Andy Serkis - Gollum
London, UK, August 2003
What are your memories of
first getting the role of Gollum ?
A sense of fear because this character is so well loved. I just thought that if
this in any way went wrong, I would get lynched. When I first got the call that
they were doing films of The Lord Of The Rings and were looking for the voice of
an animated character, I just went, "There must be dozen decent parts in
that film, can't you get me one of those ?" I just wasn't keen. Then
Lorraine, my wife, just said, "Durrr, this is Gollum."
What is your character's
defining moment ?
Obviously the multi-personality scene. When I watched it with an audience for
the first time, I tangibly felt that they were getting inside this character's
head. As I said, up until then we weren't quite sure it was going to work. That
is the moment I am the most proud of because we shot it as a monologue, a
three-minute scene where I play both sides of his character. With Return,
everybody is looking forward to deciding whether he is good or bad, and the
answer is, without giving anything away, that it still remains ambiguous, right
up until the final moments. At this moment in time I'm not entirely sure what
the final moments are. There are slightly different versions and I don't know
which Pete is going to use.
Describe Peter Jackson in
three words.
[Everest conqueror Edmund] Hillary of films.
Are your Rings colleagues
going to be friends for life ?
It is unavoidable, really - we'll end up seeing each other at conventions for
the rest of our lives... With the way Gollum was being done, I was an oddity,
and I used that - I did spend a lot of time in isolation on my own and played
that into the character. Still, at the end of the day we still all got together
and had some pints.
Why do you think Rings has
been so successful ?
People are so used to thinking they are learning from reality, and actually
there are greater human truths that are told in this story about human
relationships. What is fascinating is that because it is set in such a
fantastical landscape, both psychological and physical, one would think that it
wouldn't effect people, but, people have been really taken by it.
What is your favourite piece
of Lord Of The Rings memorabilia ?
I was given away the ring on my birthday. It was my birthday and I wanted it.
That was a really special present. We all got given the slate of our last shot
on set. It is like a Damien Hirst and is preserved in Perspex. The other thing
was that we all got given fantastic blooper reels - mine was particularily
hilarious : all the animation cock-ups and me prancing around in my suit until
the cows come home.
How does it feel to say
goodbye ?
I feel it is about time to move and play other characters. It would be nice to
act in trousers again.