Speaking atFan Expo, Andy Serkis uses his experiences filmingThe Lord of the RingsandPlanet of the Apesfranchises to explain how motion capture technology has evolved. For many audiences, Serkis is a known figure mostly for roles that don’t show his actual appearance. The magic of CGI made it possible for him to appear as Gollum in theLord of the Ringstrilogy, as Kong inKing Kong(2005), asCaesar in thePlanet of the Apesreboot trilogy, and as Snoke in Disney’s recentStar Warssequel trilogy.
During a recent interview withScreen Rantat Fan Expo San Francisco, Serkis pulls back the curtain on his motion capture work across some major franchises, usingLord of the RingsandPlanet of the Apesto explain howit went from “motion capture” to “performance capture.“As technology improved, Serkis' performance was no longer limited to studio sets, and more of how he performed could be translated to the final film. Check out Serkis' in-depth explanation below:
It was all about the performance and, at this point now, one of the things that had changed [with motion capture technology] was that we were able to shoot everything. On Lord of the Rings, there wasn’t facial capture; it was the animators copying my facial expressions, and Gollum was redesigned to fit my – I hope I don’t look like him – facial features.
By the time we got to Apes, we were able to shoot everything with motion capture. We were able to shoot on set in real-time for the whole thing. And then, through the course of the three movies, we were able to then take that technology out of the sets and onto locations. In Dawn, for instance, we were up in the forests of Vancouver pretending to be in the real woods. And then in War, we were up in the mountains in snow with motion capture. By then, it changed from being just motion capture to performance capture, which means you capture the voice, the physicality, the facial, the body – everything all at the same time, and you just do it once just like regular filming.
That was how the technology advanced, but what was really incredible was being with a group of actors who were all playing apes. But it wasn’t just about mimicking ape behavior; it’s about creating a character and the psychological and emotional journey, and also the linguistic journey of it. They learn to speak throughout the course of the films. They’re using sign language at the beginning, but by the end, they’re actually communicating using language. So through the three films, you have that journey too. It was a fascinating process and it was an amazing cast of really talented actors who played different apes.
It’s no different from the way actors create conventional roles on screen. People say to me, “Should there be some sort of special category for performance capture, if you are rewarding performance?” But I would say, no, absolutely not. Acting is acting, and instead of putting on makeup and costume, you’re putting on a suit and coating your body and face in a form of digital makeup and digital costume.
What Andy Serkis' Career Means For Performance Capture In Movies
How Serkis' Early Work Paved The Way For Jaw-Dropping Performance Capture
BeforeGollum inThe Lord of the Rings, there hadn’t really been an expressive, human-like CGI character in a movie before, at least not one that looked convincing. The technology used for Peter Jackson’s acclaimed trilogy wasn’t just impressive because of how it looked, but specifically because there was a strong, memorable performance behind it. The performance was so strong that Jackson would ask Serkis to play Kong inKing Kongin the early 2000s, andSerkis ultimately became a go-to star for this kind of acting.
Planet Of The Apes 4 Nearly Betrayed The True Legacy Of Andy Serkis' Caesar Performance
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes almost made a huge mistake in regards to Andy Serkis, with it almost completely ruining his legacy as Caesar.
Serkis’Lord of the Ringswork didn’t just help to shape his own career, however.Weta FX was responsible for bringing Serkis' Gollum performance to life, and there’s a clear line between this and the company’s work onAvatara few years later. As Serkis explains withPlanet of the Apes, a major change withAvataris that VFX artists aren’t attempting to themselves recreate an actor’s performance on a sound stage, but instead translate it to the screen.
Weta’s FX’s work helped all threeLord of the Ringsmovies,King Kong, and bothAvatarmovies win Oscars for Best Visual Effects.
Our Take On Serkis' Performance Capture Career
Serkis Has Been Instrumental In Changing Attitudes Toward Performance Capture
Though major awards ceremonies like the Oscars still haven’t really recognized performance capture performances in any major way, Serkis has been crucial to changing the perception around this kind of acting. With Caesar, especially, it’s become more clear thataudiences aren’t just looking at technical wizardry and computer animation, but an actual performance that’s just being presented in a new form. If an actor ever wins an Oscar for performance capture work, Serkis (if he’s not the one winning) will have been crucial in making it happen.
Serkis' next major performance capture role will seemingly come in one of his own movies with the announcedThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Coming at least a handful of years afterAvatar: The Way of Waterdazzled with its life-like CGI, Gollum will likely be looking better than ever in this upcoming project. Even without that film, however, Serkis is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most important names when it comes to performance capture acting.
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a multimedia franchise consisting of several movies and a TV show released by Amazon titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The franchise is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book series that began in 1954 with The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings saw mainstream popularity with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes is a multimedia sci-fi franchise that began in 1963 with Pierre Boulle’s novel, which was later adapted into a film in 1968 starring Charlton Heston. The success of the movie led to four sequels, two TV shows, a remake from Tim Burton, and a reboot trilogy. The Planet of the Apes franchise has also seen success in video games and comic books.
