Andy Serkis first played Gollum in 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and after wrapping up the trilogy in 2003, he later reprised the role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 2012.
That appeared to be the end of the line for the actor and filmmaker's time as the iconic J. R. R. Tolkien creation, but he's now set to take centre stage in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Serkis will star in and direct the movie, which is designed to bring Middle-earth back to the big screen for a new era of storytelling.
In an interview with The Times, Serkis admitted that it's been challenging to reprise the role of Gollum. In fact, stepping back into Smeagol's mind has been keeping the filmmaker up at night.
"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," he explained. "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?’ My mind is...busy."
Elsewhere in the conversation, Serkis made it clear that he's done trying to change people's minds about the importance of motion-capture performances and why they're as relevant as traditional on-camera work.
"This technology is so misunderstood. I used to be evangelical. I’ve talked for hours about how performance capture is acting and watched eyes glaze over, but life’s too short," he explained. "I calmed down. Now I just think, 'If you get it? Great.'"
"Performances like Gollum are authored by an actor in the same way a prosthetics team engineered John Hurt in 'The Elephant Man,'" Serkis added. "But, for some reason, a performance underneath a physical mask is more understandable to some than this, which is a digital mask."
Serkis' fans have long argued that he deserved an Oscar for his motion-capture work, whether it was The Lord of the Rings or as Caesar in the Planet of the Apes films. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, and as the technology has become more prevalent, it's now considered just another clever piece of Hollywood VFX magic.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum stars Andy Serkis as Smeagol/Gollum, Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Lee Pace as Thranduil, Jamie Dornan as Strider, aka Aragorn, Leo Woodall as Halvard, Kate Winslet as Marigol, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Seren.
The story delves into Gollum's past, back in a time when he was known as a young Stoorish lad called Sméagol.
Serkis will direct the movie. Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, who wrote The Lord of the Rings trilogy, are penning the screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim). The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit director Peter Jackson, meanwhile, is producing the project.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is set to be released in theaters on December 17, 2027.