Update.
"Normally, if we need a character to emote and give a performance with dialogue we try to cast a human being," said Peter Jackson, director of The Two Towers, "but Gollum's the one exception where we are creating what we hope is a very extraordinary CG creature."
It was far from certain, going into the mammoth five-year undertaking that is The Lord of the Rings trilogy, that technology would yield a totally believable computer-generated (CG) character. But Jackson was determined to get more than just a perfect CG creation, he wanted a creature that couldn't possibly be performed by an actor but possessed an actor's finesse. Jackson's force of will and the hard work of Weta LTD's visual-effects artists was matched by British stage and screen actor Andy Serkis (Topsy Turvy), who threw himself so heatedly into the role that it's now impossible to tell where flesh ends and fantasy begins.
As he was preparing to play Iago in England's Royal Exchange Theatre's 'Othello,' Serkis chatted about the advantages of literally disappearing into a character, and the irony of being touted for an Academy Award nomination when he is barely seen on-screen.
MOVIEFONE: I understand you originally resented the notion of playing a CG character.
SERKIS: I got this call from my agent saying, "Do you want to do three weeks voice-over [playing Gollum]?" and I thought, "Why can't I be put up for a proper role?" So I came home and my wife said, "Gollum's a great part!" and I went, "Yeah but it's digital and I'm just doing the voice." Then I started reading the book and I thought, "I've played roles that are emotional, physical and very demanding psychologically and this is a great role."
MOVIEFONE: What was your approach to playing Gollum?
SERKIS: I played Gollum very much like an addict. He suffers the "withdrawal" from losing the ring, and he is driven by cravings and lust for it. Throughout the journey of the second film, he develops this incredibly strong bond with Frodo. He squeezes his way into the relationship -- ousting Sam -- because Sam doesn't know what it's like to be an addict. So Gollum and Frodo form this very close, exclusive relationship where Frodo learns what it's like to be completely controlled by this thing, and he can see the end result.
MOVIEFONE: Gollum's name comes from the peculiar swallowing noise he makes. How did you create that sound?
SERKIS: He has become defined by name by the way he speaks, so as I started working on the voice, I started thinking, "Where's his pain really trapped?" Obviously it's in his throat. I thought that the pain and the guilt from killing [his brother] Deagol for the Ring kind of got stuck in his throat. It's almost like Tourettes [Syndrome]. A pain that is locked in memory and in muscle in his throat. Physically, I came across the voice from our three cats. Whenever they get furballs, they do that incredible convulsing movement with their whole body, then they go [cat retching noise] and then they chuck-up. I thought, "This is the sort of thing I should be aiming for." So the audition was a gamble because Peter could have gone, "Well, that's just not right," but I heard when he saw the tape, it hit the bullseye. Then Peter came over to England and I fell in love with him and [partner/co-screenwriter] Fran [Walsh] and I allayed my digital fears.
MOVIEFONE: Is your performance confined exclusively to the digital realm?
SERKIS: No. You see me in the flesh in a flashback sequence where [the hobbit] Smeagol discovers the Ring, and then you see his transformation into the decrepit Gollum.
MOVIEFONE: How did Peter Jackson come to realize it was essential to have you on set interacting with the other "live" actors?
SERKIS: Originally, I was just going to provide the voice for Gollum for three weeks and here I am, three-and-a-half years later, still working on the part. Originally, he wanted this strong interaction [between the characters], because [he felt] other kinds of live-action/animation interactions don't necessarily work. The characters never feel like they are in the same field, never touch each other and so on. So he wanted me on set working with Sean Astin and Elijah Wood, because he really wanted the subtext and subtlety that can be brought by an actor, and also the physicality, which was a strong part of what I was doing. And that was the starting point. Then the whole thing just evolved. Peter was very keen on the idea of using my performance to drive the character because Gollum was a Hobbit before he became "blessed" by the ring, which meant he has some very human qualities. Ultimately, Peter [decided I should] be the "guardian" of the character for the animators to follow.
MOVIEFONE: Which meant you had to play each Gollum scene several times.
SERKIS: It took three stages really. First Peter would shoot one version of the scene with me in it on set and another version with me out and I would do the lines off-camera. I wore an almost flesh-colored suit, which gave the animators an idea of how [the character would look under] the lights. The suit was also very tight fitting so there were sharp lines, which enabled the animators to paint me out and replace me with [the CG Gollum].
Then maybe a year later, I'd go into a motion-capture studio and redo the whole thing again. I would watch [Sean and Elijah] on-screen, and literally fit myself back into the scene, which was the converse of how actors normally work with digital characters. Usually, they have to imagine that the character is there, whereas for me it was the other way around.
MOVIEFONE: It must've been hard working on the motion-capture stage, wearing a tight suit covered in tracking points, surrounded by cameras that translated your every movement into the digital realm, and trying to imagine your fellow actors were there. Did you stick to the performance you created on-set or did you try something different?
SERKIS: There are certain things which Peter really loved that happened on the set. But when you're shooting 35mm film, you want to get what's going to be up there on the screen, so he concentrated more on Elijah and Sean's performances and I'd maybe get a few goes. Sometimes Peter went, "That's it! Absolutely bang-on!" and other times we thought, "We can really enhance the scene by taking [my performance] further in this direction later." It was great, having two or three goes to really hone the performance and try different levels of physicality.
MOVIEFONE: Did the animators use your original on-set dialogue as a guide for their animation?
SERKIS: Yes, but we also recorded sound on the motion-capture stage, which was great because then every breath and every detail of vocal quality was captured in-sync with the movement. It just gave [the performance] a reality.
MOVIEFONE: Since you were playing an animated character, was the temptation there to physicalize every emotion or were you able to internalize Gollum's feelings?
SERKIS: That's a really good question. The more confident I got playing the role, the more we wanted to internalize it, the less I began to do. The temptation is to keep it busy and it takes quite a lot of bravery from the animators and myself to go, "Let's have him doing nothing in this shot. There're hundreds of frames whizzing by, but let's keep him very still and very real." And we've all grown to make him much stiller and not think of him in terms of an animated creature at all.
MOVIEFONE: The most important part of any character performance is the face, especially the eyes. Did the animators study video footage of your performance to capture those subtle nuances?
SERKIS: Yes. My face has been studied for the last three years. God, I can't tell you how many times I've been videoed because I've done that many. They ran video cameras on the motion-capture stage; we shot days and days with 3 cameras on me reading the script, and I've done specific video performances for animators, so it's been a multi-prong approach. We'd have meetings with 25-30 animators and we'd talk through the arc of the character, so they had to learn about acting as much as I did about animation, and to look at [creating the character] from an actor's point of view. You know how animators work with mirrors: if a character's expressing pain, they look at [their own expressions] in the mirror. But Peter was very firm that instead, they had to literally look at the visual guide - me, I was the guardian of the character. So I'd [look at their work] and say "That's not quite the beat I was playing. I was trying to persuade more there and that's not coming across." It was a great relationship.
MOVIEFONE: It sounds like you've played your part more times than anybody else on this movie.
SERKIS: You are not kidding! That's absolutely true. It really has been a fantastically involved evolution of a character. You very rarely get the chance to evolve a character over this long.
MOVIEFONE: Except in theatre. In some respects, playing Gollum must harken back to the way a role continues to deepen well beyond opening night.
SERKIS: Exactly. When you see it, I think you will realize it was worth all the work. Because of the way we worked using motion-capture, it's really odd but I feel like I played the part entirely and that it's me up there. It is quite unusual really and I really don't think it's been done before. In terms of the dynamics of the acting in the scenes, I'm there, and you are watching a performance.
