Andy Serkis Says Gollum Keeps Him Up at Night, and Honestly, Same
He's arguing with Gollum at 3 AM. Gollum is probably winning.
Andy Serkis has been playing Gollum for 26 years, and the character still won't leave him alone. In a new interview with The Times, Serkis said that returning to the role for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is literally keeping him up at night, as Deadline reports.
That's understandable, considering Serkis has two demanding responsibilities on this production. He's playing Gollum again, and he's also directing the whole thing.
What did Andy Serkis say about Gollum?
"I've just lived with Gollum for such a long period. I'm a terrible sleeper. My mind is pretty active, and it has been insane going back to the character I started playing 26 years ago, and so I'm waking up at night," Serkis said.
His description of those sleepless nights is genuinely wonderful. "Actually, I don't know if I'm asleep or awake, but I think, Am I directing you, Gollum? Or you me? Are we arguing?" he added. "My mind is… busy."
While promoting his new memoir, My Pressures, Serkis also told USA Today that actors are "always altered by the characters" they play, and that decompressing from a role "can take a long time." When it comes to Gollum, he admitted, "I don't suspect that Gollum will ever leave me, quite frankly."
Why does Serkis say performance capture is misunderstood?
Serkis also discussed the technology that originally brought Gollum to life. He told The Times that he "used to be evangelical" about explaining performance capture, but he has calmed down, according to Variety. "Now I just think, 'If you get it? Great,'" he said.
He compared Gollum to John Hurt's famous makeup in The Elephant Man, calling performance capture "a digital mask." Peter Jackson made a similar point in May, saying worries about AI make it unlikely that a character like Gollum could ever win major awards.
When does The Hunt for Gollum come out?
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum hits theaters on December 17, 2027. Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Lee Pace are returning, while Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan (as Strider), Leo Woodall and Anya Taylor-Joy join the cast. If you need more Middle-earth right now, our Rings of Power season 3 story covers how the show forged the One Ring.
My read is that this is exactly the energy we want from the person in charge of a Gollum movie. Nobody understands this complicated character better than Serkis, and an actor who still argues with Gollum in his sleep is clearly taking him seriously. (We just hope he's getting some fish in there, too.)
Are you excited for The Hunt for Gollum? Tell us in the comments.
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