{"id":547629,"date":"2026-07-13T15:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/547629\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:36:09","slug":"andy-serkis-on-animal-farm-the-hunt-for-gollum-ai-and-motion-capture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/547629\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Serkis on Animal Farm, The Hunt for Gollum, AI and Motion-Capture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAndy Serkis<\/a> is currently in New Zealand taking on orcs, wizards, elves and boney-fingered ring fanciers in one of the highest profile films now in production: \u201cThe Lord of the Rings<\/a>: The Hunt for Gollum<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSerkis\u2019 grand return to the franchise \u2014\u00a0due for release by Warner Bros. at the end of 2027, just shy of 25 years since Peter Jackson concluded his all-conquering LOTR trilogy with \u201cReturn of the King\u201d (and Gollum\u2019s demise in Mount Doom) \u2014\u00a0sees the multi-hyphenate in the director\u2019s seat for the first time in Middle-earth (he served as second unit director on all three \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d features). At the same time, of course, he\u2019s still covering himself in little dots to play Smeagol.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut while Serkis juggles stepping into Jackson\u2019s illustrious shoes and his motion-capture duties alongside returning faces (Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood) and new (Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy, Leo Woodall), his previous movie as director is landing on home soil.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnimal Farm<\/a>,\u201d the long-in-the-making animated adaptation of George Orwell\u2019s classic novella and with a starry voice cast including Seth Rogen, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin and Woody Harrelson, hits cinemas in the U.K. on July 24 (with Vue\u2019s Lumiere distributing), some two-and-a-half months after it released in the U.S. A more family-friendly take on the allegorical tale warning about the corruptive nature of absolute power, even Serkis admits it didn\u2019t have the U.S. launch he was hoping for, sparking \u201coutrage\u201d over what people perceived to be its political leanings (\u201canti-capitalist\u201d and \u201cnot anti-communist enough\u201d were some of the critiques, he says) and struggling at the box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he\u2019s hoping \u201cAnimal Farm\u201d will fare better in Orwell\u2019s native U.K., where there\u2019s a \u201creal love for the book and it\u2019s really valued.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to Variety from New Zealand after wrapping a day\u2019s shoot, Serkis discusses his return to \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d and the decade-long process it took to get \u201cAnimal Farm\u201d off the ground.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs someone who has long worked at the cutting edge of technology, he also delves into AI and the minimal way he plans to use it in \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum.\u201d \u201cIf we teach AI well, then it can help us across many industries,\u201d he says. But he notes that AI can\u2019t \u2014\u00a0at least not yet \u2014\u00a0replicate the sort of \u201cauthored performance\u201d put into motion-capture. With this in mind, he asserts that motion-capture work is long-overdue being embraced for creating characters just as much as any other form of acting \u2014\u00a0and this includes landing its first Oscar nomination in the main performance categories.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow\u2019s \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum\u201d looking\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019ve literally just completed a week. We\u2019re finally up and running, so it\u2019s great. It\u2019s really exciting.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow does it feel being back in New Zealand with Peter (Jackson), Fran (Walsh) and Philippa (Boyens) and the gang?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt couldn\u2019t be better, and it\u2019s not just those guys who obviously I adore and love and have spent so many years working with, but the entire crew, practically from 25 years ago. So it\u2019s great. And there are generations of their kids too. So it is a big family affair.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve got returning characters and new ones joining Middle-earth, and then new ones stepping into the shoes of old ones, like Jamie Dornan playing Aragorn. Is it strange seeing someone else playing one of cinema\u2019s most iconic roles?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve got to say, Jamie\u2019s doing extremely well. He\u2019s fantastic.<\/p>\n

\t\tI hope Peter\u2019s getting another cameo.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, we\u2019ll have to see about that.<\/p>\n

