Andy Serkis brings Gollum to life in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."
There's a fabulous moment in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" when Bilbo Baggins first meets the odd, emaciated, big-eyed Gollum. Devoted fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's writing will love it. So will the legions who loved Peter Jackson's amazing "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
The new film, which opens nationwide Friday, is the first of Jackson's three prequel-sequels. We meet Bilbo 60 years before the events of "TLOTR." Young Bilbo is played by Martin Freeman. Gollum, who is a spry 540 years old in "The Hobbit," is played once again by the amazing Andy Serkis, who has spent his Tolkien years concealed by the digital wizardry of motion capture technology (acting in suits covered in little sensor balls).
"That was actually the first thing we shot on 'The Hobbit,' " said Serkis on the phone from Los Angeles. "We did it a number of times over two weeks and shot the scene in its entirety every time. It's about a 12-minute scene and we played it from beginning to end like a theater piece."
Bilbo and Gollum try to stump each other with riddles. Bilbo learns about the powers of a certain gold ring and the schizophrenic Gollum obsesses over "my precious."
Gollum is, of course, one of the most popular characters of the series, right up there with Frodo and Gandalf the Grey and Aragorn. For some, he is the most popular, with his scratchy, hair-ball voice. But you never see Serkis. Is that a blow to the actor's ego?
"It's not a bother, really," he said. "In all honesty, I get approached on a daily basis and people ask me to do Gollum, or give me their Gollum impersonations. For an actor who has a spent a lot of time under digital costume and make up not showing his face on screen, I actually do receive quite a lot of attention. It's bizarre."
People love the character, he said, because he is so flawed. "And because he is so capable of such extreme emotions, both good and bad. I think it appeals to people because they kind of relate to him in some ways. He is one of the most grey-area characters in the Tolkien canon."
Does he get tired of everybody saying "My Preshhh-ious"?
"No, no. People are very kind and appreciative. My kids [ages 14, 12 and 8] might be over it. The young one, Louis, still thinks it's cool that I do Gollum. But the older ones, Ruby and Sunny, are a little more past it."
Andy Serkis at "The Hobbit" premiere. Gollum is just one of his many talents.
Serkis, 48, has played dozens of other characters. Many people thought he should have been Oscar-nominated for playing Kong in Jackson's "King Kong," and for his Caesar in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." But being hidden by the motion-capture has kept him out of the running. It's been more than 10 years since they first started shooting "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," and the technology has come a long way.
"When we shot the film originally, I acted with Elijah Wood [Frodo] and Sean Astin [Sam] on the set and the acting in a sense hasn't changed. But the technology has. When we did it originally, my performance was filmed on 35 mm, and then the animators copied from that performance the facial expressions, and literally painted over the top of me. And for certain things, I'd have to go and do the motion capture separately."
This time everything was shot together.
"Now you have the performance-capture cameras on the live-action set and do it all live at the same time. So I'm wearing a head-mounted camera, which captures my facial expressions and audio and all the physicality."
"The Hobbit," which faithfully recounts the first six chapters of the novel, charts the quest to reclaim the dwarf kingdom of Erebor. Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf and he is joined by a new band of fellow questers, along with the reluctant Bilbo. It will be released in 3-D, 2-D and in HFR 3-D. HFR (high frame rate) refers to shooting the film at 48 frames per second, which creates an odd super-video effect. Most of the two Hobbit sequels have already been filmed, and Serkis, in addition to acting, also served as the second unit director on all three films.
"It was amazing. We shot for 200 days. Second unit on a project of this scale is not just hands picking up swords. You're dealing with huge sets, and huge action sequences and battles."
The experience gave Serkis the directing bug and he has since set up his own performance-capture studio in England called Imaginarium. His feature directing debut will be adapting a book by another legendary 20th century British author -- George Orwell's "Animal Farm."
But first, on Friday, the world will see his latest Gollum in what is probably the most anticipated film of the year. I asked him why so many millions are so enthralled by Tolkien's hobbits, dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins and wargs.
"They are great mythical epic tales," said Serkis. "And like any classic tale, they resonate with modern times and have characters we can relate to. Now more than ever the fantasy genre is having such a resurgence. There are so many uncertainties ahead for our children. I think story telling is the one part of the human condition that will go on needing satisfying. That appetite will not go away."
