Andy Serkis' performance as Sméagol/Gollum in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is beloved by fans and critics alike, but some were not so precious with their thoughts on the actor's now iconic turn when The Lord of the Rings hit theaters more than 20 years ago.
"When Lord Of the Rings originally came out, there would be literally people who would say, 'Who is that character? Is he a dancer? Is he a contortionist?'" Serkis told GQ. "Older actors were like, 'You wouldn't catch me dead doing motion capture. It's the end of our profession.' I literally heard someone saying that. There were lots of jokes about it; you know, Saturday Night Live things with people in suits with ping pong balls attached. It was ripe for ridiculing -- and rightly so."
Many fans and industry professionals now celebrate Serkis as a pioneer in motion capture performance. In addition to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Serkis has employed performance capture in King Kong, The Planet of the Apes trilogy, The Adventures of Tintin, the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. In 2011, the actor and director co-founded The Imaginarium, a production company specializing in digital performance capture. The studio has worked on several big-budget productions, including those listed above, along with films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and the Serkis-directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Middle-earth Returns to the Big Screen
Warner Bros. Discovery and New Line Cinema recently announced the development of more Lord of the Rings films after closing a multi-year deal with Embracer Group AB, the holder of the film, gaming, merchandise, theme parks and live productions rights to the fan-favorite fantasy property. Little is known of the new entries, though they are said to feature previously unexplored areas of Middle-earth.
It is also unknown how involved Peter Jackson will be with the new Lord of the Rings films, but the director has revealed that WBD is keeping him updated on their development. "Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way," Jackson said in a joint statement with writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. "We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward."
The new films will run in tandem with but separate from Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as the streamer still holds the television rights to the franchise. While praised by critics, The Rings of Power's first season received mixed reviews from fans. The series was still one of the most-watched streaming originals of 2022, cracking the top 15 programs in Nielsen's end-of-the-year statistics.
No release date has been set for WBD's new Lord of the Rings films, but a second season of The Rings of Power is expected to hit Amazon Prime sometime in 2024. Serkis is also set to return to Middle-earth as the narrator of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion audiobook, whose release date has yet to be determined.
Source: GQ