It’s one of the oldest sayings in Hollywood: “What I really want to do is direct.”
And now you can imagine Gollum creeping around in the dark saying the same thing my precious, because Andy Serkis, who wonderfully brought Gollum to life with motion capture, will indeed direct, and his first effort is a doozy: George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Serkis is of course back as Gollum for the Hobbit trilogy, and he’ll also be back for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to play Caesar again.
Serkis has absolutely proved that an actor can make motion capture an art, to the point where many felt he deserved an Academy Award for playing Caesar in Apes.
It makes sense that Serkis will tackle Animal Farm, which is also a natural for motion capture technology. Serkis now has his own motion capture studio in London, The Imaginarium, and the company will produce Animal Farm.
Serkis told The Hollywood Reporter that he’s come up with “a rather fresh way of looking at it,” and indeed, Animal Farm is a timeless allegory that can say a lot about society today. Serkis also said the film will be for families, and it could indeed provide a very strong moral fable for people of all ages.
It’s of course expected that Serkis will perform in the film, and whatever role he decides to play he’s sure to be great, but he added, “Nothing is set in stone yet.” Serkis is also fascinated with the technology Peter Jackson’s been working with on The Hobbit, and perhaps Serkis will also have 48 frames a second and 3D in Animal Farm as well.
However Serkis decides to make Animal Farm, it’s the story that’s most important, although with motion capture, there’s a great chance that a lot of wonderful actors can really make this classic come to life like never before.
