Andy Serkis is proud of his new movie ‘Breathe’ because it is a story about the power of the "human spirit".
The 53-year-old actor has made his directorial debut on the film which tells the true story of the life of Robin Cavendish – who despite being given only three months to live after being paralysed from the neck down by polio at age 28 devoted his life to campaigning for disabled rights until he died at 64.
Serkis – who is married to actress Lorraine Ashbourne – was not only excited to movie away from his usual motion capture work for the project but also because he got to share Robin’s inspirational story with the wider public.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at the BFI London Film Festival 2017 Opening Gala Night at Odeon Cinema held in London’s Leicester Square on Wednesday night (04.10.17), Serkis said: "It’s produced by our company the Imaginariam – it’s a slightly different direction but our ethos is performance capture driven films and great storytelling but also just great storytelling. It’s very exciting. It’s a true story and it’s very personal to me because it’s actually based on my business partner’s parent’s story. It’s an amazing triumph of the human spirit over adversity story, a love story, which centres around a character who pioneers living outside of the hospital system with a massive polio disability."
The film stars Andrew Garfield as Robin and ‘The Crown’ actress Claire Foy as his wife Diana and it was produced by Robin’s real life son Jonathan Cavendish, who runs The Imaginarium Studios production company with Serkis.
At the opening gala night, Jonathan admitted if his father – who passed away in 1994 – was alive to see the film he would be "laughing" at all the "fuss".
He said: "He would be laughing hilariously at all this fuss. He would genuinely love the movie, I hope. Maybe he is watching it somewhere."
Andy Serkis: Breathe is a story about the human spirit
