Gollum Actor Andy Serkis on Changes in Motion-Capture Technology

In a video interview with Wired, actor Andy Serkis (who plays the computer-generated character of Gollum in the popular “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the upcoming “The Hobbit”) speaks about his recurring role and about advances in motion-capture technology.

Since the 2001 release of “Lord of the Rings,” motion capture has changed significantly, “bridging some of the ‘disconnect’ [Serkis] felt while filming on separate live-action and motion-capture stages for the original trilogy,” according to Wired.

Serkis recently co-founded a London-based digital-effects house called The Imaginarium, which specializes in motion capture. In the 2-minute interview, he talks about how developments have changed his acting experience and what it was like to return to the role of Gollum.

“It’s still in its infancy in terms of where it’s going to go and the ability that it gives an actor to transform, while retaining a real emotional sort of truth” says Serkis of motion-capture technology. “No matter how big, or wacky, or abstract the design of a character, it still is always rooted in this emotional, truthful actor’s performance.”

1 Comments

  1. TIME also published an interview this week with Serkis in which he discusses the difference between “motion capture” and “performance capture”:
    http://entertainment.time.com/2012/12/11/the-hobbits-andy-serkis-on-getting-inside-gollums-skin/
    The article links to an interesting overview to how the technology works:
    http://entertainment.time.com/2012/12/05/gollums-getup-how-the-hobbits-groundbreaking-technology-works/

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.