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Andy "Gollum" Serkis Speaks
Jondor writes "The BBC has an article in which
Andy Serkis answers questions about his role as Gollum.
Can't wait so spend a whole 9 hours watching for the full DVD release of LOTR!"
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It seems ironic to me that they felt the need to do such a horrible job of compositing the actor over his beautifully rendered counterpart.
Come on people, you don't need this kind of photo-trickery, and when you do it that badly, it really takes away more than it adds. If you're not going to spend the resources to do it right, just don't do it.
"The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
What kind of roll did he have as gollum? does the character of gollum even like rolls? and what about smeagol?
I would think smeagol is more of a donut man... errr... little slinky thing...
"...his roll as Gollum"
hehe..."Roll."
Besides the typo, I think Andy Serkis did an excellent job. Watching the Oscars get handed out tonight will probably be an unfortunate reminder to Serkis that the Academy just isn't ready for a computer generated actor.
I think Gollum's performance was amazing, and after reading about it on lordoftherings.net and watching the little video about Andy Serkis (and from the bonus footage on FoTR), I think it is simply amazing how everything down to the facial expressions came from a real actor. That's just incredible.
The anti-salmon
But in my time off I love to go - there's great walking and climbing to do and I go horse riding and canoeing, the scenery's absolutely stunning and so much varied scenery, it's just a wonderful place to explore.
I would love to visit (or even live in) New Zealand. Unfortunately, it's a quick couple thousand for plane tickets. As for the immigration, they have a lovely point system to keep unscrupulous people out (as well as eldery from using it as a retirement center) -- way to go NZ!
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Free your mind.
Come on. These questions are by 10 to 15 year olds! The questions read just like an episode of askslashdot.
Great! Golum's part was really funny - in fact it had me rofl (roleing on the floor laughing)!
when I watched some sort of "the making of" that golum looks like a strung out version of him...
I know that animators some times get thier inspiration from the voices of the actors (Jeremy Irons as Scar in the Lion King), and that he also did the acting for it, but this was uncanny
moo.
Yeah it's quite surprising, I didn't think I'd get recognised as much as I do but because the animators designed the facial structure of how Gollum actually looks on screen to be very close to mine
I feel truly sorry for the poor guy.
This one was probably my favorite:
So true.
The anti-salmon
question: do you like fish?
Yes, usually quite raw.
question: do you hate P. Jackson for having you roll around in that cold stream for hours?
Weees will hasss our revenge.
question: what is the worst thing about being a computer generated actor?
Trying to convince people that you have to stop for a real pee and that a virtual pee doesn't cut the mustard.
question: have you read the book?
Yes, yes, I've read it about 50 times and watched the movie.
question: did you run away and join the circus?
You horrible little man take that *blam* *yeeeow*
...comes at the end of the interview. Apparently, there is talk about the Hobbit being done as a TV miniseries. Andy replies to this by saying, "Well I'd heard that it wasn't a TV series, that it was going to be another movie but I mean there have been various rumours about it." Whatever the case, it looks like my LOTR DVD collection will eventually include the Hobbit. I hope Ian reprises his role.
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
Gollum could definatly take Jar Jar in a fight. I don't think it would even be close.
Won't you be my my neighbor?
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Insightful question (remember, this is the adult interviewer asking) and answer. Now that he's seen the scripts, just think how much money Serkis could make selling the secret ending to LotR!
[Please tell me the above is just a joke, BTW. They wouldn't change the ending. Would they?]
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Some of his answers seem a bit far out, especially the one concerning what Smeagol would do with the ring if he finally got it:
Elizabeth, 6, Madison USA
What do you think Gollum would do if he actually got the Ring back?
Andy Serkis: That's a good question. I think Gollum would probably want to try and turn back time so he could go back to being Smeagol before he killed his cousin for the Ring.
Which, of course, is not at all what LotR tells us (Gollum even says outwardly that that he'd pay everyone back). That said, it seems somewhat odd that the actors haven't read the book, or if they have they haven't read it very closely.
They're getting stale.
--
Political Correctness is doubleplusungood.
He acted and the animation followed him - As did his facial expressions - Watch a 'making of' video and you will get it
He did do a lot of work and special work at that
Why oh Why Dear Slashdot Editors dose Lord of the Rings not have a Logo? Starwars has a Logo.. the Ipod has a Logo.. why dosent LOTR?
