Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis
Serkis in 2017
Born Andrew Clement Serkis
(1964-04-20) 20 April 1964
Ruislip, Middlesex, England
Alma mater The County College, Lancaster
Occupation Actor, film director, film producer
Years active 1989–present
Spouse(s)
Children 3
Website Official website

Andrew Clement Serkis[1][2] (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and film director. He is best known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for such computer-generated characters as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), King Kong in the eponymous 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series (2011–17), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011), and Supreme Leader Snoke in the first two Star Wars sequel trilogy films, The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017). In 2019, he will play the character of Baloo in his self-directed film, Mowgli.

Serkis's film work in motion capture has been critically acclaimed.[3][4][5] He has received an Empire Award, and two Saturn Awards for his motion-capture acting. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of serial killer Ian Brady in the British television film Longford (2006) and was nominated for a BAFTA for his portrayal of new wave and punk rock musician Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010).

In 2015, Serkis began playing Ulysses Klaue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was followed by Black Panther (2018). Serkis has his own production company and motion capture workshop, The Imaginarium Studios in London, which he used for Mowgli. He made his directorial debut with Imaginarium's 2017 film Breathe.

Early life

Serkis was born and brought up in Ruislip Manor in Middlesex. His mother, Lylie (born Weech), was English and taught disabled children; his father, Clement Serkis, was an Iraqi-born gynaecologist of Armenian descent.[6][7] His ancestors' original surname was "Sarkisian".[8] His father often worked away in the Middle East, while Serkis and his siblings were raised in Britain, with regular holidays in the Middle East including to Tyre, Sidon, Damascus and Baghdad.[9]

Serkis was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing, and then studied visual arts at Lancaster University. He chose theatre as a secondary subject so that he could design posters.[10] Serkis was a member of The County College and part of the student radio station Bailrigg FM. He joined the Nuffield Studio, getting involved in designing and producing plays.

Having agreed to act in a couple of productions towards the end of his first year, Serkis played the lead role in Barrie Keeffe's play, Gotcha, as a rebellious teenager holding a teacher hostage. As a result, he changed his major subject to acting, constructing his Independent Studies Degree around acting and set design, studying Konstantin Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht, and including minor modules in art and visual graphics.[11] In his final year at Lancaster he adapted Raymond Briggs's graphic novel The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman, a satire about the Falklands War, as a one-man show, which he performed to acclaim.

Career

In his third year at college, Serkis joined the backstage team at the local Duke's Playhouse to earn his Equity card. On graduation, although advised to take a one-year post-graduate acting course, he joined Dukes as an actor and, under director Jonathan Petherbridge who used workshops based upon the methods of Augusto Boal, spent 18 months acting in a broad range of productions from Brecht through Shakespeare to modern British playwrights.[12]

After 16 months, and having gained his Equity card, Serkis joined a series of touring companies, including productions of: Bouncers opposite Hull Truck; Florizel in The Winter's Tale; and the fool in King Lear with director Max Stafford-Clark.[12] In the early 1990s he settled in London, and took roles in Dogboy, the Royal Court Theatre's production of Mojo, Bill Sikes in a television film of Oliver Twist (1999) and Wilson Milam's production of Hurlyburly (1997) at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, with Rupert Graves and David Tennant.[13]

Like many British actors, Serkis made the move to television by appearing in small roles, such as Greville in an episode of The Darling Buds of May (1992). However, one of his first major starring roles was in the joint BBC/HBO production of Einstein and Eddington (2008). Serkis played Albert Einstein, following the development of his theory of relativity, while David Tennant played British scientist Sir Arthur Eddington.[14] Serkis joined director Mike Leigh's ensemble for two film productions, and appeared in the romantic comedy Loop (1997) alongside Susannah York.

Serkis at the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in Wellington, New Zealand on 1 December 2003

Serkis first came to wide public notice for his performance as Sméagol / Gollum, in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), for which he provided motion capture movements and voice for the CGI character. His work on The Lord of the Rings started a debate on the legitimacy of CGI-assisted acting. Some critics felt Serkis should have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, since his voice, body language, and facial expressions were used.[15]

Serkis has done critically acclaimed motion capture work in several other films, including the title character in the 2005 version of King Kong (in which he also played the ship's cook in live action) and as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). He also worked with game developers Ninja Theory on the 2007 release Heavenly Sword, providing the motion capture and voice for King Bohan (the game's main villain).[16][17]

Serkis was cast as serial killer Ian Brady in the BAFTA-nominated Longford, co-starring Samantha Morton as Myra Hindley and Jim Broadbent as Lord Longford. In 2006, Serkis appeared in the role of Mr. Grin in the film rendition of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider novel Stormbreaker. In 2006, he was in the film The Prestige as Mr. Alley, assistant to Nikola Tesla, and as the voice of Spike, one of the henchrats in the Aardman Animations film Flushed Away. In 2006 Serkis appeared in Jim Threapleton's improvised feature film Extraordinary Rendition, which premiered in 2007. In 2010, he played 1970s new wave singer Ian Dury in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Serkis appeared in Sugarhouse, a low-budget independently made film, playing local crime lord Hoodwink, who terrorises an east London housing estate. For the role, Serkis shaved his head and had sessions lasting 20 hours each to have temporary tattoos stencilled onto his body. The film premiered at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival and released in the UK on 24 August 2007. He appeared alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in The Jolly Boys' Last Stand.

