Actor and motion capture expert Andy Serkis recently discussed his career in a live chat with Hero Complex. Topics covered in the interview discussed Serkis’ role as the rebellious chimpanzee Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and his reprisal as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” This is what he had to say about his return to Middle Earth.
“Gollum is never really gone too far away from me because he’s indelibly kind of printed into my DNA now, I think. I’ll tell you what was weird is going back and playing a character that has been so sort of absorbed into public consciousness that you almost don’t feel like you own it anymore. And to sort of gather it back, I mean, I did feel, I think, probably in the first couple of days going back into it that I was sort of doing a weird impersonation of him rather than being him because there have been so many spoofs and people’s impersonations and so on, and some people’s impersonations are really great. And I’m kind of thinking, ‘Oh gosh, that’s how to do it, yeah.’ And you know, then you get back into it. Meaningfully getting back into it was really exciting.”
The special effects thespian discussed how playing Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy took its toll on his vocal chords, and the special remedy he used to sooth his larynx.
“I think my vocal chords are so thrashed that I don’t really feel anything anymore there. During Lord of the Rings, I used to have to drink tons of what we call Gollum juice, which was lemon and honey and ginger. And actually when I went back to do The Hobbit this time, to reprise the role, I did, probably kind of more romantically and sort of nostalgically, get people to whip up a few bowls of Gollum juice which I used to drink. But it doesn’t really hurt, to be honest, anymore.”
Andy Serkis spoke about teaming up with Peter Jackson again, and his work as a second unit director on “The Hobbit.”
“Peter has just been the most phenomenal mentor, supporter, friend, collaborator. I cherish working with him so much, and this incredible journey that he’s sort of set me off on, really. Because I’m working on The Hobbit not only as Gollum, but I’m directing the second unit. I actually went down there for two weeks to reprise the role of Gollum, and I basically stayed for a year to direct the second unit. So that’s thrilling. I’m really, really enjoying that and getting a chance to work with him from another angle. I’m being his kind of eyes and ears for the second unit, really. We’ve just been on location for two months shooting the most beautiful places in New Zealand. That’s been extraordinary. I love working with Pete, and everything that he’s created at WETA. The whole team, the whole outfit in New Zealand in Wellington, is a very, very special, wonderful place that I keep willingly returning to.”
Currently in production, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is scheduled to open in theaters on December 14th, 2012. The film will star Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Benedict Cumberbatch, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Evangeline Lily, Luke Evans, Christopher Lee, Stephen Fry, Lee Pace, Ian Holm, Aidan Turner, Brian Blessed (rumored,) James Nesbitt, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Graham McTavish, Dominic Keating (rumored,) Barry Humphries, Sylvester McCoy, Dean O’Gorman, Ken Stott, Jed Brophy, Jeffrey Thomas, Stephen Hunter, John Callen, William Kircher, Peter Hambleton, Adam Brown, Mark Hadlow, Michael Mizrahi, Ryan Gage, Renee Cataldo, and Ray Henwood. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro wrote the screenplay, which was adapted from the story by J.R.R. Tolkien. Peter Jackson directs.
Sources: herocomplex.latimes.com
