Andy Serkis
Gollum
TR: Was it daunting to take on such a famous--or some might say infamous--character?
AS: Not so much before, but as I started the job everyone was saying, "Phaw! Gollum! What a great character!"
TR: What's the appeal?
AS: Everyone has their own interpretation of the character, whether you love him or hate him. The number of people I've met who can quote him verbatim from the book is a bit alarming.
TR: How did you get involved in this project?
AS: My agent told me they were casting for the voice of Gollum. I hadn't read The Lord of the Rings, but I read the script and realized what an amazing role it was. I developed a voice for the audition tape, then met Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh at the auditions and fell in love with them both. Then, fortunately, I was offered the role.
TR: Of course, the voice is just one element of Gollum, correct?
AS: When I first came out to New Zealand for principal photography, the focus was on voicing Gollum. But Peter wanted Gollum to be the most interactive digital character ever made for a movie, with a combination of live action and digital animation.
TR: What did that mean for you?
AS: Peter wanted Gollum to be actor-led. Peter wanted Frodo and Sam looking into Gollum's eyes, rather than to a tennis ball on a stick. So, I soon found myself on set at Mount Ruapehu with Elijah [Wood] and Sean [Astin], dressed in a skin-tight lycra body suit to minimize my body size and make Gollum look emaciated. Frodo and Sam and Gollum have such a physical relationship, I don't think it could've been done any other way.
