Breathing life in to Gollum
Each week we talk to an artist about their best-known work. Andy Serkis reveals the secrets of The Lord of the Rings’ Smeagol and his alter-ego Gollum.
It was sort of a journey of exploration. When I was first asked to come on board, it was really to be an actor on set. My voice was going to be Gollum, but he would be completely hand-animated.
The performance-capture thing was in its early stages and Peter [Jackson, the director] was interested in the idea of using it, but it hadn’t been tested.
But when he saw me on set, the way I started to move around as Gollum, he went, ‘‘this is the performance I want on film. Let’s record this as it is and then we’ll go on to the motion-capture stage for the close-ups where it’s just
"The voice was inspired by a cat I had at the time called Diz, who coughed upa furball." Andy Serkis
CG shots of him’’. I became the template for Gollum for the animators and they redesigned the character so that my facial features and expressions could be replicated in Gollum.
Back in those days [about 2001], we’d shoot everything on location and then I’d have to ‘‘re-capture’’ it on the motion-capture stage. Fortunately, by the time of the Apes movies [a decade later], thanks to facial capture technology, we could capture a performance either on real sets or out on location. Instead of reflecting the infrared light, the markers pulsed infrared light, which were then received by the cameras that were placed on location. That was a big move – it meant you didn’t have to go and repeat scenes or your side of a scene again, which made the connectivity much stronger.
As for THAT Voice, it was actually inspired by a cat I had at the time called Diz, who coughed up a furball literally as I was working on the character. That sort involuntary action of almost choking, I thought that could be based on the guilt of Gollum, who as Smeagol, killed his cousin, which is why the guilt is sort of trapped in his throat.
Then, when I started working with Peter, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens with the script, we divided the character up into Smeagol and Gollum and created two different voices – one more guttural for Gollum and one more nasal, slightly whining ‘‘Smeagol’’ sound.
– As told to James Croot.
❚ The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
screens on TVNZ1 at 7pm on January 14. Andy Serkis’ directorial debut is now in cinemas.
Breathe