Andy Serkis says people used to think he was a contortionist when he played Gollum.
The 50-year-old actor portrays the creature in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Hobbit’ franchises, but people often used to mistake him for someone with a very flexible body before finding out he was using motion-capture technology.
He said: "I remember when I was doing Gollum before people were like, ‘What is he? Is he a contortionist? Is he some sort of strange dancer?’
"Well, actually no, I’m a pretty regular actor playing a role."
Andy also uses the technology to portray Caesar the ape in the ‘Planet of the Apes’ franchise, and he is glad the perception of the method is changing for the better.
Speaking about this year’s ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’, he added: "It’s gone through this strange journey performance capture and its perception which is changing finally.
"It could end at the end of next story. But I think that there is still so much room for investigating these characters and their evolution we would learn so much about ourselves. I think these are really important films, I really do.
"I think there is no coincidence that this film has had the reception that it’s had this year because we are living on the brink of very dangerous things, very threatening things.
"These films have the potential to reach a very wide range of audiences around the globe when you think about the different experiences these audiences will have according to their world view."
Andy Serkis’ contortionist confusion
