Video:Andy Serkis Interview - The Hobbit and the Ian Dury Biopic
with Rebecca MurrayAndy Serkis, 2009 Emmy nominee for his role in 'Little Dorrit', showed up for BAFTA/LA's annual Tea Party to celebrate the nominees. And on the event's red carpet, Serkis talked about 'The Hobbit', playing Gollum, and 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.'
Transcript:Andy Serkis Interview - The Hobbit and the Ian Dury Biopic
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2009 British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles TV Tea Party.
Andy Serkis – The Hobbit and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Congratulations on your nomination. I know you're here for Little Dorrit but I'm interested in The Hobbit. Are they talking to you already?
Andy Serkis: "We have been talking about it, yeah. That's about as much as I can say."
Well we know you're going to be back. Peter Jackson's already said everybody who can come back is coming back.
Andy Serkis: "There you go. That's about as much as I know."
Are you ready? Is it something you want to do?
Andy Serkis: "Oh, yeah, of course."
Wasn't it kind of hard on your body the first time?
Andy Serkis: "Yeah, but I mean it was such a great character to play, a really fantastic character to play. I'm relishing the thought of going back and doing more."
Do you think there should be an Academy Award for that type of performance capture character?
Andy Serkis: "I never really consider performance capture to be any different from any other kind of acting. I don't think there should necessarily be a special category. It's just acting. It's just a different way of manifesting it on the screen."
So when you're actually in that costume with the little dots you don't really consider that at all? You're just acting.
Andy Serkis: "Yeah, you're just acting with the other actors. There is absolutely no difference other than you're not wearing a costume and makeup. You're wearing a digital costume, basically."
What else are you working on?
Andy Serkis: "At the moment I'm just finishing a film about a British punk rocker called Ian Dury who basically in the 1970s took the British punk rock scene by storm. He was a polio sufferer and he was one of the disabled first kind of musicians in the UK to rise to prominence. We've been developing that script for about three years and we've just locked off on the picture. It'll be released on January 8th."
Feels good after all that work on it, right?
Andy Serkis: "Yeah, for sure. It's a real project that's real close to my heart. His family were very closely involved in the making of the film."
It's kept as true to the story as possible?
Andy Serkis: "Yeah, although it's not like a straight-forward kind of rock biopic. It's more of a kaleidoscopics of abstracting the essence of the man."