Andy Serkis looks back on his transition from playing Gollum in Hunt for Gollum movie.

While speaking with Screen Rant's Joe Deckelmeier at Fan Expo San Francisco, Serkis explains how motion capture prevented him from being typecast. Even though Gollum and King Kong are vastly different characters, Serkis was able to smoothly transition between these roles because of motion capture technology. He reflects on his realization at the time that motion capture "enables you to go anywhere with any character." Check out Serkis' other comments below:

When we were actually doing Lord of the Rings, I was on set and I was filmed in a very thin, skintight suit, which you all know of now. Then what happened was that Peter Jackson saw me crawling around as Gollum and being the character, and he changed his approach and went, “We're going to film Andy's performance.” And then the animators were going to copy – literally draw over or rotoscope the performance.

But for some scenes where it was just a closeup, I would go back and repeat the process, having been through the scene with the other actors and in a motion capture suit. It was a very early, rudimentary way of motion capture, and we had a tiny little area to work in. I was looking at the shots that were put up on screens, and I could see on another screen that if I lifted up my hand, I could see Gollum lifting up his hand. It was like a magic mirror that I was learning to use. I was the puppeteer and the marionette at the same time, so it was kind of like a gradual process. By the third film, Return of the King, we were actually shooting motion capture on the live-action stage.

And then after that, I thought that'd be the end of it. I thought I’m going back to my career as an actor and playing conventional [characters] onscreen. Then Peter Jackson asked me to play King Kong, and I thought, “Wow, this is incredible. I've just been playing this three-and-a-half foot ring junkie, and I'm now going to play a 25-foot gorilla.” Which means that typecasting is ended! And that was a big penny-drop moment for me. Here is this 21st-century tool for an actor that enables you to go anywhere with any character.

What This Means For Andy Serkis And For Motion Capture

He And The Technology Forever Changed The Movie Industry

Serkis is an incredibly talented actor whose work, along with the work of many other talented actors, has been better recognized because of motion capture. As both Gollum and King Kong, Serkis placed a great deal of emphasis on the physical performances behind these characters, which made their distinct movements feel more fluid and believable to watch. He could play a character who crawls like Gollum just as effectively as playing a towering prehistoric ape.

Gollum looking devious in The Lord of the Rings.
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With The Hunt for Gollum coming up, there are some classic Lord of the Rings characters that could soon be making an on-screen appearance again.

In addition to Serkis playing Caesar, all Planet of the Apes movies since 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes have used motion capture technology. From Steve Zahn's Bad Ape in War of the Planet of the Apes to Owen Teague's Noa in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, motion capture has led to many other impressive performances as well. Outside the Apes franchise, motion capture has extended to projects Serkis had no involvement in, from James Cameron's Avatar movies to Neill Blomkamp's District 9.

Our Take On Andy Serkis' Comments

He Has Fully Embraced Motion Capture's Potential

Gollum crouching between Frodo and Sam in a cave in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Serkis has one of the best performances in The Lord of the Rings movies through his voice acting, his physical movements, and the nuance he brings to Gollum's tragic story. It is important that Serkis' career was not solely defined by this role, though, as motion capture has helped him and other actors play a wide range of characters. Hearing about how much the technology progressed during the filming of The Lord of the Rings is remarkable, and it has only become far more impressive and important for the industry since then.

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King Kong
PG-13
Action
Adventure
Romance
Drama
6/10
13
6.9/10
Release Date
December 14, 2005
Runtime
187 minutes
Director
Peter Jackson

Cast

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Peter Jackson's King Kong is a remake of the 1933 film of the same name. When enterprising filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black) decides to travel to the mysterious skull island, he hires naive young actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) to star in the film he intends to make. Denham's crew of actors discovers the island's big secret: Kong, a 25-foot-tall giant ape. Denham's ambition gets the better of him, and he exploits Darrow's bond with Kong to kidnap him, bringing him back to New York to exploit him for profit.

Writers
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace
Budget
$207 million