Serkis at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International.

In 2007, Serkis provided the voice over for Monkey Life, Five broadcast for three weeks from 13–31 August 2007. This series is about Monkey World, the popular ape and monkey sanctuary and zoo near Wool, Dorset. Serkis reunited with Peter Jackson, as a cast member in Jackson's and Steven Spielberg's Tintin trilogy, based on The Adventures of Tintin. Serkis supplied the voice and motion capture performance of Captain Haddock (adopting a Scottish accent) as well as his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock. Filming began in January 2009 and the film was released in 2011.[18] Filming was due to begin in September 2008, but was delayed due to Universal pulling out of backing the project.[19] In 2008, Serkis appeared as Rigaud in the BBC Television adaptation of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit and as Capricorn in Inkheart.[20]

In 2009, Serkis voiced the role of the demon Screwtape in Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre audio adaptation of C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters.[21] In 2010, Serkis was cast as William Hare, with Simon Pegg as Burke, in the John Landis black comedy film Burke and Hare based on the Burke and Hare murders in Scotland in 1828.[22]

In 2010, Serkis features in the TV series The Accused, in "Liam's Story", written by Danny Brocklehurst and Jimmy McGovern. He played Caesar in the 20th Century Fox science-fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes.[23] Serkis was acclaimed for his performance as Caesar, and in a high-profile campaign by 20th Century Fox for him to be honoured with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, his co-star James Franco stated: "Andy Serkis is the undisputed master of the newest kind of acting called “performance capture,” and it is time that Serkis gets credit for the innovative artist that he is."[16] In 2010, Serkis played Monkey, the lead character along with Lindsay Shaw in the videogame Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

Serkis promoting Dawn of the Planet of the Apes at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International.

In January 2011, it was confirmed that Serkis would reprise the role of Gollum in the three-part The Hobbit films which were released in 2012, 2013 and 2014.[24] He was also the film's second unit director, which included directing aerial shots and battle scenes.[9] He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals.[25] In 2014, Serkis reprised his role as Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,[17] and in 2017 again reprised the role in War for the Planet of the Apes, the last of the trilogy.[26]

In Gareth Edwards' 2014 science-fiction monster film Godzilla, Serkis was the consultant on the film's motion capture sequences in order to "control the souls" of the creatures.[27][28] Serkis played Ulysses Klaue in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and was also a motion capture consultant on the film.[29] He reprised the role of Klaue in Marvel Studios' Black Panther (2018). Serkis played Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and reprised the role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).[30]

In late 2015, it was announced that Serkis was working on a modern film adaptation of Rumpelstiltskin, titled Steelskin.[31] In addition to starring in the film, Serkis will serve as producer and director.[31]

The Imaginarium Studios

In 2011, Serkis founded The Imaginarium Studios with film producer Jonathan Cavendish. The Imaginarium is a production company and creative digital studio based in Ealing, London and is dedicated to invention of believable, emotionally engaging digital characters using Performance Capture technology, in which Serkis specialises.[32] On 20 October 2012, the studio acquired rights to The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon and a new motion capture adaptation of Animal Farm, which Serkis will direct.[33]

Directing

Serkis has served as the second unit director for The Hobbit films and made his directorial debut with Breathe. He will also direct the upcoming film, Mowgli.[34]

Other work

Serkis published a memoir about his experiences playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic, published in late 2004. He also made an appearance in the music video for Neneh Cherry's "Woman", portraying an abusive boyfriend. In 2015, Serkis collaborated with British rock band Coldplay in the making of the music video for "Adventure of a Lifetime" (which saw the group perform as chimpanzees) with Serkis acting as a performance capture consultant.[35]

Personal life

Serkis and his wife Lorraine Ashbourne in 2013

Serkis was born to Catholic parents,[36] and though he has been an atheist since his teenage years,[7] he is "drawn to the karmic possibilities of energy transference", specifically "the idea that your energy lives on after you".[7] He studied visual arts and theatre as part of his degree at Lancaster University and graduated in 1985.[37]

