How long is that in ape years?

Serkis has evolved along with Caesar through three films

a major awards campaign.

Awards voters, including those in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ acting branch, are wary of normalizing motioncapture performances, says Scott Feinberg, awards columnist for

The Hollywood Reporter. “They fear this is another step to not needing actors at all,” he says. “They don’t want to expedite the process by honoring it.”

Matt Reeves, who directed Serkis in War and 2014’s Dawn of the

Planet of the Apes, says actors are being educated on motion capture, especially those who see it up close alongside Serkis.

“There’s this expectation they’ll be coming into some VFX movie playing opposite tennis balls,” Reeves says. “But what they’re actually doing is playing opposite Andy. In that way, it’s no different from me doing an independent drama with two actors.” The performance is coming from the actor, he says, not the artists at Weta Digital who spent a year transforming Serkis into a photo-realistic ape. “That performance is absolutely Andy.”

War co-star Woody Harrelson became a convert once he got used to working across from Serkis in his suit, facial camera and digital facial dots that capture the tiniest movement. He now calls Serkis “the greatest actor I have ever worked with.”

Another hurdle for awards recognition is it’s difficult to recog

nize the actor. Yet Serkis’ evolving Caesar appears almost human.

“People seem to be responding to this performance on another level, saying, ‘It’s so moving. And it’s you,’ ” Serkis says.

“But really what is important, more than awards, is a proper understanding of what performance capture is. It’s nothing more than acting, pure acting. I think the perception is shifting.”