Actor Andy Serkis spent loads of time on the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy but barely got his actual face seen. And Peter Jackson is giving him a chance to make more effort with even less screen time.
Between portraying the wretched Precious-loving Gollum once again, Serkis will be directing second unit on THE HOBBITses. As he tells THR: “I think I understand Peter’s sensibility and we have a common history of understanding Middle Earth. A lot of the crew from THE LORD OF THE RINGS was returning to work on THE HOBBIT. There is really a sense of Peter wanting people around him who totally understand the material and the work ethic.“
Aside from learning the the 3D process (yes, remember that Bilbo will be in dimension triplicate), Serkis describes his duties as such: “It is wide ranging and encompasses a lot of directing aspects of filmmaking and story. Yes, there is some performance capture, but I will be very much on the live action sets and locations helping Peter to tell the story.”
The ambitious mocap master and occasional trueform actor is building up to a feature directing debut, and is also creating a perfomance capture training studio and production company called The Imaginarium. His hirsute form will be seen this summer in the just-retitled RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.
THE HOBBIT Part 1 is due in theaters in December of 2012.
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