\t\tYour \u201cAnimal Farm\u201d is coming out in the U.K. following its U.S premiere. I remember writing about that film a good 10 years ago, when it was set to be one of the first out of your Imaginarium Productions company. I know animated films take a long time to make, but this really has been a while.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been an age. I feel like I\u2019ve been making this film all my life. I obviously was going off and doing other things in between, but it really was a passion. And it came on the back of making the first Planet of the Apes. There was a moment where Caesar breaks out of the facility that he\u2019s in with this disparate group of apes and leads them to freedom, and it suddenly occurred to me that 1) no one had made a version of Animal Farm for the screen for a while, and 2) it was a technology that could now be employed to anthropomorphize the characters. My producing partner Jonathan Cavendish and myself, we\u2019d just recently founded the Imaginarium and thought this was going to be our first film. But we had no idea it was going to be such a difficult, difficult film to get people interested in making.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAnimal Farm\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Aniventure<\/p>\n

\t\tWhy was that?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s obviously the political content of it. Being considered was whether it was too dark, could families watch it? Originally we were going to make it using performance capture, but that would have been dark \u2014 there would have been live action and it would have necessarily been a darker film. But Jonathan and I were very very keen that this would be a version of the story that spoke to a broad audience \u2014 particularly young inquiring minds who would be able to debate the story with their parents and grandparents. We worked closely with the Orwell estate, and we said, look, if we\u2019re making it more relevant to this generation, to the younger generation, and not about totalitarian Russia in the 1930s and 40s, it would be much more contemporary. So I hit up on this idea of adding a central character that was this young piglet who sees himself as equal to any other animals after the rebellion but who then becomes morally corrupted by the power and swagger of this particular leader, who is less of a fascist dictator and more of a populist.<\/p>\n

\t\tAs you say, the original book was talking about a very different time from today. How do you think its central message and what Orwell was trying to get across now fits into today\u2019s world?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I think if you played this film in any country across the globe, people would draw their own conclusions. But we didn\u2019t want to be partisan, politically. We weren\u2019t saying it\u2019s an attack on the left or the right. It\u2019s about power. It\u2019s absolute power corrupting, it\u2019s misinformation and disinformation, it\u2019s the value of truth being completely torn to shreds. And so, thematically, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve drifted from Orwell\u2019s original intentions. We\u2019ve just created a more accessible range of characters. The only real thing I think thematically that we\u2019ve changed is not making an ending that is bleak \u2014\u00a0and that allows a young audience to go, \u201cWell, how can we make it better next time round.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTalking about power and truth \u2014 it does feel particularly timely given what\u2019s going on in the U.S.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAgain, without being partisan and leveling it at any one particular leader, around the world it seems to be this. And it comes from bad leadership. If you have parents that teach their children to be mean and cruel, then they\u2019ll be mean and cruel. So America does have a huge part in it, but it\u2019s not the only regime around the world. We weren\u2019t just pointing it at Donald Trump, for instance. It was very much about whichever country you live in that is oppressed. At the end, there\u2019s a message in the credits which says that this film is dedicated to those who are oppressed and that your time will come. So that\u2019s the message of the movie.<\/p>\n

\t\tIt was released by Angel Studios in the U.S. They\u2019re largely considered to be quite conservative with their films, with many having Christian elements. Obviously they\u2019re best known for \u2018Sound of Freedom.\u2019 Were you surprised that they were the ones to pick it up?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThey just showed such an interest. I think they\u2019re slightly changing the messaging of who they are and are backing films which bring light to the world. I think that\u2019s the way they like to talk about it, or of films that hopefully affect some sort of change. And they really loved it.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut we wanted to debate and boy, did we get a debate in the States. It was from both left and right, and they each had their own particular reason for reviling it. It was criticized for being anti-capitalist. It was criticized for being not anti-communist enough. It seemed to do what we wanted it to do, which was cause a debate, but what it didn\u2019t do was encourage parents to take their children to see it. It literally got something like 60 million hits on the first trailer \u2014 and of outrage. It was a very very strange outing.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow do you feel it\u2019ll go down in the U.K., given that it\u2019s Orwell and if kids haven\u2019t already read the book, probably their parents will have been taught it. Do you think there\u2019ll be a different reaction?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think so. I do. I think there is a real love for the book and it\u2019s really valued. I truly hope that that parents do go and take their kids, because I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything in it that\u2019s so dark that a six-year-old could not watch. I have this vision of families really enjoying it, and when we tested it with kids they\u2019ve really loved it. But of course they\u2019re not the ones buying cinema tickets!<\/p>\n