9 16 794d =4983 792d =5033 027d =5280 387d =5416 129
Think about it.. all the Posts that are going to be made over the next +2 Years for LOTR.. Movie Reiviews, Spoilers, Trailers, DVD's, DVD Reviews, Special Ed. DVD's, Cast Interviews, Award Shows, ect.. ect... ect..
LOTR DESERVES its own Logo/Icon
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The More Knowledge you have the Luckier you Get- J.R. Ewing
Philip
How do you see your character developing in the Return of the King?
Andy Serkis: I don't want to give too much away actually but obviously Gollum's fate is very much bound up with that of Frodo and Sam and the Ring of course. And so you get to see them continue on their journey and it reaches an enormous climax in Mordor.
Psst, kid! I know where you can get top-secret information about what happens in Return of the King--it's called a library!
In fact the movies ultimately fail, in my opinion, because Jackson doesn't recognize that he can't replicate the books on screen and fails to supply the necessary artistic imagination of his own to flesh out the work. What he does add or change is filler. If you are going to adapt a written work for the screen, do it like Kubrick did so often. Ditch the plot and show them what you can make of the work yourself.
And if Jackson had done that, you'd probably have somebody screaming bloody murder that he dared to alter the holy canon of Tolkien. Of yeah, I forgot... in fact you did have people complaining about the changes and omissions (i.e. Bombadil's omission, increased role for Arwen, etc, etc). It goes to show that you can't please everyone, so you might as well concentrate on pleasing yourself. Judging by the interviews I've seen with Peter Jackson, I'd say he was very happy with the final product.
As far as the Jackson-Kubrik comparison goes, Kubrick had the luxury of adapting books that weren't nearly as popular as the Lord of the Ring books. I mean, how many people have actually read _2001_ or _Clockwork Orange_ or even _The Shining_? I would wager that if you add up the number of people who have read these books combined, the total would be nowhere near the number who have read LOTR. In that sense, he was limited in what he could do.
To be honest, I am impressed that Jackson was able to inbue the movie with the spirit of the books as much as he did. I was very skeptical when I heard that LOTR was coming out as a film. It didn't seem like the type of books that could be adapted to film, given their scope. However, I thought that he did an admirable job of capturing their feel, given the limitations of the medium. In particular, I thought that the art direction, the sets, and the cinematography really captured the "atmosphere" in the same way that Tolkiens prose did. Apparently, Jackson hired two well known "Tolkien" artists to head up the art direction on the film. They were in charge of the overall designs for the sets, props, and costumes. Their vision for the world of Middle East really helped shape the movie in a very subtle, but profound way. For instance, they used very consistent motifs for all of the sets and props associated with the different cultures of Middle Earth. Some of it was based upon Tolkien's own writings and some of it was based upon their interpretation of the books. The level of care and detail that went into the design process was really amazing - especially for props that had very limited screen time.
If you want more details, I advise you to watch the "making of" DVD's in the Extended Edition of FOTR. If you are a fan of the atmosphere, like you say, you might gain a new appreciation of the movie.
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www.moneybythenumbers.com
Josh, 13, Malden
:-/
Is it true that you actually had to dive into the freezing cold water in the scene by the waterfall yourself and if so what was that like?
Andy Serkis: Yeah it's absolutely true, they spent the whole morning before we actually shot that scene - the whole mountain was under cover of snow and the crew had to defrost this entire area using high pressure hoses and wind machines and all sorts of things and then - but the water was still sub-zero - and so when I went into the water it was absolutely freezing, I could hardly move, my whole body froze up and we had to repeat the scene a few times. But it is true we did do that.
Wouldn't it hurt diving into ice?
S: I think Andy Serkis deserves an Oscar nomination for playing Gollum in The Two Towers.
G: No!! We hates him, hates him!
S: What are you talking about? He did a wonderful job!
G: No! He ruined the precious with all his nasty scampering about!
S: Oh come on! His was far and away one of the most interesting performances in the movie.
G: No! Not he, it. Yessss, it, horrible machine with all its nasty little bits running like ants! We hates the terrible computer eye, hates it! HATES IT! No, we keeps the precious little statue...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/