Serkis married actress Lorraine Ashbourne in July 2002. He lives in Crouch End, north London with his wife and their three children: Ruby (b. 1998), Sonny (b. 2000) and Louis (b. 2004).[9][38]

Filmography

Selected theatre

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Serkis, Andy". British Film Institute. 16 April 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "Mr Andrew Clement Serkis". Levelbusiness.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  3. ↑ Clark, Nick (16 November 2014). "Oscars debate for computerised stars makes a monkey out of movie actors". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Clark, Nick (6 November 2014). "Should Oscar go to Andy Serkis or the computer that turned him into an ape?". The Independent. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Robey, Tim (8 November 2014). "Does Andy Serkis's motion capture acting deserve an Oscar?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  6. ↑ xoanon (1 February 2001). "Andy Serkis Talks LOTR". TheOneRing.net. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 Shoard, Catherine (16 March 2008). "Andy Serkis: Beastie boy". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  8. ↑ Nepales, Ruben V. (6 July 2007). "Only in Hollywood Andy Serkis: From Gollum, King Kong to Einstein". Philippine Daily Inquirer. p. F2. Retrieved 22 October 2010 – via Google News.
  9. 1 2 3 Mottram, James (7 December 2012). "Gollum's precious moments: Andy Serkis' unexpected journey from The Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit". The Independent. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  10. ↑ Larkin, Mike (6 August 2011). "Rise of the Planet of the Apes: How Andy Serkis brought a rebellious chimp to life". The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  11. ↑ P., Ken (27 January 2003). "An Interview with Andy Serkis (page 1)". IGN. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  12. 1 2 P., Ken (27 January 2003). "An Interview with Andy Serkis (page 2)". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  13. ↑ P., Ken (27 January 2003). "An Interview with Andy Serkis (page 3)". IGN. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  14. ↑ Smith, Neil (10 July 2008). "Heroes to air near to US premiere". BBC News. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  15. ↑ Poole, Oliver (10 February 2003). "Can Gollum get the precious Oscar nod?". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  16. 1 2 Child, Ben (9 January 2012). "James Franco calls for Andy Serkis Oscar recognition for mo-cap turn". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  17. 1 2 Burr, Ty (10 July 2014). "Andy Serkis breathes life into 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  18. ↑ Fernandez, Jay A.; Kit, Borys (26 January 2009). "Anchors aweigh for 'Tintin'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2009.
  19. ↑ Anderson, Martin (15 February 2008). "Andy Serkis interview: Robert Rankin, The Hobbit, Tintin & more!". Den of Geek. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  20. ↑ Gilbert, Matthew (27 March 2009). "Dickens meets 'Lost' in PBS's 'Little Dorrit'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "About the Audio Drama". Screwtape.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  22. ↑ Barton, Steve (20 January 2010). "New Burke and Hare Casting News". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  23. ↑ Miska, Brad (29 June 2010). "Andy Serkis Grabs a Banana and Becomes King of 'Planet of the Apes'". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  24. ↑ Child, Ben (11 January 2011). "Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis sign up for The Hobbit". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 13 January 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  25. ↑ "Academy Invites 176 to Membership". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 29 June 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  26. ↑ Scott, A. O. (12 July 2017). "Review: New 'Planet of the Apes' Makes You Root Against Your Species". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  27. ↑ IGN (4 April 2014). "Godzilla: Andy Serkis on Mo Cap & Monster's Motives — WonderCon 2014". YouTube. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  28. ↑ IGN (4 April 2014). "Godzilla Director on Making the Monster Scary Again — IGN Conversations". YouTube. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  29. ↑ Stern, Marlow (14 July 2014). "Motion Capture Maestro Andy Serkis on 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' and Revolutionizing Cinema". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  30. ↑ "Star Wars: Episode VII Cast Announced". StarWars.com. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  31. 1 2 McHenry, Jackson (13 December 2015). "Andy Serkis Is Making a Movie About Rumpelstiltskin, One of the Few Villainous Creatures Left for Him to Play". Vulture.com. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  32. ↑ "Who We Are". The Imaginarium Studios. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  33. ↑ "Andy Serkis: from Gollum to studio boss". Financial Times. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2012. (Subscription required (help)).
  34. ↑ McNary, Dave (20 March 2014). "Andy Serkis to Direct 'Jungle Book' for Warner Bros". Variety. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  35. ↑ Peters, Mitchell (27 November 2015). "Coldplay Monkeys Around in 'Adventure of a Lifetime' Video: Watch". Billboard.com. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  36. ↑ Moorhead, Joanna (13 December 2008). "My family values; Andy Serkis, actor". The Guardian. London.
  37. ↑ "From Lancaster to Middle-earth". Lancaster University. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  38. ↑ "Andy Serkis as Gollum and Smeagol". AgeoftheRing.com. 1 May 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
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