\t\tCoincidentally, you\u2019re currently appearing in another Angel film \u2014 \u201cYoung Washington.\u201d This has been reported on, but the director used AI to augment a number of shots in the film. You\u2019ve spoken about the use of AI, so I wondered how you felt about that.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think AI as a creative tool is, as long as it\u2019s not exploitative and as long as it\u2019s not harming anybody or defaming anybody or telling mistruths, is valuable. If you\u2019re looking for reference material, say, in the old days you get reference images for something. Well, now you can prompt something and get a result. And I don\u2019t have any problem with that. When it becomes exploitative and people are not remunerated for the work that they\u2019ve done, or it\u2019s used in nefarious, or mean-spirited or pornographic ways, then of course, that\u2019s terrible and we\u2019ve only brought it upon ourselves. I\u2019ve said this before and I mean it \u2014 we are the parents of AI, and we have to be good parents and teach AI well. And if we teach AI well, then it can help us across many industries.<\/p>\n

\t\tPeter Jackson said something very similar in Cannes. Do you have any plans to use AI in the making of \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum\u201d?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNot at present, other than some of the de-aging. There\u2019s a little bit of de-aging for some of the characters and machine learning is part of the process. When you think about it, in the original \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d films, Peter created MASSIVE, which was a program which allowed 1000s of orcs to all have their own individual mindset. So that is a brilliant example of an incredible use of AI. But we\u2019re not creating AI shots in our movie, every shot is created in a traditional way. One of the things actually that I really wanted to do with this film was to bring back all of the great filmmaking skills, from miniatures to prosthetics and marry them up, because that\u2019s my taste. I like it when you mix up different filmmaking techniques.<\/p>\n

\t\tWho\u2019s being de-aged?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not telling you!<\/p>\n

\t\tDo you think AI would ever replace motion-capture performances, like Gollum?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou look on TikTok and there are 1000s of images, and of all of \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d characters and many others, and you see something extraordinary. So \u2018yes\u2019 is a version of the truth, but it\u2019s not authored by a performance. So there are elements of the character that could work, but at the end of day we\u2019re talking about storytelling, and storytelling and drama is what happens between actors, and performance capture, obviously, is an actor\u2019s authored technology. So I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll be able to replace performance\u2026 not as yet. For small prompted moments, I think it stands up. But the whole notion of a script, from a to z, page one to 120 and the minutiae of actors\u2019 decisions that author their characters, I don\u2019t believe that that could be completely replaced.<\/p>\n

\t\tOn that note, do you think the Academy might ever embrace performance capture work?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve never seen performance capture as anything other than an actor\u2019s performance, because you doing everything that you would do to create a normal character on screen. When you act with someone who is wearing dots instead of prosthetic makeup, they\u2019re still creating the character.<\/p>\n

\t\tUp until now, this hasn\u2019t really been recognised in the Oscars\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t think there should be any special kind of award. <\/p>\n

\t\tBut do you think it\u2019s time we saw someone nominated in the acting categories?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, absolutely. I really do. I think it\u2019s been a long time coming and have never thought any differently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Serkis is currently in New Zealand taking on orcs, wizards, elves and boney-fingered ring fanciers in one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[51124,101480,93,61,60,73687,270,232094],"class_list":["post-547629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-andy-serkis","tag-animal-farm","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lord-of-the-rings","tag-movies","tag-the-hunt-for-gollum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}