Andy Serkis and the Wacky World of Motion Capture

by Christopher Barr │POSTED ON DECEMBER 3, 2014

Andy Serkis is the most famous performance motion capture artist in the world.  He’s an actor and always has been one, certainly a decade before The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  Doug Jones is the world’s greatest performer in makeup (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and performing as the lead 'Gentlemen' in the award winning episode 'Hush' from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), certainly the most known but Andy Serkis has even passed him as the most recognizable actor that you actually seldom see in his films.  What you do see is his performance, his eyes and movements translated and animated by various visual effects artists.

The world first heard about Andy Serkis as The Lord of the Rings films were released and praised during the early 2000’s.  He made a glimpse of an appearance in The Fellowship of the Ring but it wasn’t until The Two Towers that the true talent of this performer was made known to the world.  I would point out a scene around the middle of the film where Smeagol and Gollum simultaneously argued over who will be in charge of their split personality.  Frodo and Sam at this point where sleeping as this emaciated thing negotiates with itself above the murky swamp lands in the dark of night.  That performance was a revelation in its own right; it was Shakespearian acting at its best.

Gollum is a fully realized character that in the world of fantasy is real.  Andy Serkis provided the visual effects animators with so much realism that they were able to create a realistic creature that we as an audience could believe in.  Gollum is truly a tragic character, a thing consumed by the greed that reverberates off the Ring of Power.  He is Star Wars’ version of the darkside Yoda because he, through unmitigated weakness, allowed this force that the Ring gives off to consume his will.   He’s Frodo’s Jungian Shadow, that creeps along his shoulder and whispers ballets of deception to manipulate him into giving up the Ring.  Gollum is a scoundrel, he’s a weakness and what makes him this way is the amazing performance by Andy Serkis.  The Return of the King saw Gollum go to extremes to get his fingers onto the Ring by guiding Frodo into certain death to get the Ring and then fight on a cliff in Mordor only to fall into a pit of lava, chasing the Ring to its doom.

2005’s King Kong had Andy Serkis not only playing the main character but also a crew member of the ship sailing to Skull Island.  King Kong ended up being a tragic figure, a beast left behind in a sort of Dantesque purgatory.  He was a massive animal that become relatable to its audience.  He was sad and longed for connection, he longed for love, for love is the often defining reason for living in the first place.  Kong found love then lost it, then got it back and protected it to such an extent that he was willing to die to protect it, and he did die for it.  Andy Serkis created a passionate massive gorilla and made us fall in love with him.  Andy made us not only feel sorry for this hapless beast but he made us feel this animal’s pride, a pride that he has been long lost on his island.

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes Andy Serkis created a character in Caesar that we all again fell in love with.  By the end of Rise, as an audience member, we were invested in this ape far more than any human in the story.  This film bet everything on Andy Serkis’ performance and succeeded.  Andy went on to perform in Speilberg’s The Adventures of Tintin and then found himself back in Middle Earth to reprise his iconic role as Gollum in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  I might point out as this being the best scene in the movie.

In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Andy pushed Caesar to his limits as the conflicted ape deals with his Spinozism plight, where the philosopher states that, “All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”  The film deals with difference and who of this difference is entitled to reign supreme.  Caesar is a character tragedy trapped in between these differences.  Andy plays a main character that is passionate, that is fierce, that is a leader, that is a husband, that is a father, and that is a diplomat.

Coming up Andy Serkis is directing, for the first time, and performing in the Jungle Book.  He has multiple roles in Avengers: Age of Ultron, playing a human character and playing the motion capture advisor to the Hulk and playing Ultron.  He is playing a number of characters in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and what I’m looking forward to the most is he is directing and performing in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. 

Andy Serkis is an actor and one of the greatest working today.  Sadly his performances are recognized more by fans then by award ceremonies.  Hopefully this amazing talent will be seen by the very industry that he performs for as a great actor among great actors, which is a place that he deserves to be in.