker Peter Jackson weighed in on the motion-capture conversation, saying the mounting debate over AI in film is one reason Serkis hasn’t — and likely never will — win awards for playing Gollum.
“A lot of the current environment, everyone’s so worried about AI … I don’t think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope for winning any awards,” he said at the time. “Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it’s not an AI-generated performance. It’s a human-generated performance 100% of the way.”
Serkis returns as the character for “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” which he is also directing. The film is scheduled to open in theaters on Dec. 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 Bizarrely True Story of Andy Serkis,” hit shelves on Tuesday.
