Andy Serkis Q&A

Exclusive: The actor discusses the strange process involved in bringing 'King Kong' to life.

Dec 13 2005

Andy Serkis plays Lumpy the cook in Peter Jackson's forthcoming blockbuster 'King Kong', but he also has a more important role in the film – that of Kong himself. Using the same motion capture techniques that he and Jackson employed so successfully to create Gollum in the 'Lord of the Rings' films, Serkis gives a stunning performance as the silverback gorilla, and TO recently caught up with him to discuss this strange form of acting.

How did the process work?

We did principal photography for nine months, then two months of motion capture, in which time we facially motion captured him [Kong]. And the scenes in which he is not interacting with other dinosaurs or CG characters, that's all actor driven. The emotional scenes are actor driven.

Was it nice to be able to go to the zoo and research the character this time around?

Yes – but it was a greater technical challenge creating Kong than Gollum in many ways, because there's no dialogue so the character is all about body language and gorilla vocalisation. A lot of the intention of the character comes through the eyes. He's a character, not just a monster – this isn't a monster movie. Gorillas are as idiosyncratic as you or I. They all have totally different personalities. There were three things going on. There was the physicality, there was the technicality of creating motion capture and there was the characterisation itself. So it was very, very complicated.

The scene in which Kong fights three dinosaurs is incredible – what's your involvement with a sequence like that?

That's probably the best example of a marriage between animation and motion capture performance. The physicality involved in that sequence – a lot of the falls and a lot of the tumbles – that had to be done with animation. And also the interaction with the other CG characters. But all the scenes with Ann are done by me and the motion capture team. We did cover every scene but that one particularly is where the animators are showing off their skills the most with the dinosaur interaction. All the facial expressions that you see are drawn from me because we facially motion captured.

Are you experiencing the same kind of excitement with this film as the first time you saw the 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'?

Yes, more so. This is driven entirely by Pete's love and passion for 'King Kong', and it has been infectious – it's rubbed off on all of us.

And we get to see you onscreen this time around?

Yes, I play a little cameo as Lumpy who is the ship's cook, but doing Kong, it was great to be able to bring a big emotional arc to a character that seemingly is just a monster. Most people will be thinking at the moment that it's just another monster movie, but hopefully they'll really be able to connect with Kong in the way that I connected with the gorillas I spent time with during my research.

So you were able to form relationships with them?

Well, they relate to humans – they are social animals and they want to connect with human beings. So hopefully that journey with Ann and Kong will be a truthful one. I suppose he represents a true heart – that's the nature of his character. In terms of his characterization, he has mood swings, he gets angry as gorillas do, but at the core of his being is that truth, which really facilitates the change in Ann Darrow. That's where the connection and that's where the drama happens.

'King Kong' is released on December 